Amazon has been a dark horse in the digital music industry for years, and the conglomerate is beginning to emerge from the shadows as a more visible player in the space. Financial Times reported last week that Amazon Music Unlimited has grown its subscriber base by about 70% in the past year. Continue Reading
Amazon has carved out a large amount of territory in the smart speaker market, and it may have another effort under way to reach new audiences. Bloomberg reported that Amazon could be working on an Echo smart speaker with improved audio quality, one that could rival the high-end, audiophile options on the market. Continue Reading
Voice assistants have been gaining in popularity, but many people are cautious about the technology for privacy reasons. When a microphone is constantly on and waiting to respond to a possible command, is it recording any and all other audio? And what happens with those recordings? Continue Reading
Amazon announced a refresh of its smart speaker designed specifically for children. The Echo Dot Kids Edition was first released last April. Despite the new developments, Amazon and its Alexa voice assistant has raised some kid-focused privacy concerns. Continue Reading
Guest columnist Zach Fuller, of MIDiA Research, looks at the history of audio disruption, and explores how Amazon’s free streaming service could advance the company’s global aspirations. “Embellishing the Prime pipeline through a free-streaming service is effectively the same strategy that RCA employed to incentivise radio adoption.” Continue Reading
Amazon is rolling out a new use for Alexa for people using its Audible audiobook service. Beginning today, the voice assistant can be used to contact the customer support team for the Audible audiobook platform. We inadvertently tested it. Continue Reading
Amazon has followed through on the launch of an ad-supported streaming music service, a move that was initially scouted by Billboard earlier this week. However, the early reports did not include one pertinent detail: the platform will only be available through the company’s Alexa voice assistant. Continue Reading
Amazon has introduced a certification for developers building skills for its Alexa voice assistant. The certification is fittingly called AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty. Amazon said this marks the first time it has provided a certification for developers. Continue Reading
Billboard is reporting this morning that Amazon plans to offer and ad-supported streaming music service possibly similar to services offered by Pandora or Spotify. If true, service would join other Amazon listening services already in the market. Continue Reading
Amazon has made its Alexa Skills Blueprints program available to all users, a move that will allow anyone to create and publish content for Alexa-enabled devices. The program has a series of templates for making content available on the voice assistant ecosystem. Continue Reading
Amazon reported its fourth-quarter financial results, closing the year with more big numbers and a big focus on its smart speakers. CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos gave a comment for the earnings press release, but his sole focus was the company’s voice assistant and smart home collection. Continue Reading
The latest development from Amazon Alexa is a more nuanced change in its language skills. The assistant now has the option to adopt the speech cadences and delivery of a professional newscaster. We tested it — click for the audio. Continue Reading