Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
That's convenient for a lot of people obviously. I have to admit that the idea for me would be a little annoying given the size of the main device and it would only be bigger with a battery base in toe. On 14/02/2017 7:35 AM, Gary Schindler wrote: THey Have a third party battery! it sits on the base of the echo. -Original Message- From: Dane Trethowan Sent: Monday, February 13, 2017 1:15 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa the Echo Dot you mean? You can't attach a battery to the big echo as far as I know. On 14/02/2017 4:28 AM, Donald L. Roberts wrote: Since I already have an Echo as well as I tap, I plan to buy one of those batteries which one can attach to the Echo. In this way, I'll be able to take the Echo outside on the patio. Don Roberts On 2/12/2017 3:07 PM, Mary Otten wrote: I'm sure that this will work for both iPhone and android apps. This came from an android-centric site, so the author didn't bother to mention iPhone apps. Mary .
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Interesting! The big Echo - unlike the other two - doesn't have a USB socket, just a main power socket wich I'm assuming takes a higher voltage. On 14/02/2017 6:06 AM, Donald L. Roberts wrote: No, batteries are now available for the original Echo which somehow attach to its base. I think I read that these batteries come in various sizes. An acquaintance bought one which purports to deliver nine hours of play time on the original Echo. Don Roberts On 2/13/2017 10:15 AM, Dane Trethowan wrote: the Echo Dot you mean? You can't attach a battery to the big echo as far as I know. On 14/02/2017 4:28 AM, Donald L. Roberts wrote: Since I already have an Echo as well as I tap, I plan to buy one of those batteries which one can attach to the Echo. In this way, I'll be able to take the Echo outside on the patio. Don Roberts On 2/12/2017 3:07 PM, Mary Otten wrote: I'm sure that this will work for both iPhone and android apps. This came from an android-centric site, so the author didn't bother to mention iPhone apps. Mary .
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
THey Have a third party battery! it sits on the base of the echo. -Original Message- From: Dane Trethowan Sent: Monday, February 13, 2017 1:15 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa the Echo Dot you mean? You can't attach a battery to the big echo as far as I know. On 14/02/2017 4:28 AM, Donald L. Roberts wrote: Since I already have an Echo as well as I tap, I plan to buy one of those batteries which one can attach to the Echo. In this way, I'll be able to take the Echo outside on the patio. Don Roberts On 2/12/2017 3:07 PM, Mary Otten wrote: I'm sure that this will work for both iPhone and android apps. This came from an android-centric site, so the author didn't bother to mention iPhone apps. Mary .
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
No, batteries are now available for the original Echo which somehow attach to its base. I think I read that these batteries come in various sizes. An acquaintance bought one which purports to deliver nine hours of play time on the original Echo. Don Roberts On 2/13/2017 10:15 AM, Dane Trethowan wrote: the Echo Dot you mean? You can't attach a battery to the big echo as far as I know. On 14/02/2017 4:28 AM, Donald L. Roberts wrote: Since I already have an Echo as well as I tap, I plan to buy one of those batteries which one can attach to the Echo. In this way, I'll be able to take the Echo outside on the patio. Don Roberts On 2/12/2017 3:07 PM, Mary Otten wrote: I'm sure that this will work for both iPhone and android apps. This came from an android-centric site, so the author didn't bother to mention iPhone apps. Mary .
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
the Echo Dot you mean? You can't attach a battery to the big echo as far as I know. On 14/02/2017 4:28 AM, Donald L. Roberts wrote: Since I already have an Echo as well as I tap, I plan to buy one of those batteries which one can attach to the Echo. In this way, I'll be able to take the Echo outside on the patio. Don Roberts On 2/12/2017 3:07 PM, Mary Otten wrote: I'm sure that this will work for both iPhone and android apps. This came from an android-centric site, so the author didn't bother to mention iPhone apps. Mary .
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Since I already have an Echo as well as I tap, I plan to buy one of those batteries which one can attach to the Echo. In this way, I'll be able to take the Echo outside on the patio. Don Roberts On 2/12/2017 3:07 PM, Mary Otten wrote: I'm sure that this will work for both iPhone and android apps. This came from an android-centric site, so the author didn't bother to mention iPhone apps. Mary .
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Yep, you've the right idea. On 13/02/2017 6:41 PM, Robert Godridge wrote: We just got an ecco dot as a wedding present and will be playing about with it later in the week. It has been set up. We're in the u.s, moving to the u.k though. Let's say I wanted it to play the album blue by Joni Mitchell, what's the sintax? is it play album blue by Joni Mitchell or what? I assume amazon has quite a bit of music... I'm a classical fan as is she so we'll be doing quite a bit of sintax messing i think... On 2/13/17, Dane Trethowan wrote: Something else for everyone to try who owns an Echo Tap - if you haven't tried this already. - Say to Tap "Current Battery Status" and Alexa will tell you the battery status remaining in a percentage. On 13/02/2017 3:04 PM, Mary Otten wrote: Ok, thanks. I have a ue megaboom, and a Oontse probably spelled wrong, from Cambridge sound works. The megaboom is a lot more expensive at retail, of course, and I like the sound, especially outside. I wasn't at all interested in the Tap until this update came out. That seems to make it much more useful. But I suppose, given that I have other choices, it will be tough to justify the purchase of yet another portable speaker. Mary
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Robert: I think you're right on target as I think that's exactly how you say it! Good luck to ya! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Robert Godridge Sent: Monday, February 13, 2017 2:41 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa We just got an ecco dot as a wedding present and will be playing about with it later in the week. It has been set up. We're in the u.s, moving to the u.k though. Let's say I wanted it to play the album blue by Joni Mitchell, what's the sintax? is it play album blue by Joni Mitchell or what? I assume amazon has quite a bit of music... I'm a classical fan as is she so we'll be doing quite a bit of sintax messing i think... On 2/13/17, Dane Trethowan wrote: > Something else for everyone to try who owns an Echo Tap - if you haven't > tried this already. - > > Say to Tap "Current Battery Status" and Alexa will tell you the battery > status remaining in a percentage. > > > > On 13/02/2017 3:04 PM, Mary Otten wrote: >> Ok, thanks. I have a ue megaboom, and a Oontse probably spelled wrong, >> from Cambridge sound works. The megaboom is a lot more expensive at >> retail, of course, and I like the sound, especially outside. I wasn't >> at all interested in the Tap until this update came out. That seems to >> make it much more useful. But I suppose, given that I have other >> choices, it will be tough to justify the purchase of yet another >> portable speaker. >> >> Mary >> >> > > >
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
We just got an ecco dot as a wedding present and will be playing about with it later in the week. It has been set up. We're in the u.s, moving to the u.k though. Let's say I wanted it to play the album blue by Joni Mitchell, what's the sintax? is it play album blue by Joni Mitchell or what? I assume amazon has quite a bit of music... I'm a classical fan as is she so we'll be doing quite a bit of sintax messing i think... On 2/13/17, Dane Trethowan wrote: > Something else for everyone to try who owns an Echo Tap - if you haven't > tried this already. - > > Say to Tap "Current Battery Status" and Alexa will tell you the battery > status remaining in a percentage. > > > > On 13/02/2017 3:04 PM, Mary Otten wrote: >> Ok, thanks. I have a ue megaboom, and a Oontse probably spelled wrong, >> from Cambridge sound works. The megaboom is a lot more expensive at >> retail, of course, and I like the sound, especially outside. I wasn't >> at all interested in the Tap until this update came out. That seems to >> make it much more useful. But I suppose, given that I have other >> choices, it will be tough to justify the purchase of yet another >> portable speaker. >> >> Mary >> >> > > >
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Something else for everyone to try who owns an Echo Tap - if you haven't tried this already. - Say to Tap "Current Battery Status" and Alexa will tell you the battery status remaining in a percentage. On 13/02/2017 3:04 PM, Mary Otten wrote: Ok, thanks. I have a ue megaboom, and a Oontse probably spelled wrong, from Cambridge sound works. The megaboom is a lot more expensive at retail, of course, and I like the sound, especially outside. I wasn't at all interested in the Tap until this update came out. That seems to make it much more useful. But I suppose, given that I have other choices, it will be tough to justify the purchase of yet another portable speaker. Mary
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
cambridge Audio make some fantastic stuff, I have one of their Digital Radio tuners and I've heard their DAC units often enough. I very much like the Tap and - like you - I've invested in more expensive units however the Tap is a nice all-in-one general purpose tool, the sort of thing you'd like to have handy to pickup and just use, take anywhere type of thing. On 13/02/2017 3:04 PM, Mary Otten wrote: Ok, thanks. I have a ue megaboom, and a Oontse probably spelled wrong, from Cambridge sound works. The megaboom is a lot more expensive at retail, of course, and I like the sound, especially outside. I wasn't at all interested in the Tap until this update came out. That seems to make it much more useful. But I suppose, given that I have other choices, it will be tough to justify the purchase of yet another portable speaker. Mary
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Ok, thanks. I have a ue megaboom, and a Oontse probably spelled wrong, from Cambridge sound works. The megaboom is a lot more expensive at retail, of course, and I like the sound, especially outside. I wasn't at all interested in the Tap until this update came out. That seems to make it much more useful. But I suppose, given that I have other choices, it will be tough to justify the purchase of yet another portable speaker. Mary
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Okay another good question and you're certainly coming out with them today . Comparing the Tap to the big echo? Well the sound is obviously bigger and fuller with the Echo, a bit more top and a bit more bottom but both are pleasing to listen to. I haven't heard a Logitech Ultimate Ears in a while but the two units I had annoyed me for their overpowering bass, the Tap doesn't have that and this I'm thankful for very much, I've just been listening to the Album "Turn Of A Friendly Card" through the Tap from Spotify and I thoroughly enjoyed the listen. I doubt whether I would have enjoyed the album so much had I been listening to it through the Bose Soundlink Mini but again I had the older generation and not the current and bass was a little overpowering on that speaker. I'm lead to believe that Bose have gone to great lengths to rectify this problem in tthe current generation of Soundlink Mini and I hope to try one of those in the near Future. On 13/02/2017 2:31 PM, Mary Otten wrote: If you have an echo, how would you compare the sound of the tap to the sound of the echo? If you have heard the Bose mini, how about that one. Or the mini boom I think they called it from ultimate ears. Or maybe it was just the boom. So not getting up into the B&W category, more along the lines of speakers that are closer in price. Sent from my iPhone On Feb 12, 2017, at 7:09 PM, Dane Trethowan wrote: I should also add that - if you're after a Bluetooth Speaker - then I reckon that the Echo Tap is very good value for money indeed and to think that you can use the Tap on the Echo eco system makes it even more value for money. Sure! its not the best sounding portable Bluetooth spekaer around - my B&W would thrash the Tap - but for the size? Well its a roll of surprise, perhaps that's the best way to describe it. On 13/02/2017 1:52 PM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: Don't know if you've had a chance to play with those buttons on the top of the tap or not, so you may have figured them out: the button nearest to you (going from front to back) is the volume down; moving toward the back (now this is if you're in the center of the device) is the play/pause button; the button furtherest from you is the volume up button. The button at the extreme left is your "back" button (not sure if they actually call it that) but let's say you're listening to a music shuffle...and you want to go back a song, this is the button you would press. So that leaves the button on the right; this takes you forward through your music. HTH! Oh and you probably have figured out that the button in front (not on the top) this is the button you press when you want to tell Alexa to do something. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:43 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Well its good news so spread it around My Tap just arrived and I’ve already connected it to my network though I do have a couple of questions. I should have asked what all the buttons on the top were for, there seem to be 5. Obviously two I’d assume are volume up and down, one would be the Action button so what do the other two do? The “Tap” button is on the front and obvious though I thought perhaps one of the top five might be the “Tap”. Also mine came with a Base though the Tap has a USB port on the back of it, does the Base offer anything more or is it just a charging stand. On 13 Feb 2017, at 10:21 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Great news! There are a couple of folks on the group I'm in on Roger that are from Australia; maybe they already know this! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:00 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa It will be! coming in September On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia soon! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got to be a little careful applying firmware updates. There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be wiped out it seems. On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
