Amazon Echo / Alexa - Page 5

Tom1234 · #81 08.12.2016, 10:15

	Quote:	SimonLiDrew
	Yes, and I have 200 Gig of MyMusic stored on the Amazon Cloud , as I got fed up with MicroSD card management across my Phone and Tablets... However I am also an Amazon Music Unlimited subscriber at $80 a year, and Alexa does not tell me where the tracks come from.... .

So no then? I don't want to pay someone else to store my music such you would need to with Amazon Cloud nor to subscribe to a music provider.

SimonLiDrew · #82 08.12.2016, 14:37

	Quote:	Tom1234
	So no then? I don't want to pay someone else to store my music such you would need to with Amazon Cloud nor to subscribe to a music provider.

Hey I pay Amazon a HUGE $25 A YEAR for up to 250,000 imported songs . I don't think that's a bad deal , given that I want to Listen on many devices over 4G , or WiFi without 200 gig of storage...

Tom1234 · #83 08.12.2016, 15:32

	Quote:	SimonLiDrew
	Hey I pay Amazon a HUGE $25 A YEAR for up to 250,000 imported songs . I don't think that's a bad deal , given that I want to Listen on many devices over 4G , or WiFi without 200 gig of storage...

It's something like 70 Euro here. Why should I pay anything for something can already have for nothing?

krlock3 · #84 09.12.2016, 08:40

Ok, solved. I had an amazon kindle account set to amazon.com instead of uk, which was mucking things up. Strangely, I do not even have a kindle!

Anyhow, once I transferred this and re-registered the alexas, it is happily playing amazon prime music.

In fact, it's nice to just tell it to play a song and there it is, without having to specify spotify.

	Quote:	krlock3
	I have echo dots and am a spotify member, so I have been using Alexa to play music via spotify. I recently took out an amazon prime membership, I have the amazon music app on my iphone which works, I have amazon music set as the default music player on the alexa app. however, when I ask alexa to play music it says I need to sign up to become a member of amazon prime. Any ideas what I should do?

Tassadar · #85 12.12.2016, 13:32

I have been reading this thread and was thinking of buying either amazon or google product.

I think I'm gonna go for Google options (Google home, chrome cast, etc.) I already ordered two chromecast audio devices, one is being used for a week at living room. The other one is waiting for an optical to 3.5 aux output cable, to be connected to the home theater system via optical.

What is attractive for me is that the chromecast devices can be synchronized, where the echos cannot be.

Next step would be trying a chromecast device connecting to the projector? No idea how to, will try or search for it.

Also considering Philips Hue starter kit, which I assume will not be a problem to get connected to google system.

Tom1234 · #86 12.12.2016, 13:46

	Quote:	Tassadar
	Next step would be trying a chromecast device connecting to the projector? No idea how to, will try or search for it.

Just plug it into the projector's HDMI input (+power).

Tom1234 · #87 12.12.2016, 13:55

Google Home:

Does it come with a power supply built into the mains plug? So if you order one from the U.S or U.K. you have to use an mains plug adaptor?
Is Ebay still the best place to get one?

BaselLife · #88 13.12.2016, 20:31

Hi,

go to mediamarkt/interdiscount and buy a US to CH adapter plug and away you go. It is really simple.

have fun
Martin

Tom1234 · #89 14.12.2016, 08:11

	Quote:	BaselLife
	Hi, go to mediamarkt/interdiscount and buy a US to CH adapter plug and away you go. It is really simple.

I do know what needs doing.

It's a pretty ugly solution. I could do without any more adaptors.

Tassadar · #90 14.12.2016, 10:17

seems like I have to subscribe for either google play, spotify, tunein, or a combination of them, to be able to properly listen to music.

Which is around CHF10 per month :/

Tom1234 · #91 14.12.2016, 10:34

	Quote:	Tassadar
	seems like I have to subscribe for either google play, spotify, tunein, or a combination of them, to be able to properly listen to music. Which is around CHF10 per month :/

I looked into it too and I believe you can have up to the first 50,000 songs in your own google play library for free (without the subscription to their music service).

