Amazon Echo Club

[booklover6]

Yay... all of us suckers that already tried Amazon Music can now feel disappointed...

$10 gift for Music Unlimited

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Yay... all of us suckers that already tried Amazon Music can now feel disappointed...

$10 gift for Music Unlimited

Yep, but no big deal for me. I'm getting Spotify thanks to Amazon's "let's share your credit card with everyone on the family plan" policy.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Ask Alexa to sing you a Holiday song. It's amusing at least to me.

I found it amusing, too.

Just a reminder for anyone who wants to listen to Christmas music...you can say, "Alexa/Echo/Amazon, play holiday music."

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I found it amusing, too.

Just a reminder for anyone who wants to listen to Christmas music...you can say, "Alexa/Echo/Amazon, play holiday music."

I just say Alexa, play Christmas music for her to play from my library. It's the first year she has used Christmas/Holiday as the same. I have all my Christmas tagged as the genre Holiday.

Sent from my XT1528

[Catlady]

Is there a way to tell Alexa to pick up where you left off when listening to an album? Or to start with a specific track and continue from there? My go-to album this season has been the Big Christmas Box, which is some 13 hours' worth of music, including Handel's Messiah and The Nutcracker. I haven't been able to get Alexa to start with, say, the first track of the Messiah and continue; Alexa just plays the specified track and stops.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Is there a way to tell Alexa to pick up where you left off when listening to an album? Or to start with a specific track and continue from there? My go-to album this season has been the Big Christmas Box, which is some 13 hours' worth of music, including Handel's Messiah and The Nutcracker. I haven't been able to get Alexa to start with, say, the first track of the Messiah and continue; Alexa just plays the specified track and stops.

Here's something to try...

• Say "Alexa/your wake word, play Big Christmas Box"
• Say either "Alexa, stop" or "Alexa, pause"
• Say "Alexa, weather" (or something else not related to playing music/audiobook)
• Say "Alexa, resume"

It should resume music play where it left off as long as you didn't ask it to play other music/audiobook in between.

Hope it works for you!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Here's something to try...

• Say "Alexa/your wake word, play Big Christmas Box"
• Say either "Alexa, stop" or "Alexa, pause"
• Say "Alexa, weather" (or something else not related to playing music/audiobook)
• Say "Alexa, resume"

It should resume music play where it left off as long as you didn't ask it to play other music/audiobook in between.

Hope it works for you!

Thanks, I know this works for a brief pause, but I am hoping for a way to make Alexa pick up again after a longer interruption by saying "Start with track X" or something along those lines. Or never mind the interruption, just if I want to start at a certain point in the album.

This doesn't seem like it should be difficult, but I've been noticing that Alexa can be a bit wonky about commands if they're not worded quite right.

Originally Posted by Catlady

Thanks, I know this works for a brief pause, but I am hoping for a way to make Alexa pick up again after a longer interruption by saying "Start with track X" or something along those lines. Or never mind the interruption, just if I want to start at a certain point in the album.

This doesn't seem like it should be difficult, but I've been noticing that Alexa can be a bit wonky about commands if they're not worded quite right.

This goes back to what many of us have speculated about for a long time. That being that Amazon's developers must not be using the devices themselves, otherwise they would see how stupidly designed the controls can be and correct them. Anyone who has actually listened to music albums, whether vinyl, 8 track, cassette, CD, or digital, understands how important it is to be able to find and play a particular song, track, etc., or start from a specific location. It is beyond me why Amazon's developers cannot understand these kind of common knowledge things when writing the FW for their devices. Maybe Amazon needs to hire people that don't need to be awarded trophies when they actually show up to work.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Maybe Amazon needs to hire people that don't need to be awarded trophies when they actually show up to work.

...ouch!

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Thanks, I know this works for a brief pause, but I am hoping for a way to make Alexa pick up again after a longer interruption by saying "Start with track X" or something along those lines. Or never mind the interruption, just if I want to start at a certain point in the album.

This doesn't seem like it should be difficult, but I've been noticing that Alexa can be a bit wonky about commands if they're not worded quite right.

As far as I know, there's no way to start with a certain track.

I just conducted an experiment to see how long the "resume" command works to restart music where you left off earlier:

I said "Alexa, play Big Christmas Box."
Then "Alexa, pause (or stop)."
I asked for the weather and set a short timer.
Two hours later, I said "Alexa, resume."
The music started where it left off.

So, it may be possible to resume play after quite a long interruption (as long as you didn't give other music/audiobook commands in the interim).

Here's a list of Echo music commands: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...deId=201601830. Perhaps there's something there that'll help you (or someone else).

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

As far as I know, there's no way to start with a certain track.

I just conducted an experiment to see how long the "resume" command works to restart music where you left off earlier:

I said "Alexa, play Big Christmas Box."
Then "Alexa, pause (or stop)."
I asked for the weather and set a short timer.
Two hours later, I said "Alexa, resume."
The music started where it left off.

So, it may be possible to resume play after quite a long interruption (as long as you didn't give other music/audiobook commands in the interim).

Here's a list of Echo music commands: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...deId=201601830. Perhaps there's something there that'll help you (or someone else).

I finally gave up on voice commands and went through the Alexa app. There I was able to pull up the album, scroll through the tracks, and start with the desired track; the playing then continued with the subsequent tracks.

It's surprising that voice commands to play music aren't more flexible, as I would think that would be the primary use for most people, especially those who have Echo.

Thank you for your help!

[Blossom]

Send Feedback through the app asking for such a feature. You never know if your voice is just one more to finally get something added.

Sent from my XT1528

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I finally gave up on voice commands and went through the Alexa app. There I was able to pull up the album, scroll through the tracks, and start with the desired track; the playing then continued with the subsequent tracks.

Thanks for mentioning that! I rarely use the Alexa app and had forgotten about that feature.

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Thanks for mentioning that! I rarely use the Alexa app and had forgotten about that feature.

And the Alexa app tends to give you at least a little bit more control on certain things. For example, using the volume slider you get more than just volume 1-10. You get at least three intermediate settings for each volume number, so for example you can get a low, medium, or high volume 4 for better volume control. They are not labeled though and you have to have a slow touch on the slider.

[ApK]

BTW, we moved our gen 1 Dot out to the living room for our holiday party, and just for the heck of it, I tried once again to pair it to the cheap old Bluetooth-adapter on our living room speakers that I was unable to pair with in the past.

Whether because the Dot was moved, or because it got some firmware update, I don't know, but now it paired and worked without issue (and sounded fine).

So if you have failed to pair with some Bluetooth device in the past, it might be worth trying again.