If you have an echo, how would you compare the sound of the tap to the sound of the echo? If you have heard the Bose mini, how about that one. Or the mini boom I think they called it from ultimate ears. Or maybe it was just the boom. So not getting up into the B&W category, more along the lines of speakers that are closer in price. Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 12, 2017, at 7:09 PM, Dane Trethowan wrote: > > I should also add that - if you're after a Bluetooth Speaker - then I reckon > that the Echo Tap is very good value for money indeed and to think that you > can use the Tap on the Echo eco system makes it even more value for money. > > Sure! its not the best sounding portable Bluetooth spekaer around - my B&W > would thrash the Tap - but for the size? Well its a roll of surprise, perhaps > that's the best way to describe it. > > > >> On 13/02/2017 1:52 PM, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> Dane: Don't know if you've had a chance to play with those buttons on the >> top of the tap or not, so you may have figured them out: the button nearest >> to you (going from front to back) is the volume down; moving toward the back >> (now this is if you're in the center of the device) is the play/pause >> button; the button furtherest from you is the volume up button. The button >> at the extreme left is your "back" button (not sure if they actually call it >> that) but let's say you're listening to a music shuffle...and you want to go >> back a song, this is the button you would press. So that leaves the button >> on the right; this takes you forward through your music. HTH! Oh and you >> probably have figured out that the button in front (not on the top) this is >> the button you press when you want to tell Alexa to do something. >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:43 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> Well its good news so spread it around >> My Tap just arrived and I’ve already connected it to my network though I do >> have a couple of questions. >> I should have asked what all the buttons on the top were for, there seem to >> be 5. >> Obviously two I’d assume are volume up and down, one would be the Action >> button so what do the other two do? >> The “Tap” button is on the front and obvious though I thought perhaps one of >> the top five might be the “Tap”. >> Also mine came with a Base though the Tap has a USB port on the back of it, >> does the Base offer anything more or is it just a charging stand. >> >>> On 13 Feb 2017, at 10:21 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >>> >>> Great news! There are a couple of folks on the group I'm in on Roger that >>> are from Australia; maybe they already know this! >>> Tom Kaufman >>> >>> -Original Message- >>> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >>> Trethowan >>> Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:00 PM >>> To: PC Audio Discussion List >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> It will be! coming in September >>> >>> >>> >>>> On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: >>>> That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia >>>> soon! >>>> Tom Kaufman >>>> >>>> -Original Message- >>>> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >>>> Trethowan >>>> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM >>>> To: PC Audio Discussion List >>>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>>> >>>> Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve >>>> got to be a little careful applying firmware updates. >>>> There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then >>>> finding that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself >>>> of course but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo >>>> working can be wiped out it seems. >>>> >>>>> On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all >>>>> areas yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! >>>>> Tom Kaufman >>>>>
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
I should also add that - if you're after a Bluetooth Speaker - then I reckon that the Echo Tap is very good value for money indeed and to think that you can use the Tap on the Echo eco system makes it even more value for money. Sure! its not the best sounding portable Bluetooth spekaer around - my B&W would thrash the Tap - but for the size? Well its a roll of surprise, perhaps that's the best way to describe it. On 13/02/2017 1:52 PM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: Don't know if you've had a chance to play with those buttons on the top of the tap or not, so you may have figured them out: the button nearest to you (going from front to back) is the volume down; moving toward the back (now this is if you're in the center of the device) is the play/pause button; the button furtherest from you is the volume up button. The button at the extreme left is your "back" button (not sure if they actually call it that) but let's say you're listening to a music shuffle...and you want to go back a song, this is the button you would press. So that leaves the button on the right; this takes you forward through your music. HTH! Oh and you probably have figured out that the button in front (not on the top) this is the button you press when you want to tell Alexa to do something. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:43 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Well its good news so spread it around My Tap just arrived and I’ve already connected it to my network though I do have a couple of questions. I should have asked what all the buttons on the top were for, there seem to be 5. Obviously two I’d assume are volume up and down, one would be the Action button so what do the other two do? The “Tap” button is on the front and obvious though I thought perhaps one of the top five might be the “Tap”. Also mine came with a Base though the Tap has a USB port on the back of it, does the Base offer anything more or is it just a charging stand. On 13 Feb 2017, at 10:21 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Great news! There are a couple of folks on the group I'm in on Roger that are from Australia; maybe they already know this! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:00 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa It will be! coming in September On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia soon! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got to be a little careful applying firmware updates. There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be wiped out it seems. On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current versi
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Thanks for that, I did figure out all those buttons in the end . There are two other buttons you may not be aware of and they are in the block where the USB and Aux-In sockets are. The top one is your on/off button and this button can also be used to force the Tap to download a firmware update if one is available. The buttom button below the sockets is the Bluetooth Pairing button. Its nice that the Tap has Transport buttons and I'm assuming that they can be used when paired to a Bluetooth device to allow navigation of your Playlist or whatever? I'll try that later. On 13/02/2017 1:52 PM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: Don't know if you've had a chance to play with those buttons on the top of the tap or not, so you may have figured them out: the button nearest to you (going from front to back) is the volume down; moving toward the back (now this is if you're in the center of the device) is the play/pause button; the button furtherest from you is the volume up button. The button at the extreme left is your "back" button (not sure if they actually call it that) but let's say you're listening to a music shuffle...and you want to go back a song, this is the button you would press. So that leaves the button on the right; this takes you forward through your music. HTH! Oh and you probably have figured out that the button in front (not on the top) this is the button you press when you want to tell Alexa to do something. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:43 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Well its good news so spread it around My Tap just arrived and I’ve already connected it to my network though I do have a couple of questions. I should have asked what all the buttons on the top were for, there seem to be 5. Obviously two I’d assume are volume up and down, one would be the Action button so what do the other two do? The “Tap” button is on the front and obvious though I thought perhaps one of the top five might be the “Tap”. Also mine came with a Base though the Tap has a USB port on the back of it, does the Base offer anything more or is it just a charging stand. On 13 Feb 2017, at 10:21 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Great news! There are a couple of folks on the group I'm in on Roger that are from Australia; maybe they already know this! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:00 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa It will be! coming in September On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia soon! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got to be a little careful applying firmware updates. There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be wiped out it seems. On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Dane: Don't know if you've had a chance to play with those buttons on the top of the tap or not, so you may have figured them out: the button nearest to you (going from front to back) is the volume down; moving toward the back (now this is if you're in the center of the device) is the play/pause button; the button furtherest from you is the volume up button. The button at the extreme left is your "back" button (not sure if they actually call it that) but let's say you're listening to a music shuffle...and you want to go back a song, this is the button you would press. So that leaves the button on the right; this takes you forward through your music. HTH! Oh and you probably have figured out that the button in front (not on the top) this is the button you press when you want to tell Alexa to do something. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:43 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Well its good news so spread it around My Tap just arrived and I’ve already connected it to my network though I do have a couple of questions. I should have asked what all the buttons on the top were for, there seem to be 5. Obviously two I’d assume are volume up and down, one would be the Action button so what do the other two do? The “Tap” button is on the front and obvious though I thought perhaps one of the top five might be the “Tap”. Also mine came with a Base though the Tap has a USB port on the back of it, does the Base offer anything more or is it just a charging stand. > On 13 Feb 2017, at 10:21 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Great news! There are a couple of folks on the group I'm in on Roger that > are from Australia; maybe they already know this! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:00 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > It will be! coming in September > > > > On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia >> soon! >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got >> to be a little careful applying firmware updates. >> There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding >> that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course >> but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be >> wiped out it seems. >> >>> On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >>> >>> Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas >>> yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! >>> Tom Kaufman >>> >>> -Original Message- >>> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford >>> Blackwell >>> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM >>> To: PC Audio Discussion List >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>> might make it even more user friendly. >>> - Original Message - >>> From: "Dane Trethowan" >>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> >>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>> impressive. >>> >>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>> >>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>> if that's the case. >>> >>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>&
