Amazon introduces Alexa Cast, a new way to play Amazon Music

Google and Amazon continue to compete for the dominance of the smart home, their products and features are starting to look like … well, the same thing. On Thursday, July 26, Amazon launched a new feature called Amazon Cast, which allows users to decide what's playing on their Alexa speakers from their phone.

If this sounds familiar to you, it's because Google has a very similar Cast feature, which also allows users to "extend your Android, iOS or Chrome application to direct its video and audio streams to a TV or an audio system. " For now, it would seem that the Alexa version of the feature is not quite robust because it works exclusively with the Amazon Music app and only allows music playback. But ultimately, it seems likely that Amazon will expand its features, allowing users to control the playback of movies, podcasts and just about any other content.

In the state, Alexa Cast is compatible with all Alexa compatible devices. This means that the entire Echo line, Alexa's third-party speakers (such as Sonos) and some Amazon Fire devices can all work with the new feature. Starting Thursday, you'll see a new icon in your Amazon Music app on Android and iOS for Alexa Cast on the Now Playing screen. If you press this button, all connected Alexa devices will display and you can choose the one you want to stream your music to. The app stays connected to the speaker, so you can continue to control music remotely, no matter where you are in your home (or out of it).

Currently, the easiest and most obvious way to control music on Alexa devices is through your voice. Although you can also use Bluetooth to control your movements, there is nothing better than Alexa Cast in the past, which is rather surprising. But now that the feature has arrived, users should be able to select a speaker and start playing music much more effectively.

For the moment, unfortunately, no third-party application is supported, so you can not, your iTunes library or your Spotify playlists. That said, a spokeswoman for Amazon told The Verge: "We will continue to improve this feature and extend its support over time."