The Best Alexa Smart Speakers

All of the Echo devices are good (some are even great) audio devices, but what makes them especially attractive is that you control them primarily by using simple voice commands. To access a song, an artist, or a music channel, you can say, “Alexa, play the Dead Milkmen,” and your speaker starts playing the music you requested—assuming you’ve connected it to your music subscriptions. All Amazon Echo speakers can play music from Amazon Music Prime, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Apple Music. Some services, such as Pandora and TuneIn, don’t cost anything extra, but Amazon Music Prime requires a Prime subscription (and you can get Amazon Music Unlimited for an additional, per-speaker cost). Apple Music, SiriusXM, and Spotify Premium also require subscriptions.