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Amazon today announced that Alexa-enabled devices like the Echo and Echo Plus can now be set to a specific song, playlist, podcast for alarms. Setting a music alarm is a bit like when you ask the smart speaker to play music, except you ask Alexa to “set an alarm” or “wake me up,” so now you can say “Alexa wake me up to ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ at 7 am” or “Alexa, wake me up to BBC News on TuneIn at 6 am.”
Music alarms can be set with Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music.
Amazon Music customers can also preset alarms with music based on their mood, activity, or remembered song lyrics by saying “Alexa, wake me up to relaxing music at 7 am” or “Alexa, set an alarm at 7 a.m. to the song that goes ‘I’ve paid my dues time after time.'”
Alongside other Echo devices, the new feature is likely to be put to use on the Echo Spot, due out December 19, which Amazon bills as a smart alarm clock. It’s also sure to be a source of competition (or tension) between audiophile couples with good taste in music. Good luck, you brave souls.
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Music alarms for Alexa is one in a series of new ways users of Alexa-enabled devices can customize their experience with an Alexa-enabled device. Routines for scheduled actions or custom commands were made available in the Alexa app in late October; they allow you to schedule Alexa to play traffic, weather, and news flash briefings.
Developers will be given access to proactive push notifications for Alexa skills and unique voice identification in early 2018 for even more personalized experiences, Amazon announced recently at AWS re:Invent.
In other Alexa news, on Friday Amazon expanded Alexa and Amazon Music to dozens of new countries in parts of Europe and South America, though music alarms are only available in the United States at this time, an Amazon spokesperson told VentureBeat. Alexa was brought to Amazon Music and Amazon shopping apps earlier this year, but alarms can only be set through Alexa-enabled devices.
