Cortana can now control Spotify playback on Windows 10

Groove Music and Spotify
Groove Music and Spotify (Image credit: Windows Central)

As Groove Music streaming sails off into the sunset, Microsoft has been pushing Spotify as its replacement, even going so far as to offer a way for Groove users to migrate over. It makes sense, then, that Spotify would also replace Groove in another are: Cortana.

Cortana can now control music playback through Spotify as part of an integration that was already in testing with Insiders but is now available to everyone – provided your region is set to U.S. (via Reddit). All you have to do to get started is head to Cortana's Notebook from the search bar on your desktop, select "Music," and then log in with your Spotify credentials. Afterwards, you'll be able to ask Cortana to play artists, tracks, and otherwise control playback with a number of different commands. Examples include:

  • Play dance music on Spotify
  • Play my discover weekly playlist on Spotify
  • Play <Artist/Track/Title/Genre/Mood> on [[ appname ]]
  • Play some Drake
  • Play focus music
  • Play rock music
  • Play my tracks

If you've made the jump from Groove to Spotify, this integration will no doubt come in handy. It's a shame it's currently limited to people located in the U.S., but that limitation is easily circumvented by changing your system regiuon and language.

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Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl