Amazon Echo

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
Check your email, just got the invite to spend $100 on the Echo and yes I'm a sucker for gadgets.



Dear Amazon Customer,

We're excited to offer you an invitation to purchase Amazon Echo. We hope you'll have as much fun using it as we did inventing it. By accepting this invitation, you will be one of the first customers to use Echo, and we appreciate your input to help shape Echo as it evolves.

To accept this invitation, go to the Amazon Echo page, add to cart, and purchase as usual.

Thanks,

The Amazon Echo Team

How long is my invitation valid?
Due to the high number of requests, invitations expire after seven days.

When will I get my Amazon Echo?
Once you've added Echo to your Shopping Cart and proceeded to checkout, you'll see the estimated delivery date for your order.

Can I get a second Echo? Can I help a friend who has requested an invitation get one now?
Unfortunately, not at this time. Due to the overwhelming customer response, we've been able to fulfill only a small portion of the invitations requested, and Echo is limited to one per customer.

What music services can I listen to with Echo?
With Prime Music, Amazon Prime members can listen to over a million songs for free. You can also play music you've purchased or imported into your Amazon Music library. Plus, you can listen to thousands of radio stations and podcasts through iHeartRadio and TuneIn, and we will be adding more music services soon. You can also stream other music services to Echo from your phone or tablet via Bluetooth.

What can I use as the wake word?
The default wake word is "Alexa" (our homage to the library of Alexandria). You can also change the wake word to "Amazon" in the settings section of the Echo companion app. We'll be adding more wake words in the future.

How does Echo recognize the wake word "Alexa?"
Echo uses on-device keyword spotting to detect the wake word, and the wake word only. When Echo detects the wake word, it lights up. Echo then uses the processing power of Amazon Web Services to recognize and respond to your request.

Will Echo understand me all the time?
No, the state-of-the-art technology for computer understanding of natural language doesn't yet enable understanding all the time?but because Echo's brains are in the cloud, it will keep getting smarter.

What can't Echo do yet?
Echo can't yet provide services like traffic information, sports scores, or answers to current affairs questions. Stay tuned?we're working on these and many more, and will let you know as we add more capabilities.

How do I give feedback?
You can always provide feedback through the Amazon Echo app, and from time to time we may email you for feedback about specific Echo features.

Do I have to charge Echo?
No. Echo is always on, uses wall power, and doesn't need to be charged.

I'm a software developer, can I develop services for Echo?
We'd love to hear your ideas for what you might build for Echo. Contact us here.

What's the first thing I should ask Echo?
You could ask Echo for weather information or a flash briefing. Ask Echo for the meaning of life, or to "open the pod bay doors." Or just ask Echo to play some music. Echo might not always have the answer, but we hope you'll have fun helping Echo get smarter.
 
i think only high transaction customers get that email.

I didn't get one. I used Amazon occasionally but more frequently lately because I joined Prime (ps9 made me do it).
 
irvinehomeowner said:
i think only high transaction customers get that email.

I didn't get one. I used Amazon occasionally but more frequently lately because I joined Prime (ps9 made me do it).

I didn't get one either even though we buy more than 50% of our internet purchases through Amazon. Email must be for high transaction suckers only  :P
 
Maybe check your spam?  My email came this AM around 8.  It went to my 'promotions' folder in gmail, not truly spam.  On my laptop gmail separates them for me, on my phone it's just one huge folder.
 
ps9 said:
Maybe check your spam?  My email came this AM around 8.  It went to my 'promotions' folder in gmail, not truly spam.  On my laptop gmail separates them for me, on my phone it's just one huge folder.

Just snooped around in some other forums. Looks like if you signed up day 1, invites went out to those people. Can't remember when I signed up.
 
First impressions:  It was heavier than expected but much smaller than what I imagined.  Has a remote much like the Fire TV, with mic function.  It needs to be plugged in so no charging involved.  Took about a minute to fire up, downloaded the setup echo app, connected to wifi in less than 3 minutes. 

Asked about weather, date, etc.  My kid loves the voice command:  her first was 'Alexa, play Taylor Swift songs' which it did with an automatic shuffle since we have a couple in our Amazon music library. 

Sound quality:  not an audiophile but much better and deeper than my other brick Bluetooth speakers.  No distortion at max volume as well.  Pretty handy when you need music ASAP.  Voice recognition is done well. 

So for $100 I'm pretty satisfied and would recommend this to all gadget loving families.
 
You can eBay sealed Echos for around $2-300.  Doh!

Listening to my favorite radio station wild 949 on iheart on echo, nice.
 
eyephone said:
Are you sure this is good? Amazon has been striking out lately with products. (Tablet, phones, etc)

It's strength is in its voice recognition, blows Siri/Cortana away.  Bottom line is its cool to scream across the room to tell Alexa to play music.
 
Wow, I just got my invitation just now.  Thought I was left out of this one...  Maybe I'll Fleabay it.

 
ps9 said:
eyephone said:
Are you sure this is good? Amazon has been striking out lately with products. (Tablet, phones, etc)

It's strength is in its voice recognition, blows Siri/Cortana away.  Bottom line is its cool to scream across the room to tell Alexa to play music.

But what if the NSA gets access to Alexa's data. I don't know if it's true or not, I read an article that NSA and/or other government agencies requested Siri queries from Apple.
 
At some point it would be cool if you could use these at intercoms with friends and family at their home
 
qwerty said:
Ps9 - can Alexa hear you even if your TV is on? That was my only concern.

Yes, the only time it has issues hearing me is if it's at volume 10 (max), then I'll have to get close to it for it to acknowledge.  Remote mic comes in handy in that situation.  TV shouldn't be an issue unless you put it right next to the speakers.
 
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