Very @Soloist 

We've had several releases since, worked by the same teams - so I must admit my  prediction was a bit off and for that I'm sorry. We're running a bit behind on this.

I've been waiting for an update on it as well, but like in any other tech company, timescales get adjusted considering any unplanned circumstances. So I'll ask for you to extend your patience a bit longer, and for you to keep tabs with me directly so that we can follow this closely 

Well… since we are talking about patience, this thread goes back more than two years, so excuse me if I’m a bit doubtful…

I cancelled my subscription and will consider re-subscribing if and when this will be finally implemented. Unfortunately without this feature your service is of little use to me.

Totally understandable @Soloist both for being doubtful and for the fact the feature is really important to you.

Like I said, I believe we're running late because of the other features and fixes we've been releasing recently. If you're subscribed to the topic you'll get a notification when I bring in some good news.

Hopefully it won't be long, I'd love to have you back!

Maybe as a show of commitment, Deezer will extend my trial period till this is implemented?

sad to say that but I have to leave. You don't want to release this important feature since years (!!!) but only come up with excuses.

Goodbye deezer

We don't work that way @Peter Stocks but feel free to reach out to our Customer Care team about your account and payments.

Hey @Camo sorry you feel that way!

It isn't true, our teams have been working with Amazon on a new skill (from scratch) and that will hopefully solve our problems. But we haven't had a release date yet.

It's sad to see you go so I'll pass on the feedback 

I just subscribed to Deezer after reading that it is compatible with Amazon Alexa, but I can’t play my personal playlist.  Playing my personal playlist has represented about 90% of my smart speaker usage. Can I get my money back?  Deezer is nearly useless to me if I can’t play playlists.

Hey @Kev B 

Thanks for the feedback, please see the info above.

If you wish to discuss your account's payment, please reach out to our support:

And again 4 months have passed.

Where is the new Alexa-skill that can handle playlists? Where is the beta-version? When is the release date?

Well, I know that's not very polite or patient but anyway, we already got three years of procrastination for a mandatory functionality that every other streaming provider offers.

Procrastination is a bit harsh, I must say @Camo - especially because you haven't see the work done behind the scenes. But as a user I totally understand how you feel.

When the feature is part of our app, things move quicker, generally. But when it's part of a 3rd party integration, there are other factors that determine our development work. Also, like in any other tech company, every feature development is part of a prioritisation exercise at the top here at Deezer. In sum, all I can ask you is for a bit more patience. At the moment our teams are working on reducing bugs drastically and as soon as we're in a better position on this, we'll go back to what we were working on before 

I, too, am on a trial period with Deezer and use my Amazon Echo Studios as my primary speakers. Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify all permit playing one’s own playlist. Tidal does not, and Qobuz doesn’t work at all on my Echo Studios.

Amazon Music HD sounds fantastic and its catalog is exhaustive, but Alexa Cast is buggy and Amazon Music in general is unreliable, frequently stopping the music play, sometimes (oftentimes) after the first song. So I support Deezer getting this right before releasing it. But yes, three years is a long time for this project.

Spotify Connect is the gold standard in my opinion, it makes using the Echo Studios a real pleasure. But so far I prefer Deezer for the sound quality (which exceeds Spotify’s IMO), the user interface (including a pleasant color palette and layout), the song catcher feature, the smooth music play, and the overall feel of the app. Spotify’s pending hi-fi may close the gap for me, especially given their noticeably larger catalog, but I want to love Deezer.

Apple has no casting feature, but playing my playlists is a big plus, and their sound quality has improved with the lossless, Dolby Atmos, et al. upgrades. They seem to have every song imaginable.

Tidal sounds great, but even with my excellent wi-fi, it has buffering issues. And Tidal connect does not work with Echo, and no personal playlists through Alexa. It does help that they name the daily playlists by number, “My Mix 2”, which makes it easy for Alexa to recognize and play them. Deezer’s use of “daily” for all of their daily mixes means I cannot listen to them through Alexa (unless I am missing something?).  So re-naming those or implementing a connect feature would be huge.

All said, Deezer has an opportunity to join the ranks of my streaming services. A Spotify Connect-style feature would cement that, and being able to play the daily playlists and my own playlists would certainly help.