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Well its good news so spread it around My Tap just arrived and I’ve already connected it to my network though I do have a couple of questions. I should have asked what all the buttons on the top were for, there seem to be 5. Obviously two I’d assume are volume up and down, one would be the Action button so what do the other two do? The “Tap” button is on the front and obvious though I thought perhaps one of the top five might be the “Tap”. Also mine came with a Base though the Tap has a USB port on the back of it, does the Base offer anything more or is it just a charging stand. > On 13 Feb 2017, at 10:21 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Great news! There are a couple of folks on the group I'm in on Roger that > are from Australia; maybe they already know this! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:00 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > It will be! coming in September > > > > On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia >> soon! >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got >> to be a little careful applying firmware updates. >> There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding >> that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course >> but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be >> wiped out it seems. >> >>> On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >>> >>> Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas >>> yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! >>> Tom Kaufman >>> >>> -Original Message- >>> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford >>> Blackwell >>> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM >>> To: PC Audio Discussion List >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>> might make it even more user friendly. >>> - Original Message - >>> From: "Dane Trethowan" >>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> >>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>> impressive. >>> >>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>> >>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>> if that's the case. >>> >>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>> course but you can't stream from it. >>> >>> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >>> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >>> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >>> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >>> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does >>>> not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base >>>> for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be >>>> worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but >>>> I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected >>>> it to external speakers. The Echo is much better f
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Great news! There are a couple of folks on the group I'm in on Roger that are from Australia; maybe they already know this! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 6:00 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa It will be! coming in September On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: > That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia > soon! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got > to be a little careful applying firmware updates. > There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding > that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course > but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be > wiped out it seems. > >> On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> >> Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas >> yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford >> Blackwell >> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >> might make it even more user friendly. >> - Original Message - >> From: "Dane Trethowan" >> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> >> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >> impressive. >> >> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >> >> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >> if that's the case. >> >> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >> course but you can't stream from it. >> >> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >> >> >> >> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does >>> not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base >>> for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be >>> worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but >>> I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected >>> it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still >>> not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the >>> Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is >>> quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is >>> very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a >>> wall and it sounds reasonably good. >>> >>> Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. >>> The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged >>> articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using >>> the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available >>> articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail >>> skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of >>> a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
I'm sure that this will work for both iPhone and android apps. This came from an android-centric site, so the author didn't bother to mention iPhone apps. Mary
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
I can't give you an exact answer on this but I suspect that the Author said Android App from his own personal perspective, meaning he has an Android device and just mentioned it without thinking . It seems to me that Amazon make their Echo Apps identical and everything that is offered in the App can be adjusted or set from the Amazon Echo Home Page via your browser. On 13/02/2017 10:00 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Okay...as I figured, I hadn't seen this when I sent that last post to the list! But my question is this: it says "Amazon Android app!" So does this mean that only people with Android phones can take advantage of this app? I have an Iphone, so if this be the case, maybe I'm out of luck...or have I misread what this is saying! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:47 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Here's the link to the article and yep I was right and good on Amazon for addressing what I consider to be an obvious and unnecessary flaw in the firmware. http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/02/09/amazon-tap-firmware-update-enables-echo-style-hands-free-voice-commands/ On 12/02/2017 7:26 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: I think you're probably right on track; at least that would also be my guess as well! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:16 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll make it clear that I’m only guessing. With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your request to Tap. With the other units you just speak your request and that request is performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need to press the button before you start speaking? On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell wrote: Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and look for the firmware update. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Wow! My Tap comes tomorrow. On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionall
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Yes, I actually found a link to the article on this feature and yes, a little more battery life will be used as the Tap will have to monitor all the time for the wake up command however it won't take all that much more battery power, the battery of the Tap is still expected to last around 10 hours per charge. Mobile phones can already do this so I'm surprised that the hands free function wasn't already available with the Echo Tap. On 13/02/2017 9:55 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: I haven't seen all the messages on this thread yet, so this may have been already mentioned; I've not actually seen it myself, but I'm hearing that the Tap will eventually have something called "Hands Free" it seems to be a deal where you go into your Alexa App and turn this new feature on and off. At this time, I don't have it, but have heard of others here in this country wo do have it; only thing I can say is that I'm hearing reports that it does drain a little more of the battery! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:35 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa I never understood why Amazon took the decision with the Tap to have the user press a button before issuing a command, surely it doesn’t take all that much power for the Tap to monitor what’s going on and what’s being said to it automatically? The Dot lasts for absolute ages on my Power Bank, still waiting for the bank to be entirely discharged. On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:26 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: I think you're probably right on track; at least that would also be my guess as well! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:16 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll make it clear that I’m only guessing. With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your request to Tap. With the other units you just speak your request and that request is performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need to press the button before you start speaking? On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell wrote: Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and look for the firmware update. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Wow! My Tap comes tomorrow. On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Okay...as I figured, I hadn't seen this when I sent that last post to the list! But my question is this: it says "Amazon Android app!" So does this mean that only people with Android phones can take advantage of this app? I have an Iphone, so if this be the case, maybe I'm out of luck...or have I misread what this is saying! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:47 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Here's the link to the article and yep I was right and good on Amazon for addressing what I consider to be an obvious and unnecessary flaw in the firmware. http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/02/09/amazon-tap-firmware-update-enables-echo-style-hands-free-voice-commands/ On 12/02/2017 7:26 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: > Dane: I think you're probably right on track; at least that would also be my > guess as well! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:16 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what > exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll > make it clear that I’m only guessing. > With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your > request to Tap. > With the other units you just speak your request and that request is > performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need > to press the button before you start speaking? > >> On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell >> wrote: >> >> Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and >> look for the firmware update. >> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >> >> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> >>> Wow! >>> >>> My Tap comes tomorrow. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: >>>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>>> might make it even more user friendly. >>>> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >>>> >>>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>>> >>>> >>>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>>> impressive. >>>> >>>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>>> >>>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>>> if that's the case. >>>> >>>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>>> course but you can't stream from it. >>>> >>>> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >>>> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >>>> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >>>> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >>>> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>>>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot >>>>> does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a >>>>> battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it >>>>> would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual >>>>> radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never >>>>> connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but >>>>> it is still not as g
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
It will be! coming in September On 13/02/2017 9:52 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia soon! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got to be a little careful applying firmware updates. There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be wiped out it seems. On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) John
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
