Amazon Fire TV turns up the tunes with Spotify Connect

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It's not quite the same as having a full-fledged Spotify app, but owners of Amazon's little black box can now make beautiful music with their smartphone or tablet in hand.

Spotify announced the availability of Spotify Connect support for Amazon Fire TV, which allows the tech companies' mutual customers to "enjoy the music together" without the need to install an app on the media streaming device.

Instead of a dedicated app for Fire TV, Spotify Connect takes advantage of the Spotfiy app already on your smartphone or tablet, allowing users to stream potentially millions of songs from anywhere within Wi-Fi range.

There is one catch: This mash-up won't work unless you have a paid Spotify Premium subscription, which is a requirement of Spotify Connect to begin with. Oh, and you'll have to be a US resident.

Better together

"You can seamlessly switch your favorite music from your mobile to the TV and continue to make calls, use other smartphone apps and go out of Wi-Fi range, all without interrupting the music," Spotify explained in a brief blog post.

Launched more than a year ago, Spotify Connect offers subscribers a way to hook up to supported hardware from anywhere in the home, as long as the connected speakers are within the reach of a Wi-Fi connection.

Amazon Fire TV joins a long list of hardware launch partners already Connect-ing, including Samsung, Revo, Sony, Denon, Yamaha, Panasonic and Pioneer. The set-top requires the latest version of the mobile app in addition to a Spotify Premium subscription.

This may not be quite as cool as actually having a standalone Spotify app for Fire TV, but being able to beam millions of songs to yet another piece of hardware in your home without having to pay extra is certainly welcome.

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