19 August, 2017
This doesn't come as a total surprise since back at Google I/O in May, the search giant announced that its Smart Speaker would eventually support Spotify's free and paid levels of service.
Starting now, free users will be able to enjoy and control music through a Google Home device, just as premium subscribers have been able to do since the launch of the home hub, Spotify said Friday.
Alphabet's decision comes following a May announcement that Google's Home speaker would become compatible with more music and streaming services, including Deezer, SoundCloud, HBO Now and Hulu. However, there was one thing that it couldn't do - make calls.
For all the talk of how voice assistants could be the future of IoT or computing in general, the only consistently engaging use of home assistants like Echo or Google Home seems to be audio playback.
This means people with a home hub will now be able to use their device as a stand-alone smart speaker. One can call all the contacts stored in his/her Google accounts by using the following command-line - Ok Google, call my dad.
Once you decide to unpair a device from the settings you'll find a new voice command for enabling pairing "Ok Google, Pair a device" however my Google Home isn't accepting this command yet, telling me "Sorry, I don't understand". For what it's worth, Google Support chat says it's live and here to stay and we're really hoping it is this time.
Today, Google is making it a bit easier for the cheapos to get in on the action, as it's beginning to roll out support for Spotify free accounts on its Home platform.
