Voice assistants like Alexa have revolutionized the way we interact with technology. These devices have made it easier than ever to control our smart homes, get answers to our questions, and even play our favorite music without lifting a finger.
But as with any new technology, there are still questions about what these devices can and can’t do. One of the most common questions is: can Alexa queue songs?
In this article, we’ll explore this question in depth and provide you with all the information you need to know about Alexa’s music-playing capabilities.
So sit back, relax, and let’s dive in!
1. What Is Alexa?
Alexa is Amazon’s voice assistant.
Alexa allows you to interact with technology using your voice, either through commands or questions.
Using Alexa, you can play audio, control your smart home, get answers to questions and give commands to a wide range of household devices.
Alexa is software, but the hardware you use to access Alexa is a range of smart speakers called Echo devices. You speak into an Echo device (or your smartphone) to give Alexa commands.
2. What Is Amazon Music?
Amazon Music is a music streaming platform that gives you access to 100 million songs, as well as podcasts, playlists and ‘stations’ (which are curated collections of the top songs for a given genre, mood, or theme).
It works in a similar way to Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal.
3. Can Alexa Queue Songs?
Although Alexa cannot add songs to a queue, you can create a ‘Play Queue’ manually. This is how to do it.
4. How to create a Play Queue
To create a Play Queue, tap on the three dots next to a song:
And then tap on ‘Add to Play Queue’
To see your Play Queue, tap on the three dots in the top right of the screen while a song is playing:
On the next screen tap on ‘View Play Queue’:
You can now see the songs that are queued up to play next:
Once you are in the Play Queue you can edit your queue.
To remove a song from your queue, tap on the three dots next to the song and then tap ‘Remove from Play Queue’.
To move songs up or down in the queue, press and hold on the six dots next to the song and drag it up or down.
As far as I know, there is no Alexa command to add a song to the Play Queue – you have to do that manually (in the way described above).
Another way to queue up some songs to play one after another is to create a playlist.
A playlist might not be exactly what you want – it’s not as spontaneous as a queue.
But it works in much the same way as a queue of songs does. And you can get Alexa to play a playlist.
5. How to create a Playlist on Alexa
As I mentioned above, another way to get songs to play one after another is to create a playlist. And once you have a playlist, you ask Alexa to play it for you.
To create a playlist in Amazon Music, tap on Library in the bottom menu of the Amazon Music app:
Then tap on ‘Playlists’:
Then tap on ‘New Playlist’:
Give your playlist a name, and tap ‘Save’.
Amazon Music will then show you recently played songs. Each song has a plus sign next to it – tap on the plus sign to add that song to your playlist:
Can you use an Alexa voice command to add a song to a Playlist?
Amazon says on its website that you can:
Alternatively, if you are listening on an Alexa enabled device ask Alexa to “Add [song] to .”
But I’ve tried that command (and numerous variations of it) and the only response I get from Alexa is: “That command is not supported”.
However, you can ask Alexa to play a playlist.
To do this, just say: ‘Alexa, play [name of playlist] playlist’. For example, if you named your playlist ‘ABC’, you would say: “Alexa, play ABC playlist”
How many songs can you put on an Alexa playlist?
According to Amazon, Playlists have a limit of 2,500 songs. That’s a lot of songs? I doubt anyone would ever reach that limit.
6. A Useful Playlist Hack
A problem I have when listening to music is that I can’t remember the exact name of my favourite playlist. Here’s a simple solution I discovered: create an Alexa routine that triggers when you say “Alexa play [name]”.
This is how to do it:
- Open the Alexa smartphone app
- Tap the ‘More’ menu in bottom right corner
- Then tap ‘Routines’
- Tap the plus icon in top right corner
- Tap on ‘When this happens’ and then tap ‘Voice’
- On the next screen type the phrase you want to use (e.g. ‘Alexa, play Morning Music’)
- Then tap on ‘Music & Podcasts’
- Pick the service you want to use (Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify, Tidal, TuneIn, Vevo, or Global Player)
- Select the Playlist
- Choose which speaker or device you want to play it on.
Now, when I say “Alexa play morning music” it plays the playlist I selected in Step 9.
Conclusion
So, to sum up: you can’t get Alexa to queue up music so that a series of songs plays one after another. It seems like something you should be able to do, but you can’t.
You can, however, add songs to a Play Queue, but you have to do this manually from within the Amazon Music app.
If you want songs to play one after another, you need to create a playlist in the Amazon Music app. And once you have a playlist, you can tell Alexa to play that playlist. Your playlist will work in much the same way as a queue of songs.