Amazon Echo now reads Kindle books aloud - Page 2

bshar489 · 01-10-2016, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I paid $99 for mine. I use it for streaming music (Prime, Pandora, FM radio, etc) and playing Audible books. For that, it was money well spent and I'm very pleased with the playback and sound quality.

What I love most about it is that it sits there ready to play whatever I want whenever I want. I don't have to fool around setting up another device.

And when I need to add something to my shopping list I don't have to hunt for pen and paper, I can just tell Alexa

Didn't get it for the $99 though.

Bergette

Sydney's Mom · 01-10-2016, 02:10 PM

I bought two (had my husband order one on his Prime membership) and I love them just to be able to listen to my local radio station. Doing that while in Idaho on vacation was really nice. The only issue I have is Alexa seems to listen too closely. We will be in another room, and she will start talking. She must have heard "Alexa" somewhere in our conversations. My family thinks it is creepy, and turns her off all the time. I agree, I hate Google insisting on gathering all my information, but somehow Amazon, which is so customer centric, it doesn't bother me so much. I am sure this is how fascist dictators got started.

Conan46 · 01-10-2016, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I paid $99 for mine. I use it for streaming music (Prime, Pandora, FM radio, etc) and playing Audible books. For that, it was money well spent and I'm very pleased with the playback and sound quality.

What I love most about it is that it sits there ready to play whatever I want whenever I want. I don't have to fool around setting up another device.

If I catch it on sale for $99 I might pick one up, I think $179 is just too much. It would be different if it had a battery in it and could be moved from room to room without needing an electrical outlet all the time.

tubemonkey · 01-10-2016, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan46

If I catch it on sale for $99 I might pick one up, I think $179 is just too much. It would be different if it had a battery in it and could be moved from room to room without needing an electrical outlet all the time.

I picked up a second one just before Black Friday for $75 and gave it to my son.

Conan46 · 01-10-2016, 02:39 PM

Barry, I really like the idea of the Echo, I'm just trying to find use cases for it, so it's good that they continue to add new features.
The text-to-speech is definitely not for every book. I tried once to listen to one of Brian Jacques Redwall books and it was a nightmare with all the accents he gives the animals. When I send text-to-speech to a bluetooth speaker I sometimes look at the text on the tablet for words that can get garbled, names in fantasy books especially can get butchered.

Conan46 · 01-10-2016, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I picked up a second one just before Black Friday for $75 and gave it to my son.

At $75 I would not have to think about buying one so hard

copyrite · 01-10-2016, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I picked up a second one just before Black Friday for $75 and gave it to my son.

If I'd have bought a second one... I would've kept it for myself!

fjtorres · 01-10-2016, 06:16 PM

For those wondering about the uses of Alexa, check this out:
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/7/107...ver-smart-home

There are two separate products here: Echo, the bluetooth/internet speaker and the Alexa cloud-based voice recognition service. Alexa can be and is being implemented in non-Echo devices and Non-Amazon devices.

Echo's implementation (and the Fire TV implementation) support an extensive range of end user customization through it's support for ITTT. People have used that for home automation, accessing info on websites, or simply passing data to PC's or Macs that then process it. Through PC/Mac interfaces (or custom interfaces using the ASK devevolper kit) Echo/Alexa can control practically anything. That is the stealth part of Amazon's play.

Where everybody in home automation, for example, is trying to get consumers to pick their device ecosystem and forgo all others, Amazon is making Alexa the central hub by supporting everybody.

Use cases will depend on what exactly you need controlled.

As a fan on Heinlein's Door into summer, I can see Alexa evolving into the control for home robots like his HandyAndy. And since Amazon already owns a robotics company...

As things are going, Alexa is half a step from becoming Skynet. Or at least the Kilg%re.

Conan46 · 01-10-2016, 06:35 PM

One day soon... Alexa, order me a pizza, call in my cholesterol prescription, load up The Terminator movie on the viewscreen, set the thermostat to 72 degrees, turn off the vacuum cleaner, close the garage door, put more food in the dog's bowl, dim the lights, set up next week's doctor appointment, remind me to pick up the kids at school 2:30 pm tomorrow, turn down the temperature in the fridge (beer not cold enough), and check the shipping on the computer I ordered, .......

tubemonkey · 01-10-2016, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan46

One day soon... Alexa, order me a pizza, call in my cholesterol prescription, load up The Terminator movie on the viewscreen, set the thermostat to 72 degrees, turn off the vacuum cleaner, close the garage door, put more food in the dog's bowl, dim the lights, set up next week's doctor appointment, remind me to pick up the kids at school 2:30 pm tomorrow, turn down the temperature in the fridge (beer not cold enough), and check the shipping on the computer I ordered, .......

Alexa: "I'm sorry, Conan46. I'm afraid I can't do that."

