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 <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> 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" <grtd...@internode.on.net> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> 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 <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> >> 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 <tomca...@comcast.net> 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 <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> >>> 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 <tomca...@comcast.net> 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 <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> >>>> 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 <smile> - 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. >> >> >> >> > >