Thank you to whoever is reading and listening.

G

 

Hi there @GropplerZorn 
Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback, it's super useful and well written.

Please check this out:

And bear in mind, I also have good news: our new Alexa skill is almost done - stay tuned to the community!

So I thought I would pass along a tip I have found helpful while we all wait patiently for the new deezer Alexa skill to drop.

Many times Alexa will not recognize my request to play a certain playlist or song. This is compounded by the fact that I listen to a lot of Latin music and Deutschrap. Alexa doesn’t get the request right even though I know deezer (or whatever streaming service you are using) has the playlist, song, album etc.in the catalog.  I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve said, “Alexa, play the playlist ‘Deutschrap Hype’ on deezer” to no avail.

Enter Alexa routines. Mind you, this will not allow you to play your own playlists on deezer or Tidal (although it will on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music). But it will permit you to play almost anything in the library with ease. I say almost anything, because deezer’s baffling choice to name all of their daily playlists “daily” still defeats this solution. Alexa will play a daily deezer mix when I program a routine using “Play ‘daily’ Playlist” on deezer, but it’s not any of the daily mixes on my app, those that are tailored to my listening preferences.

You can Google “Alexa routines” for instructions, but it is extremely simple.

1. Open the Alexa app .
2. Open More  and select Routines.
3. Select Plus .
4. Select When this happens, and follow the steps in the app to choose what starts your routine.
5. Select Add action, and follow the steps in the app to choose the action of your routine. You can select multiple actions for the same routine.
6. Select Save.

I choose to name my routines after their corresponding playlist, e.g. “Hype” for the deezer playlist Deutschrap Hype.  I then choose a simple command like, “Alexa, time for Hype.”  I leave the “Deutschrap” out because it is obviously Alexa’s sticking point in the first place.

It then becomes a simple matter to play anything on Alexa (other than one’s own playlists, ahem, deezer).

It is still not as nice as Spotify Connect, but it has been my go-to workaround with deezer and Apple Music. I’ve grown so frustrated with Tidal and Amazon Music HD’s streaming (apparently buffering) issues that I am rarely using them anymore. I am discontinuing my free Qobuz trial for a number of reasons, but that’s another thread (and probably another forum).

And as long as I am here, I was disappointed to read on these forums that deezer does not stream in hi-fi on my Amazon Echo Studios (unless I read/interpreted that incorrectly, I am open to correction). This will likely mean that in the event that deezer comes through with this new Alexa skill during my trial period, and it is functional and impressive enough for me to elect to begin a paid subscription, I will likely move from a hi-fi subscription to a premium sub.

To be fair, apparently Apple Music does not stream in ALAC (Apple lossless) on the Echo Studios, either, as the ALAC is not yet supported. And Spotify (currently, pre-Spotify hi-fi era) streams in the 320kbps Ogg Vorbis. As far as I know, Amazon Music HD and Tidal are the only services streaming in hi-fi/hi-res to my Studios, and while the sound quality is outstanding, both of those services are glitchy and frustrating, which makes me question the viability of streaming hi-res music at all on the Studios (my wifi is superb). Apple and Spotify sound fantastic on the Studios and I would expect that deezer premium would as well.

As always, thank you to whoever is reading and listening.

G

Again breaking the barriers of community sharing and feedback @GropplerZorn 

I've quoted your comments to our teams, as an example of an important user contribution. I hope we can reduce these shortcomings you mentioned in the near future 

Thank you for sharing your opinion with us!

How close is almost?

I’m on my second trial sub’ with Deezer and I cancelled it last time (two years ago!) because it didn’t work properly with Alexa and it still doesn’t! There are millions of active Amazon Echo devices in the world and the biggest single purpose they’re used for is music streaming and Deezer doesn’t think that’s a priority feature?

It’s not just the fact that I can’t request any personal playlists using Alexa, it’s the fact that when you request Deezer Editor playlists you don’t always get those either, you get some obscure album or band with a name that’s vaguely similar.

You can’t enable Shuffle Mode on any of the available playlists.

If I request my ‘Monday Discovery’ playlist I get what appears to be someone else’s Monday Discovery playlist full of awful stuff I have never listened to.

