Amazon Alexa and Echo FAQ

mrcheez

TomPetty wrote: »

Hi Folks - Quick specific question about Amazon Echo and Tunein - I'm just about to order on Amazon, for the sole reason to have a radio which I can operate hands free for disabled person. The person requires to switch between Rte Radio 1 and News talk.
My question is - I have noticed recently on a laptop or on my Tunein phone App for example that when I change station, I have to listen to this really long annoying ad .. Do you know if this will be the case when I buy the Amazon echo also ? If it is, then its a show stopper !!
:-(
Thanks a million folks for any info you can give me on this.

Regards,
Tom.

I use TuneIn all the time, and have never had ads when changing station.

Albeit I haven't changed from BBC World Service in several months so maybe the ads is a new thing?

I don't have my Echo here to test.

TomPetty

mrcheez wrote: »

I use TuneIn all the time, and have never had ads when changing station.

Albeit I haven't changed from BBC World Service in several months so maybe the ads is a new thing?

I don't have my Echo here to test.

Thanks a million mrcheez for your speedy reply - Would you mind checking NewsTalk and Rte Radio 1 when it is convenient for you.
Much appreciated.

Mr.Crinklewood

TomPetty wrote: »

Thanks a million mrcheez for your speedy reply - Would you mind checking NewsTalk and Rte Radio 1 when it is convenient for you.
Much appreciated.

No adverts for me when I checked both.

TomPetty

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

No adverts for me when I checked both.

Thanks for checking that out Mr.Crinklewood - Weird that I get the ads when listening to these stations on Tune In on my Smartphone App.

tonc76

TomPetty wrote: »

Thanks for checking that out Mr.Crinklewood - Weird that I get the ads when listening to these stations on Tune In on my Smartphone App.

I've never gotten ads with my echos but regularly get ads on my android phone.

TomPetty

tonc76 wrote: »

I've never gotten ads with my echos but regularly get ads on my android phone.

Great !! So maybe its a Smartphone issue and not an issue on the Echo - So looks like I should be OK to proceed with the purchase.
Many thanks.

mrcheez

TomPetty wrote: »

Great !! So maybe its a Smartphone issue and not an issue on the Echo - So looks like I should be OK to proceed with the purchase.
Many thanks.

yeah I've never once had ads on my Echo for anything.

TomPetty

mrcheez wrote: »

yeah I've never once had ads on my Echo for anything.

Thanks for the info guys - Order made !! 69 Pounds at the moment which I think is a good price.

jmBuildExt

TomPetty wrote: »

Thanks for the info guys - Order made !! 69 Pounds at the moment which I think is a good price.

You didnt back down

ILikeBoats

Same - I get ads on the laptop or android app, no ads on the echo

TomPetty

Cool :-) Thanks again folks for the info.

mossie

I was away for a few days and when I came back I noticed that Alexa seems to have become more erratic responding to commands, especially Hue commands. For example I have nine lights in my "Kitchen" group alexa can switch on all 9, or 0, or any number in between whereas before it would almost always switch on all. It also seems much slower to carry out requests. Anyone have similar issues?

mrcheez

mossie wrote: »

I was away for a few days and when I came back I noticed that Alexa seems to have become more erratic responding to commands, especially Hue commands. For example I have nine lights in my "Kitchen" group alexa can switch on all 9, or 0, or any number in between whereas before it would almost always switch on all. It also seems much slower to carry out requests. Anyone have similar issues?

I've had issues sometimes where some of the lights /plugs in the group would be ignored.

It tended to be an issue with the bulb / plug losing its wifi connection though.

Try turning off the router, wait 30 seconds, and turn back on. It all might run a bit smoother.

Irish Gunner

Thinking of getting another Echo Dot. Have the first gen in bedroom and moving this to juniors room, those Spotify lullabies do work 😴😴

Is it worth going for the 3rd gen for bedroom seems better sound quality but is it better picking up voice control?

limnam

Anyone any good recommendations for shopping list?


