Amazon Echo speaker -anyone have one? Opinions?

[cjefferys]

I'm really debating if I need (well, more like...want) Amazon's new toy, their web connected, voice controlled speaker. In theory it sounds really cool, you can access music through Amazon's music service, iHeartRadio and TuneIn, telling to play specific songs, bands or stations by voice command, ask the weather, simple questions, etc, it's kind of a cross between Siri and a Bluetooth speaker. The one thing I wish it could do is access my music library I have stored on my NAS, not sure if a future update will allow it to do that. As an Amazon Prime member, I can get one for $99 (instead of the regular $199) by invitation only (I guess this is their way of beta testing it). I finally got an invitation, and have a week to decide, I was just wondering if anyone has one and what they thought of it. Will it be awesome or some gimmicky toy that I will get bored of within a couple weeks? Or maybe I should just get it and flip it on ebay for double what I would pay, decisions decisions...

[Hedji]

Sounds pretty cool. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts. But like you, I would want it to access my iTunes library. I listen to pretty much all movie scores, and a lot of them are not available on streaming services.

[drquest]

I looked into it, and seems gimmicky to me. A lot of the functions are at your fingertips on a phone or tablet already. Voice commands in theory are ok, but lead to frustration quickly and if there's background noise, when you are listening to music, or tv or a group of people at your house, it can't work well.

If you get it, let us know what you think.

[cjefferys]

I pulled the trigger and ordered one. The downside: estimated delivery: June 9, 2015 - July 15, 2015! By the time it shows up, I'll have completely forgotten that I ordered one. I let you guys know my thoughts on it in about 6 months or so.

[cjefferys]

Ok, this finally showed up in the mail (of course while I was at Mego Meet!). I played with it tonight and had a blast (so did my son). I realize the novelty of the voice recognition part will eventually wear out, but we had fun asking it all sorts of questions, "Will it rain tomorrow?", "What's the weather in Tokyo?", "Tell me a joke", "Play Crazy Train", "What's the definition of serendipity", etc. But it works really well, has a nice sound, and will be a nice way to stream music in the dining room. Totally worth the hundred bucks!



(sorry for the dark pic, but you coudn't see the cool glowing blue ring on the top when I had the flash on)