Cinisajoy · 01-10-2016, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan46

One day soon... Alexa, order me a pizza, call in my cholesterol prescription, load up The Terminator movie on the viewscreen, set the thermostat to 72 degrees, turn off the vacuum cleaner, close the garage door, put more food in the dog's bowl, dim the lights, set up next week's doctor appointment, remind me to pick up the kids at school 2:30 pm tomorrow, turn down the temperature in the fridge (beer not cold enough), and check the shipping on the computer I ordered, .......

You forgot Alexa cook dinner and do the dishes.

fjtorres · 01-11-2016, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan46

One day soon... Alexa, order me a pizza, call in my cholesterol prescription, load up The Terminator movie on the viewscreen, set the thermostat to 72 degrees, turn off the vacuum cleaner, close the garage door, put more food in the dog's bowl, dim the lights, set up next week's doctor appointment, remind me to pick up the kids at school 2:30 pm tomorrow, turn down the temperature in the fridge (beer not cold enough), and check the shipping on the computer I ordered, .......

Let's see...
Pizza, Dominos or Pizza Hut, yes. Not sure about Papa John's.
Prescription, not yet, I don't think..
Thermostat, lights, and garage door, yes. Easy.
Dog food, no.
Appoinment, depends. Can you do it online?
Reminder, yes.
Fridge, depends on the fridge. Is it internet connected?
Check order? If its from Amazon, probably soon.

On some new cars: Alexa can start it and turn up the heater in the winter.

You've got your usage case right there.

Blossom · 01-11-2016, 08:40 AM

The TTS on Alexa is Alexa reading it in her voice so if you haven't heard her read before and how advance she is you will be pleasantly surprise how good of a job she does.

Conan46 · 01-11-2016, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Alexa: "I'm sorry, Conan46. I'm afraid I can't do that."

LOL!

Conan46 · 01-11-2016, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You forgot Alexa cook dinner and do the dishes.

They would sell millions of Echos

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01-10-2016, 02:10 PM	#17
Sydney's Mom Wizard Posts: 2,899 Karma: 6995721 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Idaho, on the side of a mountain Device: Kindle Oasis, Fire 3d Gen and 5th Gen and Samsung Tab S	I bought two (had my husband order one on his Prime membership) and I love them just to be able to listen to my local radio station. Doing that while in Idaho on vacation was really nice. The only issue I have is Alexa seems to listen too closely. We will be in another room, and she will start talking. She must have heard "Alexa" somewhere in our conversations. My family thinks it is creepy, and turns her off all the time. I agree, I hate Google insisting on gathering all my information, but somehow Amazon, which is so customer centric, it doesn't bother me so much. I am sure this is how fascist dictators got started.

01-10-2016, 02:39 PM	#20
Conan46 Fanatic Posts: 575 Karma: 3400000 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Paperwhite 3	Barry, I really like the idea of the Echo, I'm just trying to find use cases for it, so it's good that they continue to add new features. The text-to-speech is definitely not for every book. I tried once to listen to one of Brian Jacques Redwall books and it was a nightmare with all the accents he gives the animals. When I send text-to-speech to a bluetooth speaker I sometimes look at the text on the tablet for words that can get garbled, names in fantasy books especially can get butchered.

01-10-2016, 06:16 PM	#23
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	For those wondering about the uses of Alexa, check this out: http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/7/107...ver-smart-home There are two separate products here: Echo, the bluetooth/internet speaker and the Alexa cloud-based voice recognition service. Alexa can be and is being implemented in non-Echo devices and Non-Amazon devices. Echo's implementation (and the Fire TV implementation) support an extensive range of end user customization through it's support for ITTT. People have used that for home automation, accessing info on websites, or simply passing data to PC's or Macs that then process it. Through PC/Mac interfaces (or custom interfaces using the ASK devevolper kit) Echo/Alexa can control practically anything. That is the stealth part of Amazon's play. Where everybody in home automation, for example, is trying to get consumers to pick their device ecosystem and forgo all others, Amazon is making Alexa the central hub by supporting everybody. Use cases will depend on what exactly you need controlled. As a fan on Heinlein's Door into summer, I can see Alexa evolving into the control for home robots like his HandyAndy. And since Amazon already owns a robotics company... As things are going, Alexa is half a step from becoming Skynet. Or at least the Kilg%re.

01-10-2016, 06:35 PM	#24
Conan46 Fanatic Posts: 575 Karma: 3400000 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Paperwhite 3	One day soon... Alexa, order me a pizza, call in my cholesterol prescription, load up The Terminator movie on the viewscreen, set the thermostat to 72 degrees, turn off the vacuum cleaner, close the garage door, put more food in the dog's bowl, dim the lights, set up next week's doctor appointment, remind me to pick up the kids at school 2:30 pm tomorrow, turn down the temperature in the fridge (beer not cold enough), and check the shipping on the computer I ordered, .......

01-11-2016, 08:40 AM	#28
Blossom Treasure Seeker Posts: 18,708 Karma: 26026435 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kobo HD Glo, Kindles, Kindle Fires, Andriod Devices	The TTS on Alexa is Alexa reading it in her voice so if you haven't heard her read before and how advance she is you will be pleasantly surprise how good of a job she does.