Echo dot gizmo

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HootsmonHootsmon Frets: 15924
This is new tae me...

Teh wife is askin' for one......is it a stand alone device, does it have tae be connected to something or a wireless speaker set up...is there running costs?
tae be or not tae be
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  • quarkyquarky Frets: 2777
    edited December 2018
    Pugged into the power and connected via wifi I think. Bought a couple for Xmas myself but haven't opened them yet! No additional running costs, but I assume you have an amazon account?
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    Had one for a couple of years.  Connects wireless to your WiFi.
    its brilliant for playing music if you have say Spotify, don’t have to search, just ask to play the song. Great therefore when you’ve got a guitar in your hands 
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    If you have prime music it's great because you can play virtually any music on it. If you don't have something like that you might not get a lot out of it. 
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  • darthed1981darthed1981 Frets: 11670
    Yeah agree with the consensus, they are great if you have Spotify or Amazon Music but nearly useless otherwise.
    We have to be so very careful, what we believe in...
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  • sinbaadisinbaadi Frets: 1297
    They're great.  I have one of the latest version.

    They pack a decent punch for something so diminutive.  Excellent sound quality, I have one on the bedside table.  The Alexa stuff is fun, but mostly I use it to play Spotify and sometimes connect my phone to it.  
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  • HootsmonHootsmon Frets: 15924
    No i don't have Spotify or an Amazon account .......what is the Alexa thing.......wife says you can ask questions??//
    tae be or not tae be
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    You can ask what the weather is going to be or how to boil an egg or tell you a joke etc. It's most useful for music. If you have two it's good to send announcements to the other one like waking my daughter up. 
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  • HootsmonHootsmon Frets: 15924
    ^ Does it have tae be connected the my wi fi internet for that side of things?
    tae be or not tae be
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    Yes but it's fairly easy to pair. 
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  • I understand they basically do a load of stuff you can already do, but in one thing
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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  • HootsmonHootsmon Frets: 15924
    I don't require an Amazon account tae operate the thing?

    Oh and i should get the 3rd generation one, yeah?
    tae be or not tae be
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  • JerkMoansJerkMoans Frets: 8775
    Had one for a year. Good for weather/news/opening and closing times/timetables and also for a running grocery list; ‘Alexa - add a stack of Sauvignon to the shopping list please’. Kids use Spotify with it. Not exactly an essential adjunct to modern life but reasonably useful.
    Inactivist Lefty Lawyer
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    I seem to remember you do have to use an amazon account. I've got a first and a second gen and have bought my son a third. Couldn't tell you the difference. 
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  • ShrewsShrews Frets: 2958
    "Alexa, can you run my entire life for me?"

    "No, do it yer fucking self."


    Fair point, well made.

    Each to their own, but this is something that we don't really need IMO and money that could be used more wisely elsewhere.  
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  • ewalewal Frets: 2558
    edited December 2018
    It's one of the current crop of gimmick devices being marketed by the global tech monopolies, the aim of which is get you to buy more of their stuff. Proprietary vendor lock-in - what Amazon, Apple and Google are good at.

    Oh and Alexa is my mum's name, not some fecking Amazon sales bot.
    The Scrambler-EE Walk soundcloud experience
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  • ewalewal Frets: 2558
    You do need an Amazon account much as you must have an Amazon account for a Kindle
    The Scrambler-EE Walk soundcloud experience
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  • tone1tone1 Frets: 5112
    edited December 2018
    I’ve told me kids that they can have one of these Amazon dot echo, Alexa type things when.......I’m dead B
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  • MikeSMikeS Frets: 2133
    edited December 2018
    I work with a guy, who gets genuinely excited showing me the app on his phone that allows him to adjust his heating and lights in the house whilst he's at work. He plays with it, and squeals with delight every time he makes an adjustment. He's a nice guy, so I act interested, but within feel like maybe as a nation we've gone a bit brain numb.

    He's young, It's a current trend, I get that. But WTF?



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  • p90foolp90fool Frets: 31367
    Shrews said:
    "Alexa, can you run my entire life for me?"

    "No, do it yer fucking self."


    Fair point, well made.

    Each to their own, but this is something that we don't really need IMO and money that could be used more wisely elsewhere.  
    It's amazing technology for the disabled, but I wouldn't want the heating or curtains in my house to be voice activated any more than I'd want a wheelchair or respiratory equipment. 

    All it proves to me is that nerdy tech designers grew up watching Star Trek and are thrilled that we can now have all this pointless stuff. 
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  • thecolourboxthecolourbox Frets: 9654
    edited December 2018
    I've somewhat reluctantly joined this silly "smart tech" club yesterday, as we needed our heating fixing and the man pointed out we didn't have a thermostat. So we now have Hive and the mobile heating app thing and we get a "free" echo dot arriving in January. Which we've both agreed will basically just be a radio to play classical FM on, which I'm happy with to an extent. The app for the Hive thing is good but once you've taken the five minutes to set your timers up then the novelty wears off.

    I'm sceptical about the Echo Dot thing though as I'm used to the adage that if something is free, you're the product yourself. Ie they must be selling our using your recorded data, and Alexa seems quite a malicious character
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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