I haven't seen all the messages on this thread yet, so this may have been already mentioned; I've not actually seen it myself, but I'm hearing that the Tap will eventually have something called "Hands Free" it seems to be a deal where you go into your Alexa App and turn this new feature on and off. At this time, I don't have it, but have heard of others here in this country wo do have it; only thing I can say is that I'm hearing reports that it does drain a little more of the battery! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:35 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa I never understood why Amazon took the decision with the Tap to have the user press a button before issuing a command, surely it doesn’t take all that much power for the Tap to monitor what’s going on and what’s being said to it automatically? The Dot lasts for absolute ages on my Power Bank, still waiting for the bank to be entirely discharged. > On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:26 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Dane: I think you're probably right on track; at least that would also be my > guess as well! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:16 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what > exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll > make it clear that I’m only guessing. > With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your > request to Tap. > With the other units you just speak your request and that request is > performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need > to press the button before you start speaking? > >> On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell >> wrote: >> >> Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and >> look for the firmware update. >> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >> >> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> >>> Wow! >>> >>> My Tap comes tomorrow. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: >>>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>>> might make it even more user friendly. >>>> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >>>> >>>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>>> >>>> >>>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>>> impressive. >>>> >>>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>>> >>>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>>> if that's the case. >>>> >>>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>>> course but you can't stream from it. >>>> >>>> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >>>> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >>>> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >>>> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >>>> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>>>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot >>>>> does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a >>>>> battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it >>>>> would be worthwhile. The Dot i
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
That's too bad! Hopefully the Amazon Echo will be supported in Australia soon! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:31 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got to be a little careful applying firmware updates. There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be wiped out it seems. > On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas > yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford > Blackwell > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that > might make it even more user friendly. > - Original Message - > From: "Dane Trethowan" > To: "PC Audio Discussion List" > Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > > to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely > impressive. > > I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I > listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was > quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as > wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. > > I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed > if that's the case. > > Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that > the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the > Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of > course but you can't stream from it. > > I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over > the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I > had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so > perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the > Amazon Tap? Will think about it. > > > > On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does >> not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base >> for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be >> worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but >> I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected >> it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still >> not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the >> Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is >> quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is >> very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a >> wall and it sounds reasonably good. >> >> Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. >> The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged >> articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using >> the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available >> articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail >> skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of >> a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn >> Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn >> won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic >> Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I >> ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International >> Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment >> and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the >> astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you >> have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. >> >> Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to p
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Here's the link to the article and yep I was right and good on Amazon for addressing what I consider to be an obvious and unnecessary flaw in the firmware. http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/02/09/amazon-tap-firmware-update-enables-echo-style-hands-free-voice-commands/ On 12/02/2017 7:26 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: I think you're probably right on track; at least that would also be my guess as well! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:16 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll make it clear that I’m only guessing. With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your request to Tap. With the other units you just speak your request and that request is performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need to press the button before you start speaking? On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell wrote: Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and look for the firmware update. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Wow! My Tap comes tomorrow. On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pi
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
I never understood why Amazon took the decision with the Tap to have the user press a button before issuing a command, surely it doesn’t take all that much power for the Tap to monitor what’s going on and what’s being said to it automatically? The Dot lasts for absolute ages on my Power Bank, still waiting for the bank to be entirely discharged. > On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:26 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Dane: I think you're probably right on track; at least that would also be my > guess as well! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:16 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what > exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll > make it clear that I’m only guessing. > With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your > request to Tap. > With the other units you just speak your request and that request is > performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need > to press the button before you start speaking? > >> On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell >> wrote: >> >> Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and >> look for the firmware update. >> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >> >> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> >>> Wow! >>> >>> My Tap comes tomorrow. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: >>>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>>> might make it even more user friendly. >>>> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >>>> >>>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>>> >>>> >>>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>>> impressive. >>>> >>>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>>> >>>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>>> if that's the case. >>>> >>>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>>> course but you can't stream from it. >>>> >>>> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >>>> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >>>> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >>>> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >>>> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>>>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot >>>>> does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a >>>>> battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it >>>>> would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual >>>>> radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never >>>>> connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but >>>>> it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I >>>>> noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from >>>>> a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden >>>>> floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it >>>>> on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. >>>>> >>>>> Apart
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Course - given Amazon Echo isn’t fully supported in Australia yet - I’ve got to be a little careful applying firmware updates. There have been reports here of people applying the updates and then finding that their Echo won’t load again, no problem with the Echo itself of course but all the workarounds we in Australia use to get the Echo working can be wiped out it seems. > On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:24 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas > yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford > Blackwell > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that > might make it even more user friendly. > - Original Message - > From: "Dane Trethowan" > To: "PC Audio Discussion List" > Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > > to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely > impressive. > > I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I > listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was > quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as > wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. > > I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed > if that's the case. > > Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that > the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the > Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of > course but you can't stream from it. > > I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over > the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I > had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so > perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the > Amazon Tap? Will think about it. > > > > On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does >> not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base >> for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be >> worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but >> I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected >> it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still >> not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the >> Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is >> quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is >> very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a >> wall and it sounds reasonably good. >> >> Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. >> The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged >> articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using >> the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available >> articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail >> skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of >> a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn >> Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn >> won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic >> Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I >> ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International >> Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment >> and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the >> astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you >> have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. >> >> Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first >> time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal >> Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long >> as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the >> Scottish Pipes on their own a
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
