Amazon Echo Club

[ApK]

Even for casual next-room music listening the Dot speaker has been adequate for us, but it does seem to have a problem hearing "Alexa, Stop" while music is playing, unless we're within a few feet of it. Our Echo, at similar volumes and distances, seems to discriminate better. Could be room acoustics, too. I'll need to test them side by side at some point.

[Conan46]

So far I'm impressed with the Tap. It has good sound quality. It had no problem hearing me from a nearby bedroom while I was in the living room. I had Hard Rock cranked up to 10 volume and 8 feet away it could still hear me. So the single mic concern is no longer a concern for me. It updated to the hands free option around an hour after I plugged it in. Really love the portability of the Tap.

Originally Posted by ApK

Even for casual next-room music listening the Dot speaker has been adequate for us, but it does seem to have a problem hearing "Alexa, Stop" while music is playing, unless we're within a few feet of it. Our Echo, at similar volumes and distances, seems to discriminate better. Could be room acoustics, too. I'll need to test them side by side at some point.

Mine also has trouble hearing commands if the TV is on. And it still mistakenly hears a lot of wake up words that are not ever vocalized. If I'm listening to the TV or something else, before asking Dot for something I usually mute the TV so Dot can hear my commands without getting confused. Otherwise she sometimes gets confused with other voices yapping in the background.

[tubemonkey]

Amazon Echo rumored to gain voice calling capabilities

According to sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Amazon Echo may soon be able to make and receive voice calls. This would position the device as a potential replacement for the home phone. The WSJ says the feature could arrive this year, but federal regulations regarding access to 911 and laws requiring phone companies to allow law enforcement agencies to wiretap calls in real time could complicate the release. Amazon announced Chime, an enterprise conferencing service, earlier this week, so they certainly now have the infrastructure to support voice-over-IP calling. I highly doubt such a feature would be supported on a device like the Fire TV through the microphone on the voice remote, but the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot certainly have the hardware to act as a speakerphone.

[Conan46]

I'm surprised they do not already have this feature. Though privacy concerns would be a big deal, yet somehow Ooma, Vonage, and Google Voice manage VOIP calling without a problem as do most ISP's.

Well I finally tried out the Amazon Unlimited Music Individual Plan ($7.99/month for Prime members). I truly wasn't expecting much as far as being able to listen in my car. But boy was I wrong! The audio system in my Toyota RAV4 2015 is the least of the options available--bottom of the line. I knew I could hookup BT audio, USB drives, and the old fashioned 2.5mm to 2.5mm stereo cable. But having been using my iPhone 6 Plus with this audio system via BT connection for 1.5 years, I did not expect much. Trying to use Apple Music with the RAV4 audio system is a joke, an effort in near futility and frustration. Trying to navigate the Apple Music albums take longer to find a song than it does to arrive at most of my destinations when using the RAV4 audio system, as does navigating songs copied onto a USB thumb-drive. Slow and cumbersome. So I wanted to be able to listen to a radio station like those on SiriusXM where I could pick a genre and let them pick the songs. Well you can do that in Amazon Music Unlimited (and Prime), but I never thought my RAV4 audio system would play nice with it, pun intended. But it does! All I have to do is start the Amazon Music app on my iPhone and select a radio station (if I haven't already selected one). Then once I startup my RAV4, I press the BT Audio icon on the RAV4 radio face LCD, and the music starts playing. I can use the builtin volume controls and pause/play controls on my steering-wheel. And the radio face actually shows what is playing and the info for the song. and when I stop and turn off the RAV4, the Amazon Music app pauses play. So I can run into a store then come back and resume my song where I left off. Pretty cool!

So barring any unforeseen snafus, I think I'll keep the Amazon Unlimited Music Individual Plan.

....

Crap, I might have gotten excited to soon. Darn Amazon developers could screw up an anvil with a banana peel! The Amazon Unlimited Music Individual plan works great on my iPhone in the RAV4, but as soon as I tried using it on my Echo it cannot even get through one bleeping song! It just keeps cutting out. Anyone else having issues with the Individual plan on an Echo, Tap, or Dot? When I go to my Music settings on Amazon.com I only see my iPhone and iPad listed as authorized devices. I cannot seem to get my Echo, Dot, or FireTV to show up on the list. WTF Amazon! The idea behind the Amazon Unlimited Music Individual plan is that it will not be limited to a single device but will be authorized for up to 10 of your compatible devices. I realize you can only listen on one device at a time, but that was what I was doing.