Just looking for simple add to list and have list emailed and a handy way to clear the list

mossie

mrcheez wrote: »

I've had issues sometimes where some of the lights /plugs in the group would be ignored.

It tended to be an issue with the bulb / plug losing its wifi connection though.

Try turning off the router, wait 30 seconds, and turn back on. It all might run a bit smoother.

I've done that and he bulbs work fine in the Hue app but still don't all work in Alexa. It seems much slower in general in recent weeks and often takes two or three attempts to get it to do something. Changing tracks in Spotify takes ages.

d31b0y

limnam wrote: »

Anyone any good recommendations for shopping list?


Just looking for simple add to list and have list emailed and a handy way to clear the list

Have you tried the two built in ones?
I find any.do great. Shared lists, offline availability, two way sync with Alexa for clearing items off the list. Not sure about emailing the list.

You can add multiple items to Alexa by saying "Alexa, add to shopping list". Alexa will ask what you want to add and then say "anything else?" each time. Very handy, I find.

kmurph

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed an ad for a car manufacturer playing when you launch the TodayFm skill for the past few days? Hopefully this isn't the start of a slippery slope.

jmBuildExt

listen to it through tunein instead?

limnam

If you have multiple echo's/dots etc


do the skills sync across the devices or do you have to enable on each device?

Mr.Crinklewood

limnam wrote: »

If you have multiple echo's/dots etc


do the skills sync across the devices or do you have to enable on each device?

They sync

mrcheez

You can also play Spotify throughout the house on all Echo Dots at the same time, so it essentially becomes like a Sonos system.

I only discovered this recently as before it was limited to just ITunes.

Soarer

mrcheez wrote: »

You can also play Spotify throughout the house on all Echo Dots at the same time, so it essentially becomes like a Sonos system.

I only discovered this recently as before it was limited to just ITunes.

How do you do that?

mrcheez

Soarer wrote: »

How do you do that?

Set up an "everywhere" group. I haven't done it in a while but here are some instructions

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/amazon-echo-multi-room-music-setup,review-4634.html

TheDoc

Wondering has Alexa come on in Ireland since the 2nd gen device?

I have a 2nd gen device that I unplugged a few months back as we did decor stuff in the living room and I never bothered plugging it back in. It wasn’t very impressive for the few weeks I used it.

Couldn’t pair with my FireTV which was something I thought would be cool. Was pretty brutal in terms on providing football info when asked and didn’t seem very informative or intelligent.

I’m seeing I can upgrade for free to a 3rdgen by trading in my current one.

Has Alexa come on much ?

tipperaryboy

Have been trying out the new Xbox skill makes easier to go between games/apps but can't get it to change tv channel even though that's properly intergrated anyone get this element to work?

paulbok

TheDoc wrote: »

Wondering has Alexa come on in Ireland since the 2nd gen device?

I have a 2nd gen device that I unplugged a few months back as we did decor stuff in the living room and I never bothered plugging it back in. It wasn’t very impressive for the few weeks I used it.

Couldn’t pair with my FireTV which was something I thought would be cool. Was pretty brutal in terms on providing football info when asked and didn’t seem very informative or intelligent.

I’m seeing I can upgrade for free to a 3rdgen by trading in my current one.

Has Alexa come on much ?

Who is offering the free upgrade?

ablelocks

paulbok wrote: »

Who is offering the free upgrade?

courtesy of Basq

paulbok

kmurph wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed an ad for a car manufacturer playing when you launch the TodayFm skill for the past few days? Hopefully this isn't the start of a slippery slope.

It's the only station I've noticed that starts with some adds on Tunein

paulbok

Wake devices via wake-on-lan coming to Alexa soon according to Engadget. I have a media PC connected to one of my tvs. With toddler proofing it's a pain to get at to switch on so this will be nice.
Could have set it up through my phone I suppose but, ain't nobody got time for that