thanks, I’ll chase that one up. > On 12 Feb 2017, at 7:25 am, Clifford Blackwell wrote: > > Could be. I think I saw the info on theverge.com, but I can't remember for > sure and I didn't read beyond the headline. > - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" > To: "PC Audio Discussion List" > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:16 PM > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > > Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what > exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll > make it clear that I’m only guessing. > With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your > request to Tap. > With the other units you just speak your request and that request is > performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need > to press the button before you start speaking? > >> On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell >> wrote: >> >> Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and >> look for the firmware update. >> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >> >> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> >>> Wow! >>> >>> My Tap comes tomorrow. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: >>>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>>> might make it even more user friendly. >>>> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >>>> >>>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>>> >>>> >>>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>>> impressive. >>>> >>>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>>> >>>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>>> if that's the case. >>>> >>>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>>> course but you can't stream from it. >>>> >>>> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >>>> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >>>> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >>>> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >>>> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>>>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot >>>>> does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a >>>>> battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it >>>>> would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual >>>>> radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never >>>>> connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but >>>>> it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I >>>>> noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from >>>>> a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden >>>>> floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it >>>>> on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. >>>>> >>>>> Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most >>>>> use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the >>>>> unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I >>>>> was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few >>
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Dane: I think you're probably right on track; at least that would also be my guess as well! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:16 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll make it clear that I’m only guessing. With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your request to Tap. With the other units you just speak your request and that request is performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need to press the button before you start speaking? > On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell wrote: > > Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and > look for the firmware update. > - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" > To: "PC Audio Discussion List" > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > >> Wow! >> >> My Tap comes tomorrow. >> >> >> >> On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: >>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>> might make it even more user friendly. >>> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >>> >>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> >>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>> impressive. >>> >>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>> >>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>> if that's the case. >>> >>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>> course but you can't stream from it. >>> >>> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >>> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >>> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >>> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >>> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does >>>> not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base >>>> for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be >>>> worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but >>>> I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected >>>> it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still >>>> not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the >>>> Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is >>>> quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is >>>> very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a >>>> wall and it sounds reasonably good. >>>> >>>> Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. >>>> The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged >>>> articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using >>>> the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available >>>> articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail >>>> skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of >>>> a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn >>>> Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn >>>> won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game whic
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Clifford: I've heard this too, but am not sure it's available in all areas yet! I have the tap, so maybe I'll get to see how it works! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:21 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: > I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does > not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base > for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be > worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but > I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected > it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still > not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the > Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is > quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is > very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a > wall and it sounds reasonably good. > > Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. > The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged > articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using > the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available > articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail > skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of > a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn > Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn > won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic > Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I > ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International > Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment > and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the > astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you > have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. > > Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first > time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal > Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long > as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the > Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based > rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think > you want the more famous Peppers. :) > > John > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of > Clifford Blackwell > Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend > the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. > - Original Message - > From: "Dane Trethowan" > To: "PC Audio Discussion List" > Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > >
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Could be. I think I saw the info on theverge.com, but I can't remember for sure and I didn't read beyond the headline. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:16 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll make it clear that I’m only guessing. With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your request to Tap. With the other units you just speak your request and that request is performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need to press the button before you start speaking? On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell wrote: Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and look for the firmware update. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Wow! My Tap comes tomorrow. On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you wan
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Yep, will keep an eye on that, I don’t suppose you have any idea of what exactly the hands free update does? I think I know and I’ll explain and I’ll make it clear that I’m only guessing. With the Tap at present you have to press a button and then speak your request to Tap. With the other units you just speak your request and that request is performed so I’m guessing the firmware update for the tap illumines the need to press the button before you start speaking? > On 12 Feb 2017, at 6:59 am, Clifford Blackwell wrote: > > Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and > look for the firmware update. > - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" > To: "PC Audio Discussion List" > Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > >> Wow! >> >> My Tap comes tomorrow. >> >> >> >> On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: >>> I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that >>> might make it even more user friendly. >>> - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" >>> >>> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" >>> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> >>> to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely >>> impressive. >>> >>> I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I >>> listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was >>> quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as >>> wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. >>> >>> I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed >>> if that's the case. >>> >>> Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that >>> the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the >>> Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of >>> course but you can't stream from it. >>> >>> I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over >>> the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I >>> had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so >>> perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the >>> Amazon Tap? Will think about it. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: >>>> I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does >>>> not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base >>>> for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be >>>> worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but >>>> I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected >>>> it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still >>>> not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the >>>> Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is >>>> quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is >>>> very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a >>>> wall and it sounds reasonably good. >>>> >>>> Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. >>>> The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged >>>> articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using >>>> the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available >>>> articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail >>>> skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of >>>> a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn >>>> Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn >>>> won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic >>>> Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I >>>> ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International >>>> Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment >>>> and when it
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Hope that all works out for you. Let us know about the sound quality and look for the firmware update. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:53 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Wow! My Tap comes tomorrow. On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to char
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Wow! My Tap comes tomorrow. On 12/02/2017 6:21 AM, Clifford Blackwell wrote: I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
I believe I just read that the Tap is getting a hand's free update that might make it even more user friendly. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: The Dot can be con
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Now that solution of having two Echo systems for stereo would be a super one sonlically as well as literally given the shape of the Echo. On 7/02/2017 8:07 AM, John Gurd wrote: No, the Echo isn't stereo but not at all bad for a momo speaker. It would be nice if two together could act as a stereo pair like Sonos devices do but that's not the case. I haven't looked into the Tap (I don't think it's available in the UK yet) but if it is as good as suggested I might. I just assumed it would be portable but inferior in audio quality even to the Dot. Obviously I assumed wrong so I'll check it out just from Nosiness. I don't really need yet another speaker just yet. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: 06 February 2017 17:38 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tri
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
