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Amazon Echo


Markman

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To old to understand this sort of tech but Mrs Markman wants one.

She thinks it plays anything you ask but I can't see how that works - surely it will only play music I own (or is on my PC etc) and maybe Radio Stations?

She thinks you can say "Play ABBA songs" and it will even if you don't have any yourself - how can that work - anyone able to explain to a tech dunce before I splash out £50 on something that I can't use?

Cheers

 

 

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Your wife is correct. 

You can say play Abba and random Abba songs are played 

I find mine useful for setting myself reminders and also use it for timing cooking 

You can ask it anything from what is the weather forecast to who wrote the song Golden Brown.....

Another level on I have smart plugs so I can say "Alexa turn on light" my light turns on

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22 minutes ago, Markman said:

To old to understand this sort of tech but Mrs Markman wants one.

She thinks it plays anything you ask but I can't see how that works - surely it will only play music I own (or is on my PC etc) and maybe Radio Stations?

She thinks you can say "Play ABBA songs" and it will even if you don't have any yourself - how can that work - anyone able to explain to a tech dunce before I splash out £50 on something that I can't use?

Cheers

 

 

You need a subscription to either Amazon Music, Apple Music or Spotify. Though, I think you automatically get a subscription for Amazon music with the echo.

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We have a family membership of Spotify which covers 6 of us for £15 per month (£2.50 each) which works nicely with the Echo.  I can even bluetooth it to my main amplifier and speaker system.

If you get an Echo, I think you get a month or 3 months free subscription to Amazon Music, but after but you have to pay a subscription (which is very reasonable I think).

Don't forget to ask it how many football teams are in Bristol ?

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£3.99 a month for a single use amazon music account. Basically means you can use it with your Alexa and nowhere else. 

There are different packages depending on what you want to use it for, and how many devices you want to use it with. For example if you had an Alexa upstairs and downstairs, you'd need more than the single use. You can also use it on your phone if you wish.

I think the bigger packages are £9.99 a month, and you can basically use it on however many devices you want.

You can use it to set alarms, reminders, ask questions, play games.....really good and is worth the money. 

The Echo Dots are the smaller ones, which are a decent enough unit, but if you like loud music (like me) it can get a bit "tinny" if you go too loud, but it can be connected via Bluetooth to an external speaker. The next ones up, are a bit more expensive, but are bigger, speaker look more like a speaker, and the sound quality is so much better. If you can afford it, and are going to use it a lot, then I'd really advise getting the bigger one.

One thing I've only just realised I can do is listen to Radio Bristol on it - and I'm in Essex!!

As for having decent WiFi speeds, it helps, but isn't essential. I had 4mbps connection from BT until recently (was the only thing available), and it played fine. If I was doing something else online - for example playing call of duty on the xbox online - both the game and the Alexa would lag seriously. I've now got a 300mbps connection and don't get a problem at all anymore.

May also be worth checking around for prices as well. I know at one time Argos were selling them cheaper than Amazon, but then Amazon had their Black Friday sale and the prices dropped really low. Think I got my Alexa for £45, whilst the Dots were down at about £25. Would all depend on how soon you want one, but they do get dropped in price EVERY November

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I bought a 2nd one the other day for the bar. £24.99 incl a 2mont amazon music subscription. Great price, just remember to cancel the subscription if you dont need it.  The free version of amazon music is decent but I prefer Spotify premium. Plus yo can listen to radio stations of pretty much many genre or country in the world. That said, Absolute Radio 90s is a favourite here. 

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If you are an Amazon Prime account holder, you get free subscription to Amazon Music (which is about 2 million songs that you can stream for free with an Echo), if you want access to about 30 million songs (or whatever it is) you'll need to pay extra (on top of your prime membership) for Amazon Music Unlimited.

Other subscription services are available.

Alternatively, you could just get your Doris 'Abba Gold' on CD for a few pence from eBay.

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Also, worth noting that if you ask it to play BBC Radio Bristol in a hope that you will get a commentary of a game, you won't.

The BBC don't (or didn't) have the right to Internet broadcast footy commentary. So you'll still need a wireless for that.

I've got a few Echo's linked together, so I can finish a command with 'everywhere' and get the same thing streamed around the gaff. I also use it to control my lighting with one of those Philips Hue systems as well.

Certainly they have uses, but don't be thinking you can just plug it in without you ever needing to think about putting your hand in your pocket again.

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I also use my Amazon home app on my phone to call home via the Echo speaker, I once called the wife at 5 am when I was away working but just did a demonic deep growling noise until it woke her up. Needless to say she didn't appreciate being woken up and made to pee her pants! She then removed the speaker to her dressing room! Also, you can use them as an internal intercom system, we have one on each of our 3 levels house, saves having to walk up the stairs etc 

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13 hours ago, grifty said:

I had an Alexa and thought it was a bit naff. I just kept asking it to make fart noises and how to pronounce funny capital city names.

