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Is there a good way to have Alexa play iTunes music from various devices

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Alexa in Canada

I have searched this topic in a number of forums without a good answer. Is there a good way to have Alexa control the playback of iTunes from either computer or mobile devices.

A common thing we do is play our iTunes music from our phones to our stereo with is equipped with Apple Play and Bluetooth. However, it must be initiated from our phone after the music is selected and started to play. I would like to be able to do this from Alexa if possible.

I have Harmony Hub, Plex, SONOS, Chromecast and a variety of Apple devices computers and mobile. I do not have Apple TV, as I just have not found a good reason to admit yet.

Any suggestions?

« Last Edit: January 06, 2018, 09:47:04 am by Alexa in Canada »

mike27oct

Re: Is there a good way to have Alexa play iTunes music from various devices
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2018, 09:12:59 pm »
For most people send from Phone via BT to Alexa device is best way.  There are ways to do this so search for iTunes Media on this forum for some ideas of how to do it.

Alexa in Canada

Re: Is there a good way to have Alexa play iTunes music from various devices
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2018, 08:11:12 am »
Thanks for the response, but I don’t want to play from my phone on the Alexa device, that would be pretty straight forward.

I was wondering if anyone has found a way to have Alexa control the phone, meaning start playing music in the phone and possibly even select a device from the phone like my stereo to play on. I was looking into Apples iTunes remote app, but I am not sure if I can control it externally.

For example, the Sonos app on a phone can play music from the iTunes library found on the phone. I can start playing my phone on Sonos and then ask Alexa to start or stop playing on Sonos, but, I was hoping for a way that I could have Alexa trigger a routine that would start playing the music on my phone or my computer.


asianrocker

Re: Is there a good way to have Alexa play iTunes music from various devices
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2018, 09:12:07 am »
For PC music for the nth time people Windows DO have an AI and my fave actually. Coz there is nothing a PC can't do. I did google cortana and itunes and I came upon a reddit thread which I don't know why I always choose reddit thread. LOL but people have been using cortana to play their PC music since 2015!!!!! Wake up I know this is echo thread but Cortana does exist. LOL. apparently since 2015.

mike27oct

Re: Is there a good way to have Alexa play iTunes music from various devices
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2018, 03:19:57 pm »
Although I have a newer iPhone with a lot of storage spece today, I still keep no music or videos on either my iPhone or iPad (a waste of storage space unless it is for temporary storage).  I stream all my music and video from my NAS server to them, or to other devices, like Alexa gadgets (either locally or remotely --,I could stream them if I was at your house from my NAS server!)


Alexa in Canada

Re: Is there a good way to have Alexa play iTunes music from various devices
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2018, 05:55:44 pm »
I kind of answered my own question by digging a bit.  Given the variety of things I have available, I decided that adding my iTunes music from my PC to my PLEX media server might be best. I know I can stream from my PC to my Chromecast connected to my stereo.

I got everything working up to the Alexa part. I added the PLEX skill to Alexa but it requires remote management of PLEX. When I tried to set that up I ran into a double NAT issue since I have two routers in my home network, my Cable TV modem router and my Linksys router. Up until now having two NAT devices was not a problem since I did not want to log into anything remotely at home. 

Since Alexa needs this, I am trying to figure out if there is any solution other than Bridging my Linksys router which will lose all my router functions. Still pondering this.

« Last Edit: January 07, 2018, 05:57:36 pm by Alexa in Canada »