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