Amazon Echo / Alexa music

[Perfidious Albion]

I have the Echo Dot.. I'm loving it. Voice activated alarm in the mornings, voice active timers . She talks to me .. call me sad, but.....

 

[Triggaaar]

I'll never use the gadgety aspect.

Is it worth £50 as a freestanding Bluetooth speaker that I can play Spotify playlists through?

No. The speaker is ok for its size, but being so small it's not good for music. Get a proper music speaker.

 

[Jam The Man]

Been using mine for a few days now and love it. As do the children, having discovered the 'farting' app.

It will take a while before I've got it all configured to do what I want (playlists etc) but so far I think it's fair to say I view Alexa as my bit on the side.

 

[Derbyshire Seagull]

We've got 2 x Echo and love them. As we have Amazon Prime plus Spotify premium pretty much any music we want to listen to is covered. Plus the AI seems a lot better than Siri etc and gets it right a lot of the time. Got Google calendar hooked up so can check diary. Check weather and news with it when I wake up. It's one of those things you didn't think you needed until you get one then you use it all the time.
Only con so far is that IFTTT integration isn't set up for UK customers yet, though it is coming. Once that is in place it will be amazing. Like you could dictate a shopping list and get it emailed to yourself (amongst thousands of other things).

IFTTT is now set up got UK so messing around it. Need to get my Hue lights flashing blue when the Albion score

 

[BNthree]

IFTTT is now set up got UK so messing around it. Need to get my Hue lights flashing blue when the Albion score ��

Ha! Good to know IFTTT is up and running.

 

[Bozza]

They're reduced again...

Echo: £20 off, down to £129.99 -> http://amzn.to/2hJXvTq
Echo Dot: £5 off, down to £44.99 -> http://amzn.to/2hOOUMz

(Also - Fire tablet: £15 off, down to £34.99 -> http://amzn.to/2hK4nA6 )

 

[Nathan]

Ok I have a amazon dot. What are the best skills? Can you get BBC news or sky news. Any help with skills would be appreciated .

 

[Mr Bridger]

Got the echo dot last week and like a few have said , for the money a decent bit of kit.
However the "tell me a joke " bit is a bit naff as the yanks haven't got a sense of humour and apparently "Alexa" doesn't take it up the a~%e.
Apparently Sonos are linking up with it in 2017 but you can via a sonos 5 at the moment. The dot needs an extra speaker as can become a little tinny. Haven't worked out how to get my own music on there yet thou.

 

[Geordie Seagull]

I've just got one of these for xmas - I need to upload my songs to amazon music - I can't see the option of doing so for £22 though??

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Mrs DFP's name is Alexa, the last thing I need is another Alexa in my life that thinks it knows everything.

 

[Triggaaar]

Mrs DFP's name is Alexa, the last thing I need is another Alexa in my life that thinks it knows everything.

So give it a new name.

The Echo that is, not the Mrs.

 

[Dirk Lehmann's Python]

So...into February now, any reviews of these from people who got them for Christmas?

What do you use it for?
What's it connected for?

 

[Dirk Lehmann's Python]

Last bounce for the day shifters, if nobody responds I'll assume it's just a gimmick/fad that everyone got bored of!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[tinx]

I use mine a lot, mainly for controlling my Hive stuff. I have it set up so I can turn all my lights and heating on and off using Alexa. I have it linked to Spotify and plugged into my Sonos so use it to play music without my phone.

It is a bit of a Gimmick but a useful one. Everything I do with it I can do by other means its just more convenient using Alexa rather than getting my phone out and doing it that way. For £50 I reckon its a bit of a bargain.

 

[Arthur]

Last bounce for the day shifters, if nobody responds I'll assume it's just a gimmick/fad that everyone got bored of!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

It is slightly to be honest. But I do still use it most days to check the weather or ask what the time is. Think if you played a lot of music at home it would be great. Sadly I don't really. Still massive room for improvement as it can be a bit clunky at times but I do think it has legs (voice control in general that is).

 

[Prince Monolulu]

It is slightly to be honest. But I do still use it most days to check the weather or ask what the time is. Think if you played a lot of music at home it would be great. Sadly I don't really. Still massive room for improvement as it can be a bit clunky at times but I do think it has legs (voice control in general that is).

Can I just check, you actually ask this thing what time it is?

 

[Arthur]

Can I just check, you actually ask this thing what time it is?

Yeah almost every day. I commute so I'm ruled by the train timetable. Very useful when you get out the shower or having a shave.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Yeah almost every day. I commute so I'm ruled by the train timetable. Very useful when you get out the shower or having a shave.

Hmm, as the train timetable has nothing whatsoever in common with actual time, I wonder how useful that is (assuming you use Southern)

 

[Nathan]

Have an echo. They are good fun for the money. However, one of the negatives is that the 'bing search' isn't that great and often can't answer general knowledge questions. When it does give an answer, it would be good if it was more comprehensive answer.

All depends what you want it to do. We found the space station skill the other night, and we now ask when the space station will be flying over! The kid love it.

 

[BNthree]

Use ours all the time, great for listening to music with.