Amazon Echo FAQ

wrongtarget · 30-09-2016 07:53PM

So has anyone been able to make "How's the weather like?" work without specifying Dublin? (if the location is set to somewhere in Dublin of course)

BobbyT28 · 30-09-2016 08:03PM

AidenL wrote: »

Im getting it to recognise Today FM regularly.

I've tried

2FM
NEwstalk
RTE Radio1

Must be my thick Dublin accent!!!

tonylee · 30-09-2016 08:08PM

BobbyT28 wrote: »

People have to remember that it only after being released to the UK market. Hopefully with time the intergration will improve and that IFTTT etc will be supported.

I myself have been a little underwhelmed but that maybe because I am still waiting to get my Hue setup and Harmony hub. I also am only getting into the whole automated / Smarthome thing.

The one thing that is buggying me is, they way it does not reconise any and I mean any IRish radio stations at all.

And again this evening traffic was "Unavailable"! even though it worked earlier that morning.

BobbyT28

I'm getting it to recognise all radio stations . I think adding the phrase "on TuneIn" helps. For example. "Play RTÉ radio 1 on TuneIn". Can't get weather to work at all even though I've set up and saved my location in Dublin in Alexa app. Also can't find a way to change from audible UK store to US . I use both Amazon stores but my audible account is still on US store.

BobbyT28 · 30-09-2016 08:12PM

tonylee wrote: »

I'm getting it to recognise all radio stations . I think adding the phrase "on TuneIn" helps. For example. "Play RTÉ radio 1 on TuneIn". Can't get weather to work at all even though I've set up and saved my location in Dublin in Alexa app. Also can't find a way to change from audible UK store to US . I use both Amazon stores but my audible account is still on US store.

Thats how I am saying it.

Alexa - "Play RTE radio1 on Tunein"

mrcheez · 30-09-2016 08:13PM

donegal. wrote: »

itech squeeze boom for a radio and was hoping the echo would replace it but flicking through stations on tunein would drive you demented and the difference in sound quality is phenomenal. The echo is really a dot with a €60 speaker attached, and its very good for a cheap speaker but a massive downgrade compared to the boom.

is main complaint about speaker the lack of bass or overall balance? How does it compare to an Anker Soundcore for example?

BobbyT28 · 30-09-2016 08:20PM

mrcheez wrote: »

is main complaint about speaker the lack of bass or overall balance? How does it compare to an Anker Soundcore for example?

Can't compare it to anything TBH. But I have to say i'm really impressed by it.

AidenL · 30-09-2016 08:40PM

BobbyT28 wrote: »

I've tried

2FM
NEwstalk
RTE Radio1

Must be my thick Dublin accent!!!

I couldn't get any of those three either, but Today FM worked a dream.

Donegal here, so another extreme !

mrcheez · 30-09-2016 08:49PM

Some funny posts on reddit about Alexa randomly chatting or even quoting Kanye without being prompted

https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/551bzr/alexa_told_me_a_kanye_quote_unprompted/

Ask "are you spying for the NSA?" and see if it goes quiet

Jonnie_Onion · 30-09-2016 09:03PM

Jonnie_Onion wrote: »

I'm thinking of setting up a fresh Amazon account and transferring it across - if I can get a refund on Prime. Had the same experience with chat, except they suggested trying a fake (!) card number.

So seriously what's the deal with getting Music on Prime? I've just set up a new account and got a Prime trial, but it looks like there's no way around needing a UK card. Can anyone help?

sweetie · 30-09-2016 09:16PM

mrcheez wrote:

is main complaint about speaker the lack of bass or overall balance? How does it compare to an Anker Soundcore for example?

Definitely not as good as my Cambridge Minx go.

loughrey2887 · 30-09-2016 10:36PM

Yeah, for some reason she just refuses to understand you when you ask for Newstalk, always taking me to Young Turk instead. I just got her to find Newstalk just once so far. RTE Radio One also won't work for me. FM104 and Midlands 103 only works sometimes, but Today FM, Clare FM, and Lyric FM all work. I have a neutral accent and the funny thing is she understands what I'm saying as the search correctly comes up in the app, but she can't find many the station often. Radioplayer works like a charm for UK stations and is far better than Tunein for compatibility on the Alexa. I wish the Irish Radioplayer was integrated too.

loughrey2887 · 30-09-2016 10:47PM

I am a full paying member of Prime and use an Irish mastercard no problem. Amazon never checks which country you card comes from. Just pop in the parcel motel address as the billing address. Prime music works perfectly on the Echo for me with an Irish card. Just bought the membership in May for a year when they discounted Prime to 56 pounds because of the Jeremy Clarkson car show.

degsie · 30-09-2016 10:48PM

loughrey2887 wrote: »

I am a full paying member of Prime and use an Irish mastercard no problem. Amazon never checks which country you card comes from. Just pop in the parcel motel address as the billing address.

Can you confirm if you have full access to Amazon Music?

loughrey2887 · 30-09-2016 10:57PM

Yes, it works perfectly here with Prime music. I made a video demonstrating it on youtube. Boards won't let me share links, but youtube search White Amazon Echo working in Ireland, and you'll see me playing a song on Prime music.

adox · 30-09-2016 11:04PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfLcUa_YIXw

loughrey2887 · 01-10-2016 12:37AM

Thanks Adox for sharing my video! They won't let me here as I'm a newbie member.

