# Why to buy (or not buy) the Echo



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Amazon has sent out more invitations to buy the Echo, and it may be that they will release it for sale to everyone before long. I have encountered questions from people here wondering what it is good for , and it seems to me it would be a good idea to have a thread for potential purchasers to read answers to this without searching through the lengthy threads that are already here. I'm going to put up my thoughts, and other owners can put up their's. So here goes:

To my mind, the main people who will benefit from the Echo are people who like playing music in their home, especially those who have an Amazon Prime account. Prime isn't necessary if you have a large library of music stored in the Amazon cloud, or just like to listen to Internet radio stations and podcasts. You can easily use the Echo to listen to most of the stuff on TuneIn or iHeart. You can control most of this by verbal commands, which I find a considerable advantage over the other Bluetooth speakers I have owned. I use this to listen to some podcasts such as NPR, and occasionally when there's something big in the news, I listen to CNN or BBC now that I have cut the cable and no longer have CNN on my television. Sound quality on the speakers is good although not audiophile quality. As mentioned, you don't need a prime subscription, but if you have one it will greatly expand the music available to you , and make it easy and fun to investigate obscure artists. After a suggestion here, I enjoyed listening to "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" this morning, though there are less silly options as well. You also will get access to a lot of playlists in things like relaxing classical and the like.

The other major use that I have for my Echo is using it to verbally add things to my shopping list. This is handy when I'm in a hurry and don't want to write something down. This morning I realized my deodorant was getting low so without breaking stride from dressing, I had my Echo add deodorant to my shopping list! I do the same thing when I am fixing dinner and realize I need groceries of some sort. The echo can verbally add things to a to do list as well. I was very interested in this originally because I'm a big to do list guy. But I find this isn't very useful, the to do list is very primitive at this time. I like to have high and low priority items, and have due dates. Those aren't available yet. Hopefully that will be added later. Your shopping list and to do list are automatically transferred to the Echo app you can access on a smartphone or tablet.

The last thing I use my Echo for is much less important than the others, but it is very convenient to be able to give a verbal command to set an alarm or set a timer. I can do this from my recliner or the kitchen without getting out or stopping what I'm doing, and it is convenient but not as important as the other items. 

There are plenty of things you cannot do, at least at this time. Many people have expressed a desire to stream audiobooks over the speaker. But that's a no go for now(but there is a Work-around, see Betsy's post below). Some people have expressed a desire to have the Echo control a smart thermostat or light switch in their home, but that is not available for now. As long as these things only involve software, they should be pretty easy for Amazon to add since most of the Echo's smarts resides in the cloud. The good news for that is that the capabilities of this device should increase over time. If you want more basic information on this device if you search for Echo in electronics at the Amazon website, they have a page with a lot of information and a cheesy but informative video. For now you have to request an invitation in order to buy one of these things and you can request an invitation there if you like. Hopefully this will soon be on general sale without the invitation process--not receiving an invitation has been very frustrating for a lot of people.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Claw, you have it exactly right from my point of view.

One minor clarification. No, you can't natively play your audiobooks on the Echo, and I don't really understand that lapse from Amazon. But, IF you want to play audiobooks (or any other audio file on a bluetooth-capable device like a Fire, iThingy or Android phone or tablet) you can pair the Echo with that device. Not as convenient as telling it *Play Mockingjay audiobook* but it is possible. Just wanted to make sure people realize that.

But yeah, I use the alarms and timers all the time. And the shopping list. Hubby even uses the shopping list (gasp) although he won't ever be looking it up on the app, so Amazon needs to make it so the Echo reads it back.

Glad you enjoyed "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose." 

Betsy


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Besty, 
The Bird is not Blue.  Just a bird.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Whoops!  Thanks, fixed.

