Yahoo Finance Spotify belatedly extends Alexa podcast control outside the US
Catch up on shows hands-free.
Americans have had the option of Alexa voice control for podcasts on Spotify since the end of 2019, but the rest of the world has had to sit tight. That creature comfort is finally reaching other parts of the world, though. Spotify has enabled Alexa control for podcasts in 11 more countries, including Canada, the UK, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico and Spain. You can tell your Echo (and many other Alexa devices) to play a favorite show while you finish housecleaning or lounge on the couch.
You’ll need to link your Spotify account, of course. If you listen in Brazil, Mexico, Germany or the UK, you might also want to set Spotify as the default podcast service. From then on, you can ask Alexa to play a given show “on Spotify.”
In some ways, it’s surprising Spotify has taken this long to extend Alexa support. The streaming giant hasn’t been shy about wanting to dominate podcasts, and smart speaker control is an important part of making that happen. That’s clearly not an issue now, at least for a large chunk of Spotify’s audience.