Cabaal · 01-10-2016 08:35AM

The trick I've found with the radio stations is use the alexa website to first select and play the station you want in tunein, then later ask alexa and it works.

When I first got it and asked it to play lyric fm it never found it once and instead played all sorts of random stations, after doing the above it finds it 100% of the time now

paulbok · 01-10-2016 08:53AM

Mine arrived yesterday evening and got it mostly setup.
Took several goes to set the location to Dublin. No chance of setting it to a rural location even though searching will bring up the address, just won't set the location. Or the time.
Connected to Smartthings via add on app and that picked up all controlled devices, lights and switches as well as routines. Alexa has no issues with commands for them do far.
She is struggling with Tunein, perhaps 2/5 station requests.
It's a pity seeing you can search Tunein for stations on the setup page, that you can't save favourites, so making it easier for her to know which you mean.
Only have free Spotify account and it only links to premium account.

Huge potential for it. But needs further settings up by me, and integration to more home tech and IFTTT.

BobbyT28 · 01-10-2016 11:09AM

Cabaal wrote: »

The trick I've found with the radio stations is use the alexa website to first select and play the station you want in tunein, then later ask alexa and it works.

When I first got it and asked it to play lyric fm it never found it once and instead played all sorts of random stations, after doing the above it finds it 100% of the time now

Didn't work for me ðŸ˜žðŸ˜ž

paulbok · 01-10-2016 11:12AM

paulbok wrote: »

Mine arrived yesterday evening and got it mostly setup.
Took several goes to set the location to Dublin. No chance of setting it to a rural location even though searching will bring up the address, just won't set the location. Or the time.
Connected to Smartthings via add on app and that picked up all controlled devices, lights and switches as well as routines. Alexa has no issues with commands for them do far.
She is struggling with Tunein, perhaps 2/5 station requests.
It's a pity seeing you can search Tunein for stations on the setup page, that you can't save favourites, so making it easier for her to know which you mean.
Only have free Spotify account and it only links to premium account.

Huge potential for it. But needs further settings up by me, and integration to more home tech and IFTTT.

Ok just found a way of saving favourite stations on the Alexa application.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=206521.0

Will try out voice again and she if she can find the easier

BobbyT28 · 01-10-2016 11:31AM

paulbok wrote: »

Ok just found a way of saving favourite stations on the Alexa application.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=206521.0

Will try out voice again and she if she can find the easier

Good tip. But still doesn't recognise it.

I say Alexa - party favourite radio stations and it asks which one.

I say news talk or 106.0 and it doesn't recognise it!!

So dam annoying.

01-10-2016 11:36AM

Same here. Having a nightmare trying to get it to play "ABC Lounge". Keep getting "720 ABC Perth". Arghhh!!!

Dr. Dre · 01-10-2016 11:51AM

Why on earth are people discussing what the Echo is like as a Bluetooth speaker? That's not what it is ffs.

PS in my opinion it's actually a fairly decent speaker

mrcheez · 01-10-2016 12:07PM

Dr. Dre wrote: »

Why on earth are people discussing what the Echo is like as a Bluetooth speaker? That's not what it is ffs.

PS in my opinion it's actually a fairly decent speaker

Because for many (myself included) the primary usage will be as a music player that can play music on demand and there have been conflicting accounts about how good the speaker is compared to going with a Dot and separate Bluetooth speaker. By all accounts it seems to be on par with a mid range Bluetooth speaker around €60 rather than a Sonos speaker?

Cabaal · 01-10-2016 12:33PM

mrcheez wrote: »

Because for many (myself included) the primary usage will be as a music player that can play music on demand and there have been conflicting accounts about how good the speaker is compared to going with a Dot and separate Bluetooth speaker. By all accounts it seems to be on par with a mid range Bluetooth speaker around €60 rather than a Sonos speaker?

It was never going to be equal to a Sonos, nobody ever said it was in any reviews and Amazon sure as hell never made such a claim.

Anyone buying the echo expecting a speaker equal to a Sonos did zero research before hand and they've only themselves to blame

If you're big into audio the dot is clearly the way to go cause you can pick the speaker equipment

ezra_pound · 01-10-2016 05:04PM

BobbyT28 wrote: »

Good tip. But still doesn't recognise it.

I say Alexa - party favourite radio stations and it asks which one.

I say news talk or 106.0 and it doesn't recognise it!!

So dam annoying.

Play radio Newstalk Ireland

ezra_pound · 01-10-2016 05:06PM

If anyone can get it to play radio na gaeltachta I'd be impressed.

BobbyT28 · 01-10-2016 06:02PM

ezra_pound wrote: »

Play radio Newstalk Ireland

Nope absolutely doesn't work!!!

loughrey2887 · 01-10-2016 06:40PM

I find that with Tunein, even when she does understand she won't do what you want. FM104 is an example. The problem is there are many foreign stations with the same name as an Irish station. FM104 is an example. When I ask her for FM104 she sends me to an FM104 from Sweden. Tunein need to do a better job at making this work on Echo. They should allow you to specify which country you are referring to so Echo will have a better idea knowing what you're asking for. There's too many stations in on Tunein with similar names. Radioplayer did a great job and is so much better than Tunein with Echo. Alexa never gets your station wrong on that, but it only has UK stations.

jobless · 01-10-2016 08:06PM

So just got mine... Where can I get the app, playstore says it's unavailable here

Amazon Echo FAQ

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