No, the Echo isn't stereo but not at all bad for a momo speaker. It would be nice if two together could act as a stereo pair like Sonos devices do but that's not the case. I haven't looked into the Tap (I don't think it's available in the UK yet) but if it is as good as suggested I might. I just assumed it would be portable but inferior in audio quality even to the Dot. Obviously I assumed wrong so I'll check it out just from Nosiness. I don't really need yet another speaker just yet. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: 06 February 2017 17:38 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: > I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does > not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base > for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be > worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I > wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to > external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as > good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very > susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite > mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good > but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it > sounds reasonably good. > > Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. > The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged > articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the > Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available > articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail > skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a > single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn > Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn > won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic > Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I > ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space > Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when > it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are > doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite > hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. > > Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first > time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the > Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't > last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen > on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent > pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa > will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) > > John > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of > Clifford Blackwell > Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the > extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. > - Original Message - > From: "Dane Trethowan" > To: "PC Audio Discussion List" > Sent: Friday,
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
to your last comments about "The Pipes" first? Impressive, absolutely impressive. I had the Echo on my table behind my bed - shelf actually - and I listened to a few Classic Albums I came upon on Spotify, the tone was quite pleasing and something I could easily relax to but no, not as wonderful as my B&W A7 and I didn't expect it to be either. I think the Echo plays in mono so it was a damn good performance indeed if that's the case. Battery Base for the Dot? Makes all the sense in the world given that the Dot can stream to Bluetooth speakers and headsets, I wonder why the Echo won't do Bluetooth streaming both ways, you can stream to it of course but you can't stream from it. I'm thinking about whether or not to buy a Tap, in a review I read over the weekend it was compared favourably to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I had been thinking about getting the current version of the Bose so perhaps its best to kill some b irds with a stone and just get the Amazon Tap? Will think about it. On 7/02/2017 3:04 AM, John Gurd wrote: I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. - Original Message ----- From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Now that I’ve had m
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
I'm just catching up with this thread. Just to make it clear, the Dot does not have a built-in battery. That's interesting you can get a battery base for it (I didn't know that) but I personally don't think it would be worthwhile. The Dot is fine for speech and books and even casual radio but I wouldn't spend much time listening to music on it. I've never connected it to external speakers. The Echo is much better for music but it is still not as good as my Bose Soundlink Mini or Creative Roar. I noticed the Echo is very susceptible to positioning: on a table away from a wall it is quite mid-rangey with little base, on a carpeted wooden floor the base is very good but it's speech is too base heavy. I have it on a table near a wall and it sounds reasonably good. Apart from the Hive skill, the following are the ones I found of most use. The Guardian newspaper because it is very generous with the unabridged articles it provides and they can be accessed in categories. I was using the Telegraph occasionally but I removed it as suddenly the few available articles are now truncated to the first few paragraphs. The National Rail skill is very basic but great for quickly getting the times and status of a single pre-set up route. I've enabled Radio Player as well as the TuneIn Skill and have sometimes found radio stations that for some reason TuneIn won't find. I've dabbled with the Magic Door game which is a basic Interactive Fiction with sound effects and although it's quite amusing I ultimately found it a bit limited. I've just enabled the International Space Station skill and enjoy finding out where it is at any given moment and when it will pass Glasgow next as well as news about what the astronauts are doing. Alexa has a lot of hidden talents herself but you have to work quite hard to find them and doing so is very hit and miss. Oh, and just for you, Dane, I asked Alexa to play the Pipes. The first time I got the Pogues instead and the second I got the Pipes of the Royal Tank Command playing Chariots of Fire of all things. It didn't last long as military bands are definitely not my thing. I'm not keen on the Scottish Pipes on their own although there is a very excellent pipe-based rock band called the Red Hot Chile Pipers. Sadly, Alexa will always think you want the more famous Peppers. :) John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Clifford Blackwell Sent: 04 February 2017 20:05 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 > questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. > > > > On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have >> good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! >> Tom >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of >> Dane Trethowan >> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? >> >>> On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >>> >>> Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. >>> Tom Kaufman >>> >>> -Original Message- >>> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of >>> Dane Trethowan >>> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM >>> To: PC Audio Discussion List >>> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >>> >>> Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 >>> hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than >>> I was Yesterday. >>> Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who >>> may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well >>> yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires >>> no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. >>> Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m >>> in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local >>> location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the >>> Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! >
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
You can purchase a battery base for the Dot. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on this though so I can't verify how well it works. - Original Message - From: "Dane Trethowan" To: "PC Audio Discussion List" Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian depending on the model you want. I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of the unit. Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa home page. For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice commands? The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair of Bluetooth headphones etc. To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a stereo or television, is that right? On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can ask her to do! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa Hi! For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope you’re enjoying your as I am mine. Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product yet - I’m in S
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
these devices are updated quite regularly and - so long as we users provide feedback - then I guess the developers will have plenty to work with. On 4/02/2017 1:07 PM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Have tried a few: Cat Facts, Dog Facts; I've also tried News Briefs (I think Amazon calls these "Flash Briefs" obviously I can't vouch for how any of this stuff works in Australia, but here some of them work okay; some work better than others! I've tried TV Shows and TV Info. I'll tell you that these work better with the main TV networks (CBS, ABC and NBC) if you throw something at it that's a little off the beaten path, it doesn't quite know how to handle that yet! But it's my guess that Amazon will improve on these things; hopefully they will! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 6:57 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian depending on the model you want. I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of the unit. Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa home page. For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice commands? The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair of Bluetooth headphones etc. To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a stereo or television, is that right? On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly list
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
The Tap does sound good; while I won't say it has that big booming base, it's not bad! I've not heard the Echo (what I am told is that the Echo doesn't do stereo (don't know why Amazon did that) but the Tap definitely does give you stereo sound! I'd put it in about the same class as the JBL Flip 2, if you know what those sound like! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 7:20 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Interesting, in a review I just read they say that the Amazon Tap sounds better than a lot of Bluetooth speakers available on the market today? They compared it with the Bose Soundlink Mini. Ah well, won't be long until I'm able to hear one for myself and - if the author of the review says it sounds even better than the Echo - then it must sound pretty damn good, the Echo doesn't sound bad at all - and I'm used to B&W T7, A7 and all them nice things . - On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: > Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good > battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! > Tom > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? > >> On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> >> Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m >> probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. >> Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be >> thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it >> is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be >> applied as was previously the case. >> Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in >> Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can >> be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and >> the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! >> If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon >> Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian >> depending on the model you want. >> I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from >> dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. >> The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied >> power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a >> matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the >> power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of >> the unit. >> Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you >> know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa >> home page. >> For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth >> exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. >> Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo >> recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. >> There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify >> Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. >> Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many >> stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into >> stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work >> that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia >> with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice >> commands? >> The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done >> this? >> I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can >> stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use >> Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo >> can’t stream the ot