I agree with you. We only use ours to turn lights on and off (have Phillips hue lights) and play the radio during the day when we’re at work for the dog. He must be fed up of listening to Kiss all day when we’re in the office.

 

we don’t use our for much more than that. 

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8 minutes ago, cider11 said:

I agree with you. We only use ours to turn lights on and off (have Phillips hue lights) and play the radio during the day when we’re at work for the dog. He must be fed up of listening to Kiss all day when we’re in the office.

 

we don’t use our for much more than that. 

I do a very British thing and use mine to check the weather☀️

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My daughter got me an Alexa last Xmas - it’s a wonderful piece of kit. I use for reminders, songs, local weather forecasts

I can ask kit pretty much any question, very similar to Siri.
I just asked it what the outside temperature is - 16*c reducing to 14*c.......

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1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Who exactly?

 

If you’re feeling paranoid...

Go into your Alexa app on the phone. Go to settings>history

That will have voice recordings of every time you’ve asked Alexa to do something (and some of the times you haven’t)

Amazon use the data to help improve its voice recognition algorithms. Apparently the data isn’t individually reviewed/listened to by people but hey, again, if you’re feeling paranoid...

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10 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

If you’re feeling paranoid...

Go into your Alexa app on the phone. Go to settings>history

That will have voice recordings of every time you’ve asked Alexa to do something (and some of the times you haven’t)

Amazon use the data to help improve its voice recognition algorithms. Apparently the data isn’t individually reviewed/listened to by people but hey, again, if you’re feeling paranoid...

I know most of that but it doesn’t bother me one iota. In these days of CCTV and other modern technology we’re all ‘under surveillance’. Every time we go online.............:cool2:

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On 23/08/2020 at 10:21, E.G.Red said:

I do a very British thing and use mine to check the weather☀️

So do I, but I’ve got a Google speaker aswell and her and Alexa have ‘arguments’. Me  ‘will it rain today?’ 

Alexa ‘it’s raining right now with a break in about 5 minuites’

Hey Google, will it rain today ‘ it’s quite likely starting about 7pm and continuing throughout the night’

i Have just done this live to prove my point ?

Also the light on the Alexa illuminates when you have a notification, usually your Amazon delivery which is good.

its great for music as mentioned, I usually find the speaker is good enough for background music or if I want something more I link it by Bluetooth to my Samsung sound bar. I have Spotify premium to avoid the adverts. Also I can just play my own playlists.

Another thing it can do is spellings, just ask it to spell a word and it does. Calculations too and sometimes I just ask it stuff like how old is George Clooney for example if he is on the tv. Also I was watching sport in another country and it look cold or hot I just ask what the temperature is in Darwin or something and she instantly says it. 

A useful device.

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4 hours ago, RedM said:

So do I, but I’ve got a Google speaker aswell and her and Alexa have ‘arguments’. Me  ‘will it rain today?’ 

Alexa ‘it’s raining right now with a break in about 5 minuites’

Hey Google, will it rain today ‘ it’s quite likely starting about 7pm and continuing throughout the night’

i Have just done this live to prove my point ?

Also the light on the Alexa illuminates when you have a notification, usually your Amazon delivery which is good.

its great for music as mentioned, I usually find the speaker is good enough for background music or if I want something more I link it by Bluetooth to my Samsung sound bar. I have Spotify premium to avoid the adverts. Also I can just play my own playlists.

Another thing it can do is spellings, just ask it to spell a word and it does. Calculations too and sometimes I just ask it stuff like how old is George Clooney for example if he is on the tv. Also I was watching sport in another country and it look cold or hot I just ask what the temperature is in Darwin or something and she instantly says it. 

A useful device.

I like it when you may be having a heated discussion at home. The other week in a discussion with my son I said ‘Do  you think I’m stupid?’ Only for Alexa to reply ‘ I think you are one smart cookie’ 

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1 hour ago, E.G.Red said:

I like it when you may be having a heated discussion at home. The other week in a discussion with my son I said ‘Do  you think I’m stupid?’ Only for Alexa to reply ‘ I think you are one smart cookie’ 

Can be frustrating when you get the ‘Hmmm I don’t know that’ when you either haven’t phrased a question correctly or confused her with the Bristol accent ?

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I'm hoping that someone on here is savvy enough to help with a problem.

I convinced some friends I know to buy an Alexa and some smart plugs, they have Virgin fibre

I set up the plugs and have them working, I had to change to 2.4mghz down from 5mghz.

The plugs both respond via their Ewelink app and Alexa app

When I turn on voice control on their phones the plugs turn on and off through the Alexa app

But when we use the actual Alexa for voice control it does't recognise the instruction and every request replies "did you mean TV"?

The Ewelink still has been added to the Alexa app

But I am completely beaten as to why the actual Alexa won't follow the commands

Does anyone have any ideas what is wrong please? 

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