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How to play music on an Amazon Echo multi-room speaker setup

Want to use Amazon Echo speakers in a multi-room setup, like you can with Sonos? Recombu investigates the process, including what you can play and what you need to get it working.

Amazon is already filling homes with its always listening voice controlled Echo speakers but now it’s just got even more appealing. Amazon has updated the Echo range of speakers to offer multi room audio, taking on the likes of Sonos.

That means voice controlled speakers all over the home for a more affordable price than the likes of the competition. But how exactly do you get this setup in your home?

What is Amazon Echo multi-room?

Multi-room audio was brought into the mainstream by Sonos. But where that was expensive and specifically for its own platform, lots of speaker companies now offer multi-room support, the latest of which is Amazon and its Echo speakers.

That means playing music across more than one room from the same device, or varying music in different rooms. So you can, in theory, walk from the kitchen to the living room and have the same beats playing. The idea is that you can group sets of speakers together as you see fit.

How does Amazon Echo multi-room work?

First you will need to have two or more to be exact. That includes the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and, in the US, the Echo Show. All this will be controlled via the Alexa app.

Simply open the app and select the speakers you want in a group. So you might combine all the bedrooms and call that ‘Upstairs’. Then when you go back to using Echo via your voice you can simply say ‘Play Iron Maiden upstairs’ and everyone can rock off to sleep. Or rock out jumping on their beds.

What can I play on Amazon Echo multi-room?

There was a worry that Amazon might make this feature exclusive to its Amazon Music service. That is, thankfully, not the case. Instead Amazon has opted to keep the platform open to other music providers, including TuneIn radio and, at a later date, Spotify.

Does Echo multi-room work on other speakers?

Amazon has announced that it plans to offer multi-room speaker support to all devices that work with Alexa. That means other speaker brands that offer Alexa voice control support will also be multi-room capable.

Amazon says these developer tools will arrive next year, at which point the likes of Sonos, Bose and Samsung will be onboard.

When can I get Amazon Echo multi-room?

If you already own more than one Amazon Echo device you can start taking advantage of the multi-room support right now.

Simply make sure your Amazon Alexa app is up to date and you should be able to use it to group speakers, or play music on certain ones in your home. It’s that simple. In theory, anyway.

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