Amazon Echo Club

[wodin]

Since our son and his GF live in our mother-in-law apartment, we find it incredibly useful. Instead of calling or texting, we just "Alexa; drop in on upstairs" and say whatever. A dedicated intercom system would cost hundreds of dollars, and couldn't even read our Kindle books to us.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ApK

If the friend explictly enables the feature, and explicitly grants you permission, then yes you can listen to the friends empty house.

Of course if someone WAS there, they'd hear the drop in chime and see the device is lit up while you were connected. Actually, I find the "who's available" active device part of the feature far creepier. ("I know you just got home.. where have you been...?")
Otherwise the thing is just like an intercom or baby monitor or any of various other kinds of sound monitoring devices your friend could have agreed to let you put in that house for many years.

There's no one in the world I would grant blanket permission to drop in whenever--especially if viewing is involved.

I guess I'm one of the paranoid people. I need tinfoil.

[wodin]

And blackout curtains.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

There's no one in the world I would grant blanket permission to drop in whenever--especially if viewing is involved.

Me neither.
Though as my elderly mother's condition began to degrade, I considered setting it so I could drop in on her.

Btw, if it's the 'whenever' that creeps you the most, note you can put it on do not disturb whenever you want or just turn the feature off and on for a device, whenever you want.

I guess I'm one of the paranoid people. I need tinfoil.

Originally Posted by wodin

And blackout curtains.

Tin foil curtains would kill two birds with one stone, and look quite mod!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

There's no one in the world I would grant blanket permission to drop in whenever--especially if viewing is involved.

I guess I'm one of the paranoid people. I need tinfoil.

Don't forget the kittehs

[Catlady]

I don't know if tinfoil curtains would go with Tiffany-style lamps, though ...

[DreamWriter]

The Echo Spot is $103.99 (20% off; regular price $129.99). That's the lowest price I've seen.

[Catlady]

I got an e-mail from Audible with a code for $25 off an Echo device at Amazon, through March 25: AUD25ECHO.

For Audible members only. Here's the fine print:

Spoiler:

This is a limited time offer. Offer valid from 12:00 a.m. (PT) on March 21, 2018 until 11:59 p.m. (PT) on March 25, 2018 or while supplies last. To redeem, use the coupon code noted above at Amazon.com to redeem a $25 credit to your purchase. The coupon can only be redeemed by the Amazon account that you used to sign up for the Audible membership and is non-transferrable. Coupon can only be applied to the following Echo devices: Echo Dot, Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Spot, Echo Show. The offer is valid for new devices only, cannot be combined with any other offer and cannot be applied to previous purchases. The coupon can only be applied once, and used for a single device. If the cost of the device is less than $25, you will forfeit the remaining offer credit in your account. Once you have received your $25 credit, you forfeit your right to redeem any further discount on an Echo device you have already purchased. Offer only applies to products sold by Amazon.com or Amazon Digital Services LLC (look for "sold by Amazon.com" or “sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC” on the product detail page). Products sold by third-party sellers or other Amazon entities will not qualify for this offer, even if "fulfilled by Amazon.com" or "Prime Eligible." Shipping charges and taxes may apply to the full value of discounted and promotional items. Offer discount will be allocated to the eligible item in your order. If any of the products related to this offer are returned, your refund will equal the amount you paid for the product, subject to applicable refund policies. Unless an Amazon Gift Card is the stated benefit of the promotion, promotional codes or credits (including those placed directly in accounts) may not be redeemed for Amazon Gift Cards. Offer is limited to one per customer and account and may not be combined with other offers. This offer is non-transferable and may not be resold. Audible reserves the right to modify or cancel the offer at any time. If you violate any of these terms, this offer will be invalid.

[CRussel]

Today only, 20% off select Alexa Enabled Devices. Link

Sorry about the horrible link. I couldn't figure out how to shorten this one. IAC, you shouild see this in the header of the Amazon home page in the US. At least I did.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Today only, 20% off select Alexa Enabled Devices. Link

Sorry about the horrible link. I couldn't figure out how to shorten this one. IAC, you shouild see this in the header of the Amazon home page in the US. At least I did.

Keep the portions I highlighted and get rid of the rest. The "?" is necessary, so don't forget it.

https://smile.amazon.com/b/ref=xcm_gw_d_hp18_blk?ie=UTF8&node=17716226011&pf_rd_p=dc517947-d23d-4cdf-bcc1-6ba60ae08df9&pf_rd_r=MTXGZDGCVR7T8XBTD5EV

Final URL:

https://smile.amazon.com/b/?node=17716226011

[copyrite]

Oh my! The Spot total is $83.73 including tax with the Audible code (hubby stole the other one as soon as it got here). But do I really need another one? (Yeah, I know, you enablers are definitely the wrong people to direct that question to!)

[ApK]

I learned something very important last night: Alexa's ESP, the feature that is supposed to prevent more than one device within earshot from responding to a request, only works among devices registered to the same account. Maybe this is obvious to some, but since my wife and are part of a household, and the devices can switch among "accounts" on command, it never occurred to me that since she ordered some and I ordered others, and the devices we're just registered to whomever ordered them, that it would make such a difference, but it did. My house is much quieter now, and we can go back to using the same wake word on all of them. Yay!

ApK

[Tarana]

I tried the dropin feature today and the other side is notified and has to respond. Maybe they updated it? I'm setting up an Echo Dot with Mom. I hope it helps. We're on two separate floors and she can't hear and I can't get her to spend the time to learn how to use the intercom in the phone system.

Yes, I totally love that feature when two echos are close together! My brother's is the only one on a separate account, and it's a good distance away from any other Echo, so it works great!

One problem we have though is that with the linked accounts, all echos are still getting notified about deliveries instead of his OR mine.

[Catlady]

I'm getting the Dot from the Audible promotion tomorrow; is there anything special I should know about setting up the second Dot? I don't need to use an intercom feature, but would I be able to, say, be in the room with Dot 1 and tell Alexa to have Dot 2 start playing music in its location?

Or if I put them in the same room, could I have one Dot play music and have the other one answer a question or read a book?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

would I be able to, say, be in the room with Dot 1 and tell Alexa to have Dot 2 start playing music in its location?

Yes. I can be in my kitchen and say "Alexa, play Billy Joel Upstairs" and she'll reply "Shuffling songs by Bill Joel on Upstairs."

Even better, when my kids are playing music too loudly, I can say "Alexa, stop the Bedroom" or "Turn down the Bedroom."

I would suggest setting easy-to-say, meaningful device names like "Kitchen" and "Bedroom" because saying "Play music on Cat Lady's Second Echo Dot" will get old fast.

Or if I put them in the same room, could I have one Dot play music and have the other one answer a question or read a book?

Now you're just talking crazy. But yeah, I guess you could. You'd probably have to give each a different wake word.

Note, while playing music, you can ask the same device a question, and she'll just automatically lower the music while she's talking to you.

ApK