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The Dude
Nov 18, 2000
Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude.

Call Me Charlie posted:

The sample thing is in there because it either has or will have the ability to buy music directly from the store. I'm not sure because I have no desire to test that out. Last thing I want is for it to spaz out and charge me for something I don't want.

I haven't done it, but you can buy songs by saying "Alexa, buy this song" while it plays a sample. Then Alexa says, "This song is $1.29 from Amazon Music, would you like to proceed?". Then if you say "Yes" it buys the song. You can also set a confirmation code that you'll have to say after saying "Yes", or you can disable voice purchases entirely in the app.

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the littlest prince
Sep 23, 2006


Just got my echo invite. Has anyone ebayed/craigslisted theirs successfully? Was it worth the trouble?

CaptainAssholay
May 23, 2001

Don't Think
I got an invite as well. Figured I'd toss my holiday gift cards at it and if I don't like it I'll go the ebay route for a small profit. Delivery isn't until Feb 18th though.

zandert33
Sep 20, 2002

Silly question:

My name's Alex, any chance somebody saying my name could trigger "Alexa"? I'd assume not, but it's close enough that it would be a problem if it did.

topenga
Jul 1, 2003

zandert33 posted:

Silly question:

My name's Alex, any chance somebody saying my name could trigger "Alexa"? I'd assume not, but it's close enough that it would be a problem if it did.

Mine picked up a newscaster on TV saying Alex. But if there's no command following, it'll just ignore it. So far it has only happened twice in the 10 days or so that I've had it.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



If it's anything like Siri, it will constantly pick up things that don't even sound remotely similar to "Alexa" as you saying "Alexa."

Super Dude
Jan 23, 2005
Do the Jew

TheJoker138 posted:

If it's anything like Siri, it will constantly pick up things that don't even sound remotely similar to "Alexa" as you saying "Alexa."

Siri is really, really bad at almost everything it does.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



Super Dude posted:

Siri is really, really bad at almost everything it does.

My favorite thing is when it will recognize what I said exactly, as in telling it to play a certain song, as shown via the text it displays, and then play a different song anyway.

Super Dude
Jan 23, 2005
Do the Jew
Literally minutes after I set up some new bluetooth speakers, I get my invite for Echo. I'm debating whether to return the speakers and get the Echo for 2x the price. Just a heads up to everyone, the invitation email says "Due to strong customer response, new orders may take several months to ship."

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer

Super Dude posted:

Literally minutes after I set up some new bluetooth speakers, I get my invite for Echo. I'm debating whether to return the speakers and get the Echo for 2x the price. Just a heads up to everyone, the invitation email says "Due to strong customer response, new orders may take several months to ship."

Yeah, when I added to my cart a few hours ago, the ship date was "March 2015."

Reading this thread, I don't even know if I'll order one; I'm not sure I'd get a lot of use out of it.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

Thanatosian posted:

Yeah, when I added to my cart a few hours ago, the ship date was "March 2015."

Reading this thread, I don't even know if I'll order one; I'm not sure I'd get a lot of use out of it.

Yeah, they must be selling like crazy. I just got my invite a few minutes ago and when I placed the order, it gave me a ship date in late April.

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

Kreeblah posted:

Yeah, they must be selling like crazy. I just got my invite a few minutes ago and when I placed the order, it gave me a ship date in late April.

I also got my invite and was going to pick one up for profit on eBay but who knows what the market will be like in April. I'll take a strong look at Echo v2.

hotsauce
Jan 14, 2007
Finally got an invite. Late Feb ship estimate.

I had some sort of zombie credit so it ended up costing $66 shipped. Nice.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



I ordered one, April delivery estimate. I'm in no rush to get it, so whatever.

Rubiks Pubes
Dec 5, 2003

I wanted to be a neo deconstructivist, but Mom wouldn't let me.
Woo I finally got an invite! My ship date is in May though. #shipdatechat

No idea what I am gonna use this thing for but it seems cool.

Anybody done anything with some of the home automation hacks for it that are out there?