So it seems you don’t give any priority to music or playlists previously played or favourite-d on each account, you just flail around looking for something with a vaguely similar name and play that? The Deezer app’s are good but Deezer on Alexa is just clueless. Are you ever going to sort this out or do I just switch back to Spotify again?

Same question here, any update? I kept my account alive on deezer free and didn’t delete my app in the hope that these long-promised updates would be here soon.

I saw the Flow update, which is a nice touch, but that Alexa skill update and personal playlist support is the big one. 

Streaming in hifi to my Echo Studios as part of the hifi plan also seems a reasonable request, since Tidal does that for me, and for less money.

I would love to support deezer. Somebody help me out here.

G

Deezer has been saying that they're working on this and that the feature is coming very soon and just to have a bit more patience for the last two years, it really is a joke now. 

I respectfully disagree. I am not so naive as to believe that this is as simple as writing a few lines of code. If you look at the major streaming services and what they have been able to do with Alexa, deezer remains competitive, even without the proposed improvements.

Deezer offers Alexa integration and functionality with Alexa and works without issues on my Echo Studios. The do not yet have a remote connectivity function or support personal playlists. I think their decision not to stream in hifi is a deliberate one, as Tidal and Amazon (the only services to stream in hifi to the Studios) have both had issues.

Tidal does not have a remote connectivity function or support personal playlists. They do stream in hi-fi, but up until recently, I had constant, nagging issues with buffering, pausing, and stopping.

Apple does not have a remote connectivity function, they do support personal playlists. They do not stream in hi-fi, in fact, it’s 256 AAC.

Qobuz is not compatible at all.

YouTube Music is not compatible at all.

Spotify has a remote connectivity function and supports personal playlists. They do not stream in hi-fi.

Amazon Music has a remote connectivity function and supports personal playlists. They do stream in hi-fi. Their remote connectivity feature, Alexa Cast, leaves much to be desired. it does not remain connected the way that Spotify Connect does, but drops its connection after several songs of play. Their hi-fi streaming, up until last month, was so bad that I cancelled my Amazon Music subscription. It has improved, but Amazon Music serves as an example that these things need to be well thought-out, designed, and tested before implementation. And Amazon is dealing with their own music service and their own hardware.

I’m willing to be patient, there are more things I like about deezer than things I could complain about.

G

I love Deezer but this should be a priority for them. It's obviously not as simple as a few lines of code but if Amazon and Spotify can do this (and it's a big thing for me) I might switch. Streaming in hifi doesn't bother me I just don't want to have to keep Bluetooth connecting my phone to my Alexa to be able to play from my playlists.

Amazon has the distinct advantage that they are dealing with their own hardware and their own ecosystem. Spotify Connect is unique, no one else has that system. I don't think either of your comparisons are accurate or fair.

Deezer has soundcatcher, no one else has an integrated music ID app, not even the giants in the industry.

Deezer’s new customizable Flow is also unique to the industry.

I do understand your wanting the connectivity, though. Maybe deezer isn’t for you. Like everyone else, you have to look at the big picture and weigh your options.

Please, hurry am tired of calling out each song every time. #PlaylistsOnAmazonAlexa

In two years of developpement there is really no update ??

By curiosity, isn’t the problem on the side of amazon ? It seams that alexa can’t undersdand words, or assembly of words, which aren’t in its base, and so, it can’t understand the name of small artists, and playlists ? 

However in two years those problems should have been solved...

I wanted to chime in as my annual membership is coming up for renewal.  The playlists are definitely an ongoing concern for me, most specifically because of the trouble I have of playing anything that does not have an English name that Alexa can identify properly.  Oh the constant headache of selecting songs by “Gabri Ponte”…..

I’m hoping for some good news on the new skill, especially as I use this more and more in my car via Echo Auto.  In the meantime, I think I’m going to have to revert to the free service and give a shot at Amazon Music monthly hoping for the best here.

Love Deezer, then discoverability of My Flow is mostly awesome, but that playlist support...

Hi Santama,

See my post above in this thread, the one about about Alexa routines, for a simple workaround for those difficult names.

Cheers,

G

Thanks for that!  Yes, routines work as a way to select particularly difficult artists, though no substitute for actually playing your own play lists which would be ideal. 

Hoping that new skill comes soon!