Betsy


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Thanks for this thread. That is exactly what I wanted to know. I have my invitation but don't think I will be getting it. I can't see myself using it all that much. If anyone needs a second one and can't get it let me know and you can use my invite.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

How does telling it to set an alarm work?  Is there an alarm in the app?  So if I use it for getting up in the morning (or afternoon!) I would have my fire plugged in near the bed?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

You say, Alexa, set alarm for....6 PM or whatever.  I don't think you can set it for the alarm at the same time every day...or can you?  Have to test.  I haven't at least.  And yes, for it to work, you'll either have to set the Fire volume very loud and have it within earshot or have it near your bed.

Betsy


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

Oh maybe my questions in the other thread should be moved here? Yet another one.. Question on how it finds/plays podcasts. How does the Echo play them? I subscribe to a fair number via an Android app...And wonder if Echo will find them?

I have two days left to decide if I'll buy one or not! 

sent from my Galaxy 4


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I just tell it to *Play [name of podcast]*. But you can also find them through the app.... You should be able to find them in TuneIn.

Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I'm not a big podcast user, but I have easily used podcasts that were in Tunein. You can do it verbally,mand in at least one case,I'm couldn't get verbal to work, I was able to do it easily in the app.

If your podcast isn't available through TuneIn, I'm not sure it will work at this time.

Go ahead and order, you know you want one!


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I'm not a big podcast user, but I have easily used podcasts that were in Tunein. You can do it verbally,mand in at least one case,I'm couldn't get verbal to work, I was able to do it easily in the app.
> 
> If your podcast isn't available through TuneIn, I'm not sure it will work at this time.
> 
> Go ahead and order, you know you want one!


Uh, I did last night. Since I didn't know *when* that week to order would be up and if they'd send me a final email reminder (I doubted they would).


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Being a second class Amazon user (ie, a Brit) I don't get the option, BUT OMG if the option, *"Play Audiobook: Way of the Wolf"* was added to it, I would snap Amazon's hand off to get it! I listen to audio ALL THE TIME and the crap iTunes i use is, well, its crappy. Using the ipod itself is better, but sometimes I don't want to have ear buds in. The docking speaker thing beside my bed is the only other option I have.

I want audio book via ECHO right now


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Being a second class Amazon user (ie, a Brit) I don't get the option, BUT OMG if the option, *"Play Audiobook: Way of the Wolf"* was added to it, I would snap Amazon's hand off to get it! I listen to audio ALL THE TIME and the crap iTunes i use is, well, its crappy. Using the ipod itself is better, but sometimes I don't want to have ear buds in. The docking speaker thing beside my bed is the only other option I have.
> 
> I want audio book via ECHO right now


Mark, I'm not sure what displeases you about audio books on the ipod, but if it is using earbuds, check out some of the external speakers available. Older and cheaper ones connect by wire to the earphone plug, and newer and pricier ones connect wirelessly via Bluetooth to Bluetooth enabled devices. I have a wired kne I've used with various devices for years, and am happy with. Doesn't have the cool voice commands (unless Siri can do Audible books), but is very serviceable.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> I want audio book via ECHO right now


I do, too!

Betsy


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

DH has had Amazon Prime since it first came out.  I don't have a Prime account in my own name - instead, I share his.  Up until the KOLL and the Prime Video and Music, that was never a problem.  But then Amazon restricted some of the benefits to the primary Prime account holder (DH says Optimus Prime member).  I bounced around trying to decide if those features were enough for me to justify spending the money to get my own Prime account.  I decided that it was not, especially when the price went up.
Well, with Amazon's recent update to the Kindle software to include a household account, DH and I went ahead and linked our accounts.  There isn't much point in doing that for the shared library feature since all of our devices are registered to my account, but we figured why not?
Enter Alexa.  She also uses the household account feature.  So I log into the Echo account and it is registered to my Amazon account.  DH logs into the Echo app on his phone and now we have two profiles.  I have more purchased/uploaded music on my account, but the Prime Streaming works on his profile.  So we can switch back and forth and I can enjoy the Prime Music too.  Alexa just paid for herself!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks Andra! That's good to know!


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