Mr. Funny Pants
Apr 9, 2001

We had a play date for my four year old and a couple of his friends. One is named, I poo poo you not, Alexa. A lot of the time we call her Lexi, but her name was said a few times and the Echo was obviously perplexed by whatever came after her name.

For $100, we are enjoying it. The voice recognition is getting better and better. I'm very impressed with its ability to pick up commands over a loud TV and at significant distance. Our bedroom is on the second floor with our door facing out to a little balcony over the family room/kitchen where the Echo is located. Without getting out of bed, we can ask for the weather or a BBC news summary. I also like the shopping list feature. Is it necessary? No, but it's fun.

I'm hoping that its popularity will drive Amazon to keep adding functionality. It would be great if they could integrate it with smart home products. They've got to improve the basic information gathering on it. It seems odd to me that you can ask questions that it should know and it has no idea how to get the answer. Hell, just default to Wikipedia and read that to me.

Edit: Just saw this:

Rubiks Pubes posted:

Anybody done anything with some of the home automation hacks for it that are out there?

Looks like I'll be doing some research over the weekend. :)

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



Hey do you have to use Amazon music to get it to play at all, or only for the voice control stuff? Like if it's paired to my phone can I do like a normal bluetooth speaker and play from my device to it?

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


TheJoker138 posted:

Like if it's paired to my phone can I do like a normal bluetooth speaker and play from my device to it?

Yup.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008




Fantastic, no spending an extra $25 for Amazon Music on top of the $25 I already pay for iTunes match.

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


TheJoker138 posted:

Fantastic, no spending an extra $25 for Amazon Music on top of the $25 I already pay for iTunes match.
I tested it out with Pandora.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



Arsenic Lupin posted:

I tested it out with Pandora.

I'm going to assume the voice stuff doesn't work with non-amazon music though, right?

Call Me Charlie
Dec 3, 2005

by Smythe

TheJoker138 posted:

I'm going to assume the voice stuff doesn't work with non-amazon music though, right?

Yeah.

Voice commands only works for services natively supported by the Echo (Amazon Music, iheartradio, TuneIn Radio)

torgeaux
Dec 31, 2004
I serve...

Call Me Charlie posted:

Yeah.

Voice commands only works for services natively supported by the Echo (Amazon Music, iheartradio, TuneIn Radio)

Yeah, but you don't have to have prime music, you can manage your amazon music by voice without prime music.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



Call Me Charlie posted:

Yeah.

Voice commands only works for services natively supported by the Echo (Amazon Music, iheartradio, TuneIn Radio)

Figured. Not a dealbreaker, but would have been cool. But seeing as I'll just be playing off an iPhone I can probably coerce Siri into actually playing what I'm saying at least half of the time, so not a huge problem.

torgeaux posted:

Yeah, but you don't have to have prime music, you can manage your amazon music by voice without prime music.

I have way over the 250 song limit you can have uploaded to Amazon without paying for Prime Music.

Super Dude
Jan 23, 2005
Do the Jew

TheJoker138 posted:

Figured. Not a dealbreaker, but would have been cool. But seeing as I'll just be playing off an iPhone I can probably coerce Siri into actually playing what I'm saying at least half of the time, so not a huge problem.


I have way over the 250 song limit you can have uploaded to Amazon without paying for Prime Music.

You can get prime for cheap ($15 I think?) if you split it with people.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



Super Dude posted:

You can get prime for cheap ($15 I think?) if you split it with people.

I could afford the $25 even doing it alone, but would rather not pay for 2 services that do the same thing, especially with how ingrained into itunes match I already am.

torgeaux
Dec 31, 2004
I serve...

TheJoker138 posted:

Figured. Not a dealbreaker, but would have been cool. But seeing as I'll just be playing off an iPhone I can probably coerce Siri into actually playing what I'm saying at least half of the time, so not a huge problem.


I have way over the 250 song limit you can have uploaded to Amazon without paying for Prime Music.

Ah. Most of my music was purchased thru amazon, so no worries about that limit.

Call Me Charlie
Dec 3, 2005

by Smythe
It's probably worth clarifying.

