When it comes to playing audio books on Amazon Echo, will you directly select Audible store to purchase and download audiobooks for listening on Echo? There is no doubt that Audible is the world's biggest producer and seller of downloadable audiobooks. But please don't miss another wonderful online digital store, iTunes, in which you can also discover tons of popular audiobooks in different categories.
According to Amazon's announcement in last week, Amazon's Echo speakers will work well directly with Apple Music starting December 17. So, how about listening to iTunes audio books on Amazon Echo? Can you ask Alexa to play audiobooks from iTunes on Echo? Although you can't enjoy iTunes audiobooks on Echo devices like playing Apple Music on Echo currently, there are still two ways to make iTunes audio files playable on Amazon Echo.
Part 1. How to Play iTunes Audiobooks on Amazon Echo via Bluetooth
To make the user experience of using Amazon Echo better, Amazon been committing to add more streaming music services into this smart speaker. So that users can stream audio tracks from different sources and play them via Alexa, its voice assistant directly.
Up to now, Amazon Echo provides hands-free voice control for the following hot and popular music streaming sites, including Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, iHearRadio, Tuneln and coming Apple Music. Obviously, iTunes audiobooks are not contained in this compatible list. But fortunately, Amazon Echo supports Bluetooth feature meaning that you can stream iTunes audio books on Echo from your mobile device with Bluetooth connection.
Step 1. To make Amazon Echo in Bluetooth mode, you just need to say 'Alexa, pair'. If there is another device paired with Echo, please say 'Alexa, cancel' to unlink it.
Step 2. Enter to 'Setting' option on your mobile device and then tap the 'Bluetooth' button to turn this function on. Under 'MY DEVICES' section, you just need to tap the target Echo device.
Step 3. Once paired well, navigate to iTunes app to play favorite audiobooks. At the same time, playing iTunes audio books will be streamed to Echo automatically.
Part 2. Upload iTunes Audiobooks to Amazon Cloud for Playback on Echo
It's an easy way to get iTunes audiobooks on Amazon Echo through Bluetooth. But sometimes it's a little inconvenient as it requires keeping mobile phone in hand or nearby. And you can't ask Amazon voice assistant to play your iTunes audiobooks. So here, we will also introduce alternative way to enable iTunes audio file on Echo so that you can control your iTunes book playback via Alexa without using other devices.
The way is to upload iTunes audio books to Amazon Music Cloud. Since iTunes audiobooks are protected by FairPlay DRM technology and encoded in M4B audio format, you need to bypass this limitation and convert iTunes M4B books to Echo compatible audio files, like MP3 before syncing. AudFree iTunes Audiobook Converter is highly recommended to make it possible, which is specialized in breaking DRM lock while converting iTunes books to MP3, FLAC, M4A, AAC, etc. for users to enjoy audiobooks easier.
AudFree iTunes Audiobook Converter
Steps to Upload iTunes Audiobooks to Amazon Music
The following is a complete tutorial to guide you how to convert iTunes DRM M4B audiobooks to common MP3 files and transfer converted iTunes books to Amazon Music library with the help of AudFree iTunes Audiobook Converter.
- Step 1Add downloaded iTunes audiobooks to AudFree
- Please download favorite iTunes audio files on your computer firstly. Now, you can click the first 'Add Files' button to load iTunes library to AudFree. And then, you can start to choose target iTunes audiobooks from iTunes library. Or you can drag and drop iTunes files from iTunes folder on your computer to AudFree conversion window to add them.
- Step 2Set output audio parameters for Amazon Echo
- Amazon Echo is compatible with MP3, AAC, M3U audio streams, etc. You can click the 'audio' icon next to the 'Convert' button at the bottom-right corner to open setting window, where you can define output format, customize bit rate, sample rate, audio channel, codec, etc. as you like.
- Step 3Convert iTunes Audiobooks for Amazon Echo
- When all settings are done, just simply press the 'Convert' button to launch the converting process. AudFree iTunes Audiobook Converter will run at 30X faster speed to remove FairPlay DRM protection from iTunes music and convert iTunes audiobooks to MP3 files supported by Amazon Echo. After conversion, you can locate unprotected iTunes books by clicking the 'history' icon.
- Step 4Upload iTunes audiobooks to Amazon Music Cloud
- Just launch Amazon Music for Mac/PC on your computer, and then you can drag and drop the folder including converted iTunes unprotected books to the 'Upload' selection under 'Actions' in the right sidebar or you can touch the 'Upload' button to browse your local media folder and choose iTunes book files or folders to upload.
Once all audio files are uploaded to Amazon Music library, you will be able to use voice command via Alexa to play iTunes audiobooks stored in Amazon Music Cloud on your Amazon Echo directly. The only thing you should know is that you can only upload 250 iTunes audio files to Amazon Music Cloud for free.
Ivan Scott
Staff Editor