	Quote:
	Sign in to Google Play Music with your Google account – Go to your computer and visit play.google.com/music. Sign up if needed. Claim your free storage – If you’d like to try the Google Play music subscription service too, click “Get Started”. Otherwise, click “No Thanks” to continue with the free storage. Add your music collection – The setup process will guide you through adding the Chrome app*, which provides seamless uploading. You can choose to simply upload your entire iTunes library or select other music folders. You can upload 50,000 songs for free. Access your music at any time on multiple devices – You can stream or download music to your Android, iPhone, or iPad for easy offline listening. It’s also all available on the web when you’re on your computer. And when you upgrade to a new computer or the latest mobile device, your music comes along too. You’ll never be without your favorite artists again!

from here

I'm not sure whether Alexa has a free option to use your own music. Anyone?

Tassadar · #92 14.12.2016, 11:43

	Quote:	Tom1234
	I looked into it too and I believe you can have up to the first 50,000 songs in your own google play library for free (without the subscription to their music service).

I have no interest or time or will to organize my music, classify them, keep them active, back them up, check and update time to time, etc

nice benefit of subscription to google play is youtube red, which has another down side that it is not supported in Switzerland now.

I am now testing free trial of Tunein, will also sign up for Spotify 0.99 for 3 months trial.

Ideally I do not need video streaming, so I do not need to stream any movie, I am for the moment just interested in streaming audio/radio/music

Google Home would be a nice to have toy, but they all kind of lead to monthly subscriptions

kind of disappointed...

Tom1234 · #93 14.12.2016, 12:03

	Quote:	Tassadar
	Google Home would be a nice to have toy, but they all kind of lead to monthly subscriptions kind of disappointed...

That appears to be their business model.

BaselLife · #94 14.12.2016, 13:10

Hi,

alexa/google don't really force you to use subscription services, however, that is the direction that music and video consumption is going.

In the past I might have bought a CD a month and now instead of doing that I have access to millions of songs. The same way with Netflix, Amazon prime etc I pay a subscription so that I can watch they content. In the end I have spotify premium, Hulu, netflix, Now TV and cbs and that costs me about the same as 2 cinema tickets and so I count it as good value for money.

With films you only watch them once and so subscription services for me make perfect sense.

I would prefer paying a subscription than to pirate the content.

Have fun
Martin

Tassadar · #95 14.12.2016, 17:10

rules are changing

http://www.englishforum.ch/tv-intern...itzerland.html

Tassadar · #96 15.12.2016, 10:09

Yet another day, another question.

so with the chromecast audio(s) what would be the optional speakers for home use ?

Bose sound Touch?
Bose Sound Link ?
Sonos ?
Any other ?

Tom1234 · #97 15.12.2016, 10:58

	Quote:	Tassadar
	Yet another day, another question. so with the chromecast audio(s) what would be the optional speakers for home use ? Bose sound Touch? Bose Sound Link ? Sonos ? Any other ?

The speakers don't need any wifi communication (like the ones in your list) - the Chromecast dongle does that. You just need to make sure they are active speakers rather than passive (i.e. they contain an amplifier).

BaselLife · #98 15.12.2016, 15:50

Hi,

in many ways the systems such as Sonos that you mention do exactly the same just as Chromecast but cost a lot more.

To use Chromecast you just need a tv with an HDMI input.

For Chromecast Audio you need either an active speaker or better still an amplifier with speakers attached.

Have fun
Martin

Tassadar · #99 15.12.2016, 16:48

In the end, I see myself buying Google Home, Chromecast, Philips Hue kit and bulbs, some nice speakers, several subscriptions to streaming apps, maybe an echo dot, to try it out (Already have several Chromecast audios)

So do we (Googlers) need another thread

?

Tom1234 · #**100** 15.12.2016, 17:15

	Quote:	Tassadar
	In the end, I see myself buying Google Home, Chromecast, Philips Hue kit and bulbs, some nice speakers, several subscriptions to streaming apps, maybe an echo dot, to try it out (Already have several Chromecast audios) So do we (Googlers) need another thread ?

I'm undecided as to what to get. I've never been an impulse buyer so I'm going to wait a bit and see what develops.
I've got lots to do already but it's too damn cold to finish wiring up some of the unheated parts of our place.

Perhaps we just a Home Automation thread (or rename this one).
There's lots of good stuff there out on the web but a thread with a Swiss slant (suppliers of devices, region coding etc, plug types etc is definitely worth a thread here).