Now you can play podcasts from Spotify, Apple on Amazon Echo

This feature was initially available in the US and now it is being rolled out in India.

Amazon Echo smart speaker (Amazon)

Amazon last year had rolled out support for podcasts from Spotify and Apple Podcasts on its Echo range of smart speakers. However, at the time this feature was available only to Echo users in the US. Now, the company has brought the same feature to India.

Amazon India today announced that Alexa users in India can now listen to podcasts through Spotify and Apple Podcasts on their Echo smart speakers. This means that now you can ask Alexa to play your favourite podcast, which you until now played on your smartphones or tablets, on your smart speaker.

To use this feature, users first need to enable Spotify or Apple Podcasts in the Alexa app. Once they have enabled the skill, they need to connect their Spotify or Apple Podcasts accounts with the Alexa app. Once all of this is done, they can start listening to podcasts on their Amazon Echo devices.

Users can say, “Alexa, play the podcast Mission ISRO with Harsha Bhogle on Spotify” or "Alexa, play "Maed in India' on Apple Podcasts" to play a specific podcast on their Echo smart speaker. They can also fast forward or pause an episode by saying, “Alexa, fast forward 30 seconds” or “Alexa, pause.” Amazon India says that users can pause the episode that they are listening to on one Echo device and continue listening from where they left off on one of their other Echo devices by asking Alexa to resume the podcast.

Similarly, Alexa users in India can ask Alexa to play the next episode of a podcast by saying, “Alexa, agla episode” or “Alexa, play next episode”.