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Have tried a few: Cat Facts, Dog Facts; I've also tried News Briefs (I think Amazon calls these "Flash Briefs" obviously I can't vouch for how any of this stuff works in Australia, but here some of them work okay; some work better than others! I've tried TV Shows and TV Info. I'll tell you that these work better with the main TV networks (CBS, ABC and NBC) if you throw something at it that's a little off the beaten path, it doesn't quite know how to handle that yet! But it's my guess that Amazon will improve on these things; hopefully they will! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 6:57 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: > Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good > battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! > Tom > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? > >> On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> >> Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m >> probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. >> Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be >> thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it >> is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be >> applied as was previously the case. >> Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in >> Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can >> be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and >> the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! >> If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon >> Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian >> depending on the model you want. >> I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from >> dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. >> The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied >> power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a >> matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the >> power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of >> the unit. >> Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you >> know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa >> home page. >> For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth >> exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. >> Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo >> recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. >> There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify >> Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. >> Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many >> stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into >> stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work >> that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia >> with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice >> commands? >> The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done >> this? >> I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can >> stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use >> Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo >> can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair >> of Bluetooth headphones etc. >> To summarise, this purchase was we
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Interesting, in a review I just read they say that the Amazon Tap sounds better than a lot of Bluetooth speakers available on the market today? They compared it with the Bose Soundlink Mini. Ah well, won't be long until I'm able to hear one for myself and - if the author of the review says it sounds even better than the Echo - then it must sound pretty damn good, the Echo doesn't sound bad at all - and I'm used to B&W T7, A7 and all them nice things . - On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian depending on the model you want. I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of the unit. Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa home page. For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice commands? The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair of Bluetooth headphones etc. To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a stereo or television, is that right? On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can ask her to do! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa Hi! For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope you’re enjoying your as I am mine. Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Have you tried any "Skills" yet? I've tried a few such as 20 questions, Mystery Radio Theatre etc. On 4/02/2017 10:18 AM, Tom Kaufman wrote: Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian depending on the model you want. I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of the unit. Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa home page. For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice commands? The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair of Bluetooth headphones etc. To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a stereo or television, is that right? On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can ask her to do! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa Hi! For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope you’re enjoying your as I am mine. Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind. ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind. ** Those of a positive an
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Yep...that's the one; it has a chargeable battery and seems to have good battery life; seems to charge up fairly quickly! Tom -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 3:44 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? > On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m > probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. > Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be > thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it > is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be > applied as was previously the case. > Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle > - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set > easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW > Eastern Time region, works fine! > If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon > Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian > depending on the model you want. > I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from > dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. > The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied > power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a > matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the > power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of > the unit. > Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you > know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa > home page. > For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth > exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. > Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise > the voice commands I’ve issued. > There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify > Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. > Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many > stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into > stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work > that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia > with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice > commands? > The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? > I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can > stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use > Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo > can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair > of Bluetooth headphones etc. > To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m > going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying > one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a > stereo or television, is that right? > >> On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> >> II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen >> to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell >> you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can >> ask her to do! >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> Hi! >> For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the >> device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely >> hope you’re enjoying your as I am mine. >> Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product >> yet - I’m in Seattle apparently
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Thanks for prompting me to look up reviews for both Tap and Dot, I could certainly find uses for both these different devices so time to start saving again though both seem quite reasonably priced out here in Australia, one can get the Dot Second Generation for about $120 and the Tap for around $170. As Tom says, the Dot is a bit like the Google Chromecast particularly in shape it seems. The Dot has a small built-in speaker so you can talk to Alexa though it is intended to work with an existing stereo or speaker system. There are two big attractions for me with the Dot, the first being that it can connect to Bluetooth speakers or headphones. The second - given it uses a micro USB port for charging - means that the Dot can be connected to a USB rechargeable battery pack thus used away from a wall outlet, perhaps outdoors with a suitable connected or Bluetooth speaker system. > On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m > probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. > Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be > thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it > is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be > applied as was previously the case. > Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle > - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set > easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW > Eastern Time region, works fine! > If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon > Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian > depending on the model you want. > I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from > dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. > The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied > power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a > matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the > power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of > the unit. > Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you > know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa > home page. > For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth > exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. > Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise > the voice commands I’ve issued. > There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify > Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. > Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many > stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into > stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work > that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia > with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice > commands? > The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? > I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can > stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use > Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo > can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair > of Bluetooth headphones etc. > To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m > going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying > one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a > stereo or television, is that right? > >> On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> >> II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen >> to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell >> you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can >> ask her to do! >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >>
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
And the Tap is the one you have right? Is that battery powered? > On 4 Feb 2017, at 6:13 am, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m > probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. > Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be > thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it > is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be > applied as was previously the case. > Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle > - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set > easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW > Eastern Time region, works fine! > If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon > Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian > depending on the model you want. > I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from > dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. > The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied > power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a > matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the > power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of > the unit. > Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you > know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa > home page. > For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth > exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. > Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise > the voice commands I’ve issued. > There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify > Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. > Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many > stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into > stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work > that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia > with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice > commands? > The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? > I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can > stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use > Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo > can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair > of Bluetooth headphones etc. > To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m > going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying > one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a > stereo or television, is that right? > >> On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: >> >> II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen >> to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell >> you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can >> ask her to do! >> Tom Kaufman >> >> -Original Message- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa >> >> Hi! >> For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the >> device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely >> hope you’re enjoying your as I am mine. >> Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product >> yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. >> >> ** >> Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the >> halfwits in this world behind. >> >> >> >> > > ** > Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the > halfwits in this world behind. > > > > ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