Prime Music = free music service tied to Amazon Prime. big draw (besides the free music) is the curated playlists.
Amazon Music = not only their MP3 store and purchases from there/autorip but also a $25 a year service where you can upload your own music into the cloud

Saying any song, album, artist or genre and having it play is the coolest feature of the Echo IMO. It also helps when you have it on random because you can ask Alexia what's playing and she's ramble off the artist, track name and album.

Vince MechMahon
Jan 1, 2008



Yeah, I get Prime Music already with my subscription, but I have a ton of poo poo they don't have. I'm sure I'll still use it for stuff I know they do have, but I'm not going to pay the extra $25 to get my poo poo in there too. In retrospect I kind of wish I would have bought my stuff from Amazon, but the vast, vast majority of it is either iTunes or old CD rips.

Super Dude
Jan 23, 2005
Do the Jew

Call Me Charlie posted:

It's probably worth clarifying.

Prime Music = free music service tied to Amazon Prime. big draw (besides the free music) is the curated playlists.
Amazon Music = not only their MP3 store and purchases from there/autorip but also a $25 a year service where you can upload your own music into the cloud

Why would someone pay $25 for the Amazon Music service instead of $15 for Prime (which includes Music, Instant Video, Kindle Library, and shipping)?

Call Me Charlie
Dec 3, 2005

by Smythe

Super Dude posted:

Why would someone pay $25 for the Amazon Music service instead of $15 for Prime (which includes Music, Instant Video, Kindle Library, and shipping)?

:thejoke:?

Prime doesn't include the $25 a year subscription to upload your own music into the cloud.

Super Dude
Jan 23, 2005
Do the Jew

Call Me Charlie posted:

:thejoke:?

Prime doesn't include the $25 a year subscription to upload your own music into the cloud.

Oops, I thought the limit restriction was lifted with Prime as well. Doesn't really matter since I use Google Play Music.

WithoutTheFezOn
Aug 28, 2005
Oh no
Also, unless they've changed it in the last year, the "sharees" of Prime only get the benefit of Prime Shipping. Only the person paying Amazon for it gets the video, kindle stuff, etc.

jabro
Mar 25, 2003

July Mock Draft 2014

1st PLACE
RUNNER-UP
got the knowshon


WithoutTheFezOn posted:

Also, unless they've changed it in the last year, the "sharees" of Prime only get the benefit of Prime Shipping. Only the person paying Amazon for it gets the video, kindle stuff, etc.

This is correct. Only the email that is the main account get all the goodies.


Just got my email. Delivery is now up to late May to early July.

SLOSifl
Aug 10, 2002


The good thing is that I have at least 4 months to figure out what to do with the Echo I ordered. If support for Google Play Music is added by then, I'll be pretty happy.

Mr. Funny Pants
Apr 9, 2001

It's not worth $100, but asking Alexa to open the pod bay doors makes me laugh.

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


The hilarious thing is talking about Alexa in the room with her.
Me to daughter: "Alexa is really stupid about playlists."
Alexa: blinks and points an arrow toward me.
Daughter: "Sorry, Alexa"
Alexa: blinks and points an arrow toward my daughter.

I mean, we both feel guilty about being rude to a crudely-implemented imaginary personification of speech recognition.

Ms. Happiness
Aug 26, 2009

My husband and I got ours in today. We're loving it so far.

She does answer, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow" with "What do you mean, African or European?"

AND

You ask Alexa her favorite colors and she states "Blue....I mean yellow."

I mean, those two questions are essential, right?

mikemil828
May 15, 2008

A man who has said too much

zandert33 posted:

Silly question:

My name's Alex, any chance somebody saying my name could trigger "Alexa"? I'd assume not, but it's close enough that it would be a problem if it did.

Even if it is a problem you can always change the trigger name to Amazon.

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mikemil828
May 15, 2008

A man who has said too much
Well, it looks like the echo is doing well enough to warrant a couple of updates. Echo can control bluetooth devices using voice control now, which was my biggest beef with the device. Also they improved the voice recognition too so it may recognize things that it didn't before.

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