Are you missing out on home theatre and still want to experience that feeling? How about a makeshift home theatre feel with no expensive instruments taken into account?
If you are up for it, read on. Keep reading ahead if you own more than one Echo device at your home/place. If not, you may want to buy one after reading this.
Now, mostly all Amazon Echo devices support multi-room music. But first:
Further reading: What Is Alexa And What Does Alexa Do?
What Is Multi-Room Music?
Multi-room music is a feature now available in nearly all smart speakers. According to this, one can integrate their various speakers to play the same music over multiple devices or speakers at home.
This way you can fill your home, however big it is, with loud music.
Here is what more you need to know more about playing music on multiple Echo devices.
What Is Amazon’s Multi-Room Music?
In Amazon devices, multi-room music works in a certain way. Firstly, you need to have an Amazon Echo device that supports multi-room music. Secondly, you need to have the Alexa app downloaded on any of your devices, be it a smartphone, tablet, etc.
Also, multi-room music in Echo devices works out through the groups. In the Alexa app, you will have to create a group using more than two Echo devices. Name the group as to where they are placed for your convenience. For instance, if the Echo devices are placed in the kid’s room, name it as same. You can then play these together by just saying,
“Alexa, turn music on in kid’s room”.
Some of the Amazon Echo devices also support stereo pairing, i.e., playing audio through two channels (two Echo devices only). However, this is exclusively restricted to identical Echo devices like two Echo Dot, two Echo of the same version, etc.
The only exception to this as of now is the third-gen Echo that gets stereo paired with second-gen Echo Plus as well.
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How To Play Music On Multiple Echo Devices?
There are specific requirements before you start following the steps to play music on multiple Echo devices. These requirements are:
- You should first register your Alexa-enabled devices (Echo devices in this case) to your same Amazon account.
- You should put all the Echo devices on with the same Wi-Fi network
- Update your Alexa app to the latest version
After you are done with these, follow the steps mentioned below:
- Open the Alexa app on your mobile device
- Go to ‘Devices’ on the right bottom corner of the screen.
- Tap on ‘+’ shown on the top right of the screen
- From the available options, tap on Set Up Multi-Room Music.
- Now, select the group name from the available suggested ones or use your own.
- Press Next after naming your group.
- Now Define your group by adding available Echo devices in the room to the group. Make sure you choose only those Echo devices that are available in the same room.
- Finally, click Save to save your group.
Alexa will then work upon integrating the selected Echo devices to make them play audio in sync.
Once done, just say, “Alexa, play (song or artist) on (Echo device group name)”. For instance, “Alexa, play Taylor Swift downstairs“.
How To Connect Echo Devices To The Same Wi-Fi Network?
As all the Echo devices should be connected to the same Wi-Fi network, to name the multi-room music setup work, here is how you can do so if you are confused.
For this, you will need:
- A good Wi-Fi network
- Updated Alexa app downloaded on your mobile device
- Mobile device connected to the internet
- Your Echo devices are set up with the Alexa app
If the last condition is not fulfilled, first set up your Echo device. Here is how you can do so.
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Setting up Echo devices with Alexa
Follow the below steps to do so:
- Open the Alexa app on your mobile device.
- Tap on the ‘Devices’ button in the lower right corner
- Tap on + in the right top corner on the next screen.
- Now choose, Add Device.
- When asked about what device you are setting up, choose Amazon Echo.
- It will then ask the type of Echo device you are setting up like Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Input, etc. Choose your desired option.
- It will take you through the setup process accordingly.
- At this point, your Echo device should be plugged in. Once the light on your Echo device is turned orange from blue, tap Continue in the Alexa pp.
(Hold down the action button on your Echo device control panel for six seconds if nothing happens.)
Your Echo device is now set up. Repeat the same process with all Echo devices.
Connect Echo Device To Wi-Fi
If you already have an Echo device setup, skip the above instructions. Here is how you can connect your device to wi-fi.
- Go to ‘Devices’ in the Alexa app
- Tap on ‘Echo & Alexa’. Select the Echo device you want to connect to wi-fi.
- On the next page, tap on ‘Change’ next to the wi-fi network.
- This will redirect you to the wi-fi settings of your mobile. Here select the network named Amazon-XXX to proceed further.
- Click ‘Continue’ on the Alexa app after this.
- Now you will be asked to select your wi-fi network on the Alexa app. Select your wi-fi network to connect the Echo device.
- If done successfully, you will find that your Echo device is online, which means it is connected to the internet.
That’s it, your Echo device is connected to the wi-fi network. Repeat the same process with other Echo devices and connect them with the same wi-fi network.
After this, just group your Echo devices together, follow the process above and enjoy music on multiple Echo devices.
Which Echo Devices Support Multi-Room Music?
When the feature of multi-room music was first rolled out, only a few Echo devices supported it. However, now mostly all the Echo devices support multi-room music features except one or two like Amazon Tap.
The devices that support multi-room music include all generations of Echo and Echo Dot, Echo dot with clock, all Echo Show versions, both generations of Echo Plus, Echo Spot, Fire Stick TV, and Echo Input.
Troubleshooting: When Multi-Room Music Does Not Play With Alexa
If you are trying hard, but Alexa isn’t responding to your multi-room music playing commands, here are some of the ways to troubleshoot it.
- The group name should be something easy to understand by Alexa. For this, you can also choose from the suggested common group names like the living room, downstairs, upstairs, etc.
Avoid using special characters while naming your group.
- Specify the group name when commanding Alexa to play music on Echo devices.
- Set a preferred speaker for your group. This will help Alexa respond better.
To set any speaker as preferred speaker follow, Devices> Choose The Group> Speakers> Change.
Choose the speaker that needs to be set as the preferred speaker.
- Restart your mobile device and network hardware.
What Music Services Support Multi-Room Music Feature?
Though Alexa supports mostly all music services available in different countries, it is a little particular when it comes to multi-room music. In this regard, the supported music services include Prime Music, Pandora, Sirius XM, TuneIn, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio only.
Also, while playing music on multiple music devices, you can’t command Alexa to fast forward or rewind the music. Also, you can’t play it through a Bluetooth connection with external speakers. However, you can make use of an external speaker with a wired connection like an Echo Dot.
Alexa Commands For Playing Music On Multiple Echo Devices
The common commands used for playing music on multiple Echo devices sound something like:
- Alexa, play my playlist in the living room i.e. Alexa, play (artist or song name) on (group name)
- Alexa, stop playing music in the kitchen i.e. Alexa, stop playing music in (group name)
- Alexa, play Sufi music on Spotify upstairs i.e. Alexa, play (music type) on (music streaming service) (group name).
Alternatively, you can always do this manually, too, by just visiting the Alexa app and playing music from your favorite music service in the specified group.
You can also do this through individual music streaming service apps if they provide such a feature. For instance, you can also play music on multiple music devices through Spotify Connect on the Spotify app directly.
Does Multi-Room Music Only Work With Music Content?
For now, yes, it only works with listening to music only and no other non-music content like audiobooks, recordings, or any other type of audio.
However, the service will soon be available for listening to audiobooks through Audible. Thus, you can play audiobooks for all family members to listen to in their own rooms.
Conclusion
This was everything about playing music on multiple Echo devices. If you have other smart speakers that are Alexa enabled, you can add them into the group and use them as multi-room speakers as well.