Dane: The Dot can be connected to a stereo, but not the Tap. Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 5:25 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian depending on the model you want. I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of the unit. Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa home page. For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice commands? The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair of Bluetooth headphones etc. To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a stereo or television, is that right? > On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen > to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell > you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can > ask her to do! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Hi! > For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the > device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope > you’re enjoying your as I am mine. > Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product > yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. > > ** > Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the > halfwits in this world behind. > > > > ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Thanks for this. I’d never thought of using the Spotify App to stream directly to the Echo or Dot but I suppose when you think about it the process makes perfect sense, I’ve been giving the Echo voice commands to control Spotify. I’ve been using IOS/Android Apps to control my lighting and other devices up till now so that’s one of my future projects to see how I can get Echo and Dot to control those. Now correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t have a Dot yet so know little about it, isn’t the Dot the one that can run on batteries as well as mains power from a USB socket? I’m after a remote control for my Echo but can’t seem to find one right at the moment available locally with is a little strange given that the Echo and so on are readily available here but not the remotes it seems so will probably have to import one. So what happens Maboy when you say to Echo, “Alexa Play The Pipes!” . > On 4 Feb 2017, at 1:10 am, John Gurd wrote: > > I've got the Echo and the Dot. The nice thing about the Spotify app is that > you can pick the device you want to use direct from the app including Echo > and even Sonos devices. > > I use the Echo for catching up with News and radio and I also use it to > control the central heating and lights with British Gas Hive controller. I > often connect my Echo or Dot to my iPhone via Bluetooth and listen to books > from the Voice Dream app. All in all I get a lot out of it. > > Oh, and I got the remote which I paired to my Echo. I use it if the > environment is a bit noisy with the telly on in the background or if I'm > sitting further away from the Echo and don't want to raise my voice. > > John > > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: 03 February 2017 10:25 > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m > probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. > Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be > thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it > is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be > applied as was previously the case. > Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle > - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set > easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW > Eastern Time region, works fine! > If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon > Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian > depending on the model you want. > I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from > dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. > The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied > power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a > matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the > power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of > the unit. > Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you > know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa > home page. > For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth > exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. > Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise > the voice commands I’ve issued. > There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify > Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. > Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many > stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into > stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work > that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia > with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice > commands? > The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? > I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can > stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use > Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo > can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair > of Bluetooth headphones etc. > To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m > going to be served well for many years to come, I may
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
I've got the Echo and the Dot. The nice thing about the Spotify app is that you can pick the device you want to use direct from the app including Echo and even Sonos devices. I use the Echo for catching up with News and radio and I also use it to control the central heating and lights with British Gas Hive controller. I often connect my Echo or Dot to my iPhone via Bluetooth and listen to books from the Voice Dream app. All in all I get a lot out of it. Oh, and I got the remote which I paired to my Echo. I use it if the environment is a bit noisy with the telly on in the background or if I'm sitting further away from the Echo and don't want to raise my voice. John -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: 03 February 2017 10:25 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Amazon Echo Alexa Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian depending on the model you want. I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of the unit. Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa home page. For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice commands? The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair of Bluetooth headphones etc. To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a stereo or television, is that right? > On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen > to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell > you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can > ask her to do! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Hi! > For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the > device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope > you’re enjoying your as I am mine. > Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product > yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. > > ** > Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the > halfwits in this world behind. > > > > ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
Now that I’ve had mine up and running for a little longer than 24 hours I’m probably in a better position to reply to this eMail than I was Yesterday. Firstly a note to anyone in Australia or outside the US or UK who may be thinking of going down the Echo path, is it worth it? Well yep, I reckon it is and even better is the fact that setup requires no hacks or cracks to be applied as was previously the case. Your Echo will still think you’re somewhere else - Mine thinks I’m in Seattle - but I can still get standard time for my local location, this can be set easily in settings, in my case I chose the Australian time zone and the NSW Eastern Time region, works fine! If you’re in Australia then probably one of the best places to get an Amazon Echo is from eBay, they sell for as little as around $100 Australian depending on the model you want. I had my Echo 24 hours after I ordered it, the eBay store I bought from dispatched the item using Australia Post Express Post. The first thing I had to do was to find a wall adapter to make the supplied power supply compatible with our AC mains socket, that done it was just a matter of plugging the supply into the mains and connecting to the Echo, the power lead plugs into the bottom of the Echo and protrudes from the rear of the unit. Echo will say “Hell” and I think she tells you you’re in setup mode so you know you can proceed with the setup which is all done from the Amazon Alexa home page. For those using Echo now and who have it set up the home page is well worth exploring if you haven’t done so already, so much there to tweak and see. Even though I’m in Australia I’ve had little trouble having my Echo recognise the voice commands I’ve issued. There’s a lot I can’t use but a hell of a lot I can, I can use Spotify Premium with Echo however I can’t use Amazon’s Unlimited Music Service. Radio is an oddity I have to admit, I can’t get Echo to tune into many stations using voice commands however I can manually have Echo tune into stations if I use the Tunein interface from the Echo Home Page so go work that one out, if anyone manages to listen to radio 2GB in Sydney Australia with their Echo then I’d be interested to know how you did it with voice commands? The Echo can be paired with an amazon remote controller, has anyone done this? I’m a little disappointed with the Bluetooth facilities offered, yes you can stream to Echo using Bluetooth so that’s nice and handy if you want to use Echo as a speaker for your mobile device etc but I’m surprised that Echo can’t stream the other way - say stream the output using Bluetooth to a pair of Bluetooth headphones etc. To summarise, this purchase was well worth the while for me and I’m sure I’m going to be served well for many years to come, I may even consider buying one of the other Echo models such as the Dot, the Tap can be connected to a stereo or television, is that right? > On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen > to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell > you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can > ask her to do! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Hi! > For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the > device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope > you’re enjoying your as I am mine. > Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product > yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. > > ** > Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the > halfwits in this world behind. > > > > ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
Re: Amazon Echo Alexa
I have the original model, will be getting the smaller Dot in the future, its cheap enough. I have to admit the sound that comes out of that thing is quite surprising given the size. > On 2 Feb 2017, at 2:15 pm, Tom Kaufman wrote: > > II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen > to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell > you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can > ask her to do! > Tom Kaufman > > -Original Message- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa > > Hi! > For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the > device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope > you’re enjoying your as I am mine. > Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product > yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. > > ** > Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the > halfwits in this world behind. > > > > ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
RE: Amazon Echo Alexa
II am enjoying mine (I have the one that is known as the Tap) mostly listen to music on it...but it can do other things like tell you the weather, tell you a joke (haven't tried that yet) am sure there's lots of things you can ask her to do! Tom Kaufman -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 10:05 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Amazon Echo Alexa Hi! For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope you’re enjoying your as I am mine. Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
Amazon Echo Alexa
Hi! For those of you who have one of these - can’t say what it is again or the device will get upset when its name is called - then I sincerely hope you’re enjoying your as I am mine. Unfortunately Australia isn’t one of the support country’s for the product yet - I’m in Seattle apparently - so I still need to do a little tweaking. ** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.