Amazon kills Alexa’s ability to control Echo speakers’ AUX input

亚马逊取消 Alexa 控制 Echo 音箱 AUX 输入的功能

Amazon has disabled Alexa control of devices plugged into the company’s Echo smart speaker’s AUX port. Users have reported receiving an email from Amazon this week informing them of the change. 亚马逊已禁用 Alexa 对插入其 Echo 智能音箱 AUX 接口设备的控制功能。本周，有用户反馈收到了亚马逊发来的邮件，告知了这一变动。

“This is a reminder that as of today, voice commands to control your Echo device’s Aux input are no longer available. Requests like ‘Alexa, play from line in” or “Alexa, set aux input’ will no longer work,” an email that Amazon sent reads, according to a screenshot a Reddit user shared this week. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the news to Ars Technica today. 根据一位 Reddit 用户本周分享的截图，亚马逊发送的邮件中写道：“特此提醒，从即日起，通过语音指令控制 Echo 设备 AUX 输入的功能将不再可用。诸如‘Alexa，从线路输入播放’或‘Alexa，设置 AUX 输入’之类的请求将无法再使用。”亚马逊发言人今日向 Ars Technica 证实了这一消息。

Amazon hasn’t made an Echo with a 3.5 mm port in years. The change affects only some older Echo devices: the Echo Plus 2nd Gen (released in 2018), Echo 3rd Gen (released in 2019), Echo Studio 1st Gen (released in 2019), and Echo 4th Gen (released in 2020). 亚马逊已经多年没有生产带有 3.5 毫米接口的 Echo 设备了。此次变动仅影响部分较旧的 Echo 设备：Echo Plus 第二代（2018 年发布）、Echo 第三代（2019 年发布）、Echo Studio 第一代（2019 年发布）以及 Echo 第四代（2020 年发布）。

The physical AUX inputs continue to work, so users can still listen to audio from a device connected to an Echo’s 3.5 mm port. They can also continue to use the Alexa app to enable or disable a supporting speaker’s AUX input. 物理 AUX 接口仍可正常工作，因此用户依然可以通过连接到 Echo 3.5 毫米接口的设备收听音频。他们也可以继续使用 Alexa 应用程序来启用或禁用支持该功能的音箱的 AUX 输入。

Amazon’s representative also noted that users can still connect a device to their Echo via Bluetooth, which is likely the most common way of connecting third-party devices to Amazon speakers today. The spokesperson said that very few people use voice commands to control audio from a device connected to an Echo’s AUX, which suggests that few users are affected. 亚马逊代表还指出，用户仍然可以通过蓝牙将设备连接到 Echo，这很可能是目前将第三方设备连接到亚马逊音箱最常用的方式。发言人表示，很少有人使用语音指令来控制连接到 Echo AUX 接口的设备音频，这表明受影响的用户并不多。

Still, it’s frustrating to see a company remove a feature from purchased devices that users may have relied on for years and without a stated reason. Amazon’s representative didn’t answer Ars’ questions about why Amazon removed this Alexa capability or how many users are affected. 尽管如此，看到一家公司在没有说明理由的情况下，从用户可能已经依赖多年的已购设备中移除某项功能，依然令人感到沮丧。亚马逊代表并未回答 Ars 关于亚马逊为何移除此项 Alexa 功能或有多少用户受到影响的问题。

“They had the functionality, it’s not like it was a security issue or anything. I cannot understand the reason they’d simply remove a function beyond enshittification,” a Reddit user said in response to the news. “原本是有这个功能的，又不是什么安全问题。除了‘平台劣化’（enshittification），我实在无法理解他们为什么要直接移除这个功能，”一位 Reddit 用户在回应此消息时说道。

Removing the feature may make it easier for Amazon to maintain Alexa, especially as Amazon puts more resources into improving its AI-powered, subscription-based version of Alexa, Alexa+. 移除该功能或许能让亚马逊更轻松地维护 Alexa，尤其是考虑到亚马逊正投入更多资源来改进其基于人工智能、订阅制的 Alexa 版本——Alexa+。

This isn’t the first time Amazon has removed functionality from purchased devices. Last year, it removed users’ ability to block their Echo device from sending voice recordings of commands spoken to Alexa to Amazon. The Echo 4th Gen, Echo Show 15, and Echo Show 10 supported the capability. 这并非亚马逊首次从已购设备中移除功能。去年，该公司移除了用户阻止 Echo 设备将 Alexa 语音指令录音发送给亚马逊的功能。Echo 第四代、Echo Show 15 和 Echo Show 10 此前均支持该功能。