Can Alexa Play Music From Hard Drive?

Can Alexa Play Music From Hard Drive?
Can Alexa Play Music From Hard Drive?

Alexa is one of the best smart home assistants that you can get your hands on. It has made our lives much more convenient, and most of us who are used to it cannot imagine a life without Alexa.

Most of the time, it is the perfect starting point, and you will be surprised by the performance of this unit.

The best thing here is that you will be able to stick to a minimal price point.

Including this unit in your existing smart system might just be one of the best decisions you can make this year, and there are no complicated routines associated with this system.

So, if you’re planning on developing a smart system around a single assistant, then going with Alexa will serve you perfectly.

These units have dominated the market for years and will continue to do so for many more. All it takes is a bit of investment on your end, and you’ll be sorted.

With that said, there are just tons of features out there that make our lives simpler, and one can not help but wonder about the possibilities that come to reality with Alexa.

Still, we are always looking to find out if Alexa can do more and if there is something that we don’t know yet about it.

Can Alexa Play Music From Hard Drive

Is it possible?

One such question is if Alexa can play music from your hard drive. We all know that Alexa has the ability to search millions of songs and tracks online and all you have to do is ask Alexa to play a song for you.

However, if you have some mixtapes of your own that you want to enjoy, or you might have some playlists stored on the hard drive that you want to be played.

YES, it is possible for Alexa to play music from your hard drive, and it is not much of a hassle either.

All you need to do is configure it properly, and you can have another interesting feature that would help you out with playing music through Alexa that is stored on your hard drive.

The best and simplest way to play music from a hard drive onto the Alexa unit is by using the streaming features.

apple music

You will not be able to get any performance from the unit without first connecting the PC with the Alexa speakers. So, be sure to keep all that in mind when trying to set up the system. 

Streaming Much From Hard Drive

The first thing that you need to do here is to turn on the Bluetooth on your PC and then open up the Alexa application to connect that to your system.

It will take a few seconds at max, and the connection will be established between the two devices. 

After you’re through with the connection, the next thing that you need to do is to allow relevant permissions to the device.

From there, you can open up the audio playback settings and switch over to the Echo unit to stream the audio from these speakers.

At this stage, you just have to open up the audio file or the music file that you wish to play, and the audio will come from the speaker.

This will include everything that is stored on your device, as well as any applications with the audio output. 

bluetooth

The audio output from the PC will remain on the Alexa speakers as long as the devices are connected through Bluetooth.

So, be sure to keep all of these pointers in mind, and you will not have to deal with any complications down the road. 

Hopefully, you will be sorted at this point and will not have to worry about any challenging situations down the road.

However, if you’re not that sold on the idea of using the Streaming features directly, there are some other applications that can help you out.

These applications might be a bit hard to configure at first, but you will surely get a favorable response down the road. 

These applications include My Media, Plex Media, OurJukebox, and My Pod. All of these options will help you play music from any direct source as long as the storage unit is connected to the network.

So, if you don’t want to rely on Bluetooth, then these options will serve you just as well. 

How to do it?

You might not be able to make it possible with simply Alexa and your regular Echo device, but you will need an additional application to do it.

This application will make sure that you are getting the right access to your PC and hard drive and not mess up some other things.

  1. My Media

My Media is the application that you are going to need if you want to stream your music from your hardware and play it through Alexa. The application is available on the Amazon store and can be downloaded easily.

  1. Plex Media

You can use this option to run any network-attached storage drive, and it will play any audio file that is stored on the hard drive.

So, if you’re not that sold on the My Media option, this is the next best thing. There are no subscription fees here, but the performance is also limited. 

Some owners have pointed out that you can’t access the album art, and the response times are a bit high.

However, you’re not left with many options when the My Media option is not working out for you. So, be sure to try out Plex media as well. 

  1. OurJukebox 

This allows Alexa to search the connected units for all the audio files by titles and genres. Depending on how you pair up the storage device with the network, you can rely on this option for pairing the system.

It will not take that much effort on your end, and you have a decent shot at getting a reasonable response from the streaming service.

However, some owners did mention compatibility issues and complex configurations when sticking with this unit. So, be sure to have that in mind as well.

  1. My Pod

This option is unique and also helps you with Google Drive links and other storage options.

The good thing here is that you don’t need any media servers to make use of this service. So, if you’re not sold on any of the options above, then going with My Pod should do the trick for you.

Lastly, you should just revisit the Bluetooth streaming option and pair up your PC with the Alexa speakers.

That way, the audio output will be from the Alexa speakers, and you will not have to deal with any long-term errors. 

How to configure it?

Now, you will need the proper configuration to make it work for you, and that should not be much hassle.

alexa

Once you have installed the application, it will ask for your amazon account and then access your home media library or iTunes library. It can work perfectly with any sort of platform that you might be using.

Now, all you need to take care of is that you are using the same amazon account on your Alexa-enabled device that you used for the My Media app. You will also need to ensure that both devices are connected to the internet.

Enjoy!

So, once you have made sure that all the above steps are in order and there is nothing missing on your end, you will be able to access the music in your library.

You will only need to command Alexa to play the track you want with the name, and it will do your bidding as usual. It is totally safe, and Alexa will not be broadcasting any of it over the internet, either.

Wrapping Up

Want to use Alexa to play music from the hard drive? Relying on the pointers listed here will help you get the ideal response from the speakers.

All it takes is a bit of effort on your end as you try to engage the smart features. Most of the time, Bluetooth will have you sorted here.

However, if you’re not that sure about Bluetooth and want to rely on dedicated applications, then we have listed some of the more viable options, including the Plex Media and the My Media players.

These will have you sorted in the long run, and you will not feel the need to switch.

The configurations are fairly easy to manage most of the time, and it will not take that much effort on your end.

All that you have to do is to pair up the smart skills and then go about following the on-screen instructions. From there, the functionality is as simple as accessing music from the hard drive.

Lastly, you should also reach out to local experts or other users on the online forums that have developed their setup in a similar way.

They will make your life much easier, and you will not have to deal with as many errors when it comes to the smart home system. 

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