Amazon Echo Club

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Catlady

FYI, Amazon is also giving three months free of Amazon Music Unlimited if you purchase a CD or vinyl record.

Sounds like the old magazine scam to me; get one (or two or three) months free then you have to cancel or they bill you. Of course the cancellation always gets lost in the mail.

Spoiler:

What me cynical? Why yes, yes I am!

[ElspethB]

Unlike the old magazine scams, though, Amazon makes it dead simple to cancel. I didn't have any problems canceling Kindle Unlimited.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ElspethB

Unlike the old magazine scams, though, Amazon makes it dead simple to cancel. I didn't have any problems canceling Kindle Unlimited.

That they do

[OtinG]

My 3 month trial ends on January 29 so I added a Calendar entry to start bugging me to cancel on January 25! I seriously doubt I will keep Amazon Music Unlimited. I tried it a year ago and it was not that great and tended to play a lot of terrible live recorded songs. Some live performances yielded good recordings, but most just don't sound as good to me as the studio versions. But at least I have 3 months to test it out again and see if it is worth using rather than SiriusXM or Spotify. They are all too expensive though if you get the premium service. At least SiriusXM will deal with you if you tell them you are cancelling because it cost too much and you cannot afford it anymore. They usually offer you a really good discounted deal. Last time I got six months for $38.24 including all taxes, so only $6.37/mo. If I can get that deal again in November when I have to renew I'll probably stick with them.

[tubemonkey]

Just a heads up, but the following Echos will be on sale at Target on Black Friday. I'll post details in the Black Friday thread later on.

• $20 -- Echo Dot Gen 2
  
• $24 -- Echo Dot Gen 3
  
• $69 -- Echo Gen 2

[Catlady]

Can anyone help me decide if I want a Fire Stick or a Roku? I currently have a Roku that's about five years old, and was the cheapest model when I bought it. It still works fine, but I want something now for a different TV. I don't really care about using Alexa; I'd prefer using the remote. Any opinions? Thanks.

[ApK]

I used the fire stick for a bit when it first came out.
It didn't work well for me.
I now have rokus on just about every TV in the house, and am quite happy.
I've occasionally considered trying a fire stick again just for travel and hotels, but otherwise, even as a Prime member and happy Amazon customer, I'm very happy with Roku.
Not sure if that helped you.

[Catlady]

Thanks, ApK. Do you think there's much difference between the cheaper and more expensive Rokus?

[CRussel]

The newer stick is a good deal better, but I have no experience with the Roku. OTOH, I am quite happy with my 4k FireTV. And my Cube.

Charlie.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Can anyone help me decide if I want a Fire Stick or a Roku? I currently have a Roku that's about five years old, and was the cheapest model when I bought it. It still works fine, but I want something now for a different TV. I don't really care about using Alexa; I'd prefer using the remote. Any opinions? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Catlady

Thanks, ApK. Do you think there's much difference between the cheaper and more expensive Rokus?

Connected to my main TV in the living room I've got the FireTV 2nd gen box (still the best FireTV IMO) and the Roku Ultra latest gen. Connected to my smaller TV in my study/office I've got the FireTV 3rd gen box and the AppleTV 3rd gen. All the above are connected via ethernet for optimum streaming performance.

AppleTV is the definite least used and hardest to navigate. It sux. Between the Roku and FireTV s, I prefer the Roku because it is easier to navigate, has a better remote, and has Amazon Prime Video on it. Both produce about the same quality of video and operate at about the same speed and neither give me any issues. So basically it comes down to easier to use, and faster to find what I want to watch. The Roku wins that contest IMO.

If you have HD TVs only, no 4K TVs or TVs with HDR, then you can pick any of the new Roku or Amazon models as they all will work. If you have a 4K TV, especially if you have HDR on same, then you need to get the appropriate newer box that supports those newer features. The latest FireTV and Roku Ultra support 4K, not sure about HDR, but I don't have a TV with those features so I cannot say how well they work with same.

One note: I bought the very first gen FireTV Stick. It sucked terribly and would not relinquish control of my TV back to my cable box. But that was their first attempt. However, I now avoid the stick versions of any brand because that one was so bad and so under powered. But the new ones are probably okay and greatly improved.

ETA: Oops I forgot to mention another plus for the Roku over the FireTV decision. The Roku remotes use IR but the Amazon use radio signal instead. The radio signal remotes are better in the sense that you do not have to point the remote right at the box nor have the box in plain sight. The radio signal remotes can even work through walls in some cases. However, the big advantage to me in having an IR remote is that it is easier to find cheap universal remotes to work your multiple boxes and TV. Universal remotes that work with IR are easy to find and cheap, but those that work with radio signal devices are usually more expensive. I like having a universal remote in my living room to control my TV, cable box, Roku, and FireTV. With my FireTV being radio signal only, I had to buy a pricey radio signal to IR converter to get it to work with my lesser expensive universal remote. Bottom line, if you want to have a universal remote that will work with multiple devices and most of those devices or IR only, then Roku is a better option than FireTV in that regard.

[Catlady]

Thanks, folks, for all the helpful information. My TVs are all HD right now, but at least one might be nearing the end, so I may be upgrading.

I'm going to digest the info and then try to pick something up at a good price on Black Friday; Target has a couple of Rokus on sale then, and probably other stores will as well. I was already more inclined to stay with Roku because of my familiarity with them; now I'm even more inclined to do so.

Many thanks!

[drjd]

Alexa, raise the kids.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Thanks, ApK. Do you think there's much difference between the cheaper and more expensive Rokus?

Aside from the 4k and hdr stuff OtinG mentioned, the more expensive Rokus are supposedly faster for navigating and loading channels.
Beyond that, I believe it's mostly a matter of the features you want. Connectivity varies, as does the features of the remotes, from model to model. For example, only the ultra has a wired Ethernet port, and only the express+ has composite connectivity for older TVs.
Plus there are different form factors.

https://www.roku.com/products/compare

[OtinG]

Ethernet connections might not be all that necessary if one has reliable and reasonably fast WiFi coverage where the streaming box is located. I was using WiFi connections to my various streaming boxes with Spectrum 65-Mbps 5G WiFi. I rarely had any issues with Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu, and most apps. But a few months ago I tried trial memberships for DirecTV Now, Playstation Vue, Sling, etc. The streaming services were rather speed hungry and I was having some pixelization and freezing, especially with DirecTV Now. Afterwards I ran ethernet cables to all of my streaming devices. I suspect I wasn't really having a WiFi issue but more probably just encountering lackluster streaming services from these companies. Spectrum recently upgraded my WiFi to 200-Mbps so I could probably get by without ethernet connections, but they are faster and certainly more reliable, so I'll keep using them. If you have a lot of WiFi devices running like security cameras and multiple streaming devices running at the same time, ethernet might be a better option. I don't have a 4K TV so I don't know how much bandwidth that will require when streaming, but if you do then ethernet might definitely be the better option.

[tubemonkey]

Alexa can now notify you when your favorite artist releases new music

Alexa has a new feature that lets you follow music artists. Doing so will result in your Echo devices letting you know when that artist releases something new. The alerts come in as standard Alexa notification, which means your Echo’s LED light ring will light up yellow and you’ll need to say “Alexa, what did I miss” or “Alexa, read my notifications” to hear the message. To follow or unfollow an artist, simply say “Alexa, follow/unfollow [artist name].” You can also follow and unfollow artists by visiting their page in the Amazon Music mobile app or web player.