Yes, Alexa can identify songs that it's playing for you — here's how to do it manually, or set Alexa to identify automatically

• Your Alexa-enabled smart speaker can identify songs, but you'll need to say a specific phrase: "Alexa, what song is this?"
• If you're listening to music through Amazon Music, you can also turn on the Song ID feature, which will cause Alexa to announce the name of each song before it starts playing.
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Your Amazon Echo speaker is smarter than it lets on.

One of Alexa's skills is the ability to identify what song is playing, whenever you ask.

There are two ways to get Alexa to identify music: by request, and automatically. Here's how to use both.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Amazon Echo 3rd Gen (From $79.99 at Amazon)

How to make Alexa identify songs on request

Any time Alexa is playing music, simply say, "Alexa what song is playing?" The assistant will briefly interrupt the song to announce the name and artist of the song.

This feature has limitations — it only works if you're streaming music from a streaming music catalog like Spotify or Amazon Music.

If you're listening to a radio station, Alexa can identify the name of the station, but not the song that's playing.

How to make Alexa identify songs automatically

If you're listening to music through Amazon Music, you can set Alexa to announce the name and artist of every song automatically.

Simply say, "Alexa, turn on Song ID."

Again, this will only work for songs played through Amazon Music.

If Spotify is your default music player, you can force Alexa to use Amazon Music by saying, "Alexa, play [your music choice] on Amazon Music."

If you get tired of the Song ID feature, you can disable it by saying "Alexa, turn off Song ID."

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• Your Alexa device can play radio stations — you just need to enable the feature on the Alexa app

• How to disconnect Spotify from your Alexa speaker, and stop sharing data between your accounts

• How to play podcasts on your Alexa-enabled smart speaker

• How to add SiriusXM to your Alexa-enabled device and listen to your favorite satellite stations

• How to play Apple Music using Alexa on your Amazon Echo speaker