Why doesn't Echo just play a song?

[bretleduc]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times already so sorry for the repeat but...
Why do I have to add a music service or subscription or something to the Echo in order to play a song?
Why cant you just say "Alexa play Miracles by Jefferson Starship" right out of the box without installing, adding or subscribing to anything?
I personally don't own an Echo but I was helping a friend set his up and we came across this problem, that Echo doesn't just play music inherently.
Maybe someone at Amazon will read this (and the millions of other requests to make Echo just play a song hassle free) and talk to their people to make future versions of Alexa just play music hassle free.

[mike27oct]

Hmmm, this is a question from someone without an Echo helping another person set up his new Echo, . . .  this is a classic case of the blind leading the blind.  The answer to your question is simply: because it doesn't.  Get an Echo device (and learn something about it), and then we can have a better conversation about this.  (Hint: you need an Amazon account; and ideally, an Amazon Prime account, as one reason.)

[strayfish]

Why cant you just say "Alexa play Miracles by Jefferson Starship" right out of the box without installing, adding or subscribing to anything?

Maybe someone at Amazon will read this (and the millions of other requests to make Echo just play a song hassle free) and talk to their people to make future versions of Alexa just play music hassle free.

I don't know how you anticipate Amazon keeping that music, how they would own it for distribution purposes, or even how big it would need to be to suit everyone. But because all organisations wanting to distribute music have to pay the record companies and everyone else right down the the artists who create it or risk legal action or banned from using their catalogue, there'd have to be a charge. The Echo is a conduit, not an independent device, its job is to mediate between you and a thing you want, but usually you still have to pay for the thing you want. Amazon has its own subscription service, also if you buy music through them and store it there, you can access that via Echo/Dot. Spotify has a free element you can use but for choice you need to subscribe so they can pay the artists who make the music and that seems fair enough to me.

[jim1590]

To put it simply, your friend does not own the song. Or does not own it in a means that the echo is aware of it.

Would you plug in a new 55 inch LCD tv and expect it to play House of Cards simply by asking? No, you need to either own a copy to play, or subscribe to a service that hosts it and allows you to stream it.