ETA: I re-connected the Echo to my WiFi and switched from a 2G to 5G network connection. That seems to have gotten the Unlimited to work on the Echo. Not sure why or if it was merely a coincidence. But I notice that while a radio station is playing on my Echo the Alexa app on my iPhone or iPad shows that it is offline. I guess they are enforcing the only one device at a time, though it would be nice to view the song info even if they don't allow sound through the second device. Also there is an Alexa app and a Amazon Music app. I seriously doubt they are coordinated very well, if at all. And dammit the darn bleeping thing just quit working again! It is cutting in and out quite regularly.

An hour on the phone with Amazon's Department of Morons, and it is still not working correctly. I'm still getting the intermittent sound from the radio stations over my Echo. Their support seems as clueless as ever! I was told to forget all BT connections, so I did, and that didn't help. Nothing we tried seems to work. I finally told them I would call back tomorrow as I'm tired of messing with this crap.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

An hour on the phone with Amazon's Department of Morons, and it is still not working correctly. I'm still getting the intermittent sound from the radio stations over my Echo. Their support seems as clueless as ever! I was told to forget all BT connections, so I did, and that didn't help. Nothing we tried seems to work. I finally told them I would call back tomorrow as I'm tired of messing with this crap.

Have you tried deregistering and reregistering your Echo?

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Have you tried deregistering and reregistering your Echo?

No. But I can now confirm that I'm having the same issue on my Dot. So the problem is not just limited to one device. I haven't tried the FireTV yet, but I will do that this evening. Really frustrating. Does Spotify have similar issues? Does Spotify already have a list of radio stations? I have zero interest in building stations or lists. I just want to be able to say play such and such station.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Does Spotify already have a list of radio stations? I have zero interest in building stations or lists. I just want to be able to say play such and such station.

Spotify has stations - by genre or artist. I rarely use them on my Dot. I prefer Pandora.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Spotify has stations - by genre or artist. I rarely use them on my Dot. I prefer Pandora.

Thanks. Does Pandora have commercials? I want to get away from commercials and stupid, yappie DJs. Otherwise I can just listen to the broadcast station.

BTW, my FireTV seems to work fine with my unlimited account. But my Echo and Dot cut in and out constantly. Mostly dead air on both devices.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Thanks. Does Pandora have commercials? I want to get away from commercials and stupid, yappie DJs. Otherwise I can just listen to the broadcast station.

BTW, my FireTV seems to work fine with my unlimited account. But my Echo and Dot cut in and out constantly. Mostly dead air on both devices.

Commercials for the free version; none for the paid version ($5/mo). I use the free version and don't mind them. They're much fewer than FM radio.

At the end of March, I plan on signing up for Spotify's family plan ($15/mo).

[Conan46]

iHeart radio works great on Alexa. You can listen to regular stations or create your own based on an artist.

[Keslynn]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Crap, I might have gotten excited to soon. Darn Amazon developers could screw up an anvil with a banana peel! The Amazon Unlimited Music Individual plan works great on my iPhone in the RAV4, but as soon as I tried using it on my Echo it cannot even get through one bleeping song! It just keeps cutting out. Anyone else having issues with the Individual plan on an Echo, Tap, or Dot? When I go to my Music settings on Amazon.com I only see my iPhone and iPad listed as authorized devices. I cannot seem to get my Echo, Dot, or FireTV to show up on the list. WTF Amazon! The idea behind the Amazon Unlimited Music Individual plan is that it will not be limited to a single device but will be authorized for up to 10 of your compatible devices. I realize you can only listen on one device at a time, but that was what I was doing.

ETA: I re-connected the Echo to my WiFi and switched from a 2G to 5G network connection. That seems to have gotten the Unlimited to work on the Echo. Not sure why or if it was merely a coincidence. But I notice that while a radio station is playing on my Echo the Alexa app on my iPhone or iPad shows that it is offline. I guess they are enforcing the only one device at a time, though it would be nice to view the song info even if they don't allow sound through the second device. Also there is an Alexa app and a Amazon Music app. I seriously doubt they are coordinated very well, if at all. And dammit the darn bleeping thing just quit working again! It is cutting in and out quite regularly.

That sounds like a super annoying problem. I hope it can be fixed!

I thankfully haven't had any issues with playing amazon music on my Dots. I have been using the voice commands or the Alexa app. Have you been using the Music app or the Alexa app? Also, is Amazon Music showing under your Music tab in the Alexa app?

You might try a reboot of your router as well.