Audiobooks discussion
Technical stuff
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Has anyone else listened to books on Amazon Echo?
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Nice to know Julie...I'm still considering it :)
Jan wrote: "Nice to know Julie...I'm still considering it :)":)
Julie wrote: "Jan wrote: "Lori wrote: "I was listening to Tesser: A Dragon Among Us on Echo last night while I was making dinner and it was slightly problematic. One of the characters is "Alexis". Hahahaha Ale..."
Hahaha There have been a few times Alexa has suddenly informed me, "Hmmm..I did not understand your question." It scares me every time she speaks without me asking her something first!!
Jan wrote: "Lori wrote: "I was listening to Tesser: A Dragon Among Us on Echo last night while I was making dinner and it was slightly problematic. One of the characters is "Alexis". Hahahaha Alexa found thi..."
I like being able to listen to music from Prime on Echo and being able to find out about the weather but I mostly use mine for a timer because lightning killed the one on my oven.
Alexa is helpful in keeping me from burning or overcooking things and extremely helpful when it comes to outsmarting the HE washing machine that won't fill up with enough water to cover what you are washing. I put the clothes in, no detergent, turn the washer on and ask Alexa to set a timer for 3 minutes. Just long enough to wet all the clothes. Three minutes later I return to the washer, turn it off, add detergent and turn it back on. The clothes are heavier wet so the sensor allows more water to fill the tub!!! Thank you Alexa!!!! Because 3 min is too long to watch the washer fill!
I could easily do the same things by other means...the advantage is the speech activation which is definitely a convenience but I'm not sure my use of it justifies the $99.
Do any of you use the remote?? Mine has not been removed from the place I mounted it since Echo arrived.
Hahaha There have been a few times Alexa has suddenly informed me, "Hmmm..I did not understand your question." It scares me every time she speaks without me asking her something first!!Mine occasionally does this too. I wonder why. It's very startling when it happens. However I am very happy with my Echo. I use it for prime music, audible books, weather, timer and now it also tells me where movies are playing.
Faith wrote: "Hahaha There have been a few times Alexa has suddenly informed me, "Hmmm..I did not understand your question." It scares me every time she speaks without me asking her something first!!Mine occasi..."
Oh yea we use ours for Prime an Pandora music, news. weather, traffic, games, audio books, movie times all kinds of stuff. Love my Alexa
If the Dot's speaker is loud enough for voice, I'd consider getting one for audiobooks and OTR broadcasts.At $90, it's priced too high for me. $50~$60 is more reasonable.
Lori wrote: "Do any of you use the remote?? Mine has not been removed from the place I mounted it since Echo arrived."I use it every now and, especially if I have the mics turned off.
Melanti wrote: "I just saw a review that showed the Tap (portable battery powered one) does not have an always on microphone, since that would kill the battery life. You have to tap a button on the top to get it t..."Amazon could've built it with an on/off button like the Echo has. Off when using the battery and on when using the charging cradle. Not difficult to do. Even the cheaper Dot has this feature.
Lack of voice commands is a deal breaker for me. I won't even consider getting a Tap because of it.
It's a gadget and it depends on your needs. I bought my Echo at $99 and would buy another at $180. But my needs may not be the same as yours. I was mostly looking for a bluetooth speaker that sounded good and plugged in rather than was battery powered. I use many of the features and appreciate the Audible and text-to-speech additions. I bought the Dot as soon as I read about it. It arrives in another 2 weeks. I have a speaker I can plug it into and it will live in the kitchen to be used by multiple family members. I primarily see them using it for timers, alarms and music, but also, some automation. I love gadgets. :)
^^^ I ordered a Dot for my kitchen on the day it was announced. Like you, I plan to use it as a kitchen timer. I may figure out other uses for it as time passes.I also ordered a Tap because I think its portability will be useful to me.
Will report on both products after I get them and have an opportunity to evaluate them.
My Amazon Dot came today and it does just what I wanted it to do. I am using it to play audible books, it's speaker is quite adequate for that without connecting it to another speaker.
My Echo Dot and Amazon Tap arrived today. Got the Dot setup in about 10 minutes but getting the Tap to work was an adventure. Bottom line: unlike the Echo and the Dot, the Tap has only single band (2.4 Ghz) capability so don't look for a 5 Ghz connection when you setup an Echo, there won't be one. Also, the Alexa app wouldn't accept my 2.4 Ghz network either unless I first told the app to forget the network, which gave me a password prompt. Once I reentered my password I was fine. Other than that (Mrs. Lincoln?) both devices are working just fine so far.
I'm still waffling on this but do have a question for all you Echo users that might tip the scale in favor of me getting it.When you listen to audios on your Echo, can you adjust the listening speed at all? I am not able to do that on my MP3 player or when listening through my computer and I would love to be able to do that.
Jan wrote: "I'm still waffling on this but do have a question for all you Echo users that might tip the scale in favor of me getting it.When you listen to audios on your Echo, can you adjust the listening sp..."
I don't think you can increase the speed. I asked it to read faster and I didn't notice a change, but the Echo software is constantly being updated so that might be something they will add.
I have my eye on the Tap, because it would fit nicely in the tour pack of the bike.
MissSusie wrote: "I have my eye on the Tap, because it would fit nicely in the tour pack of the bike."Go for it! I have been using my Tap for a week and have liked it better all the time. It's sound quality is very near that of the Echo and its portability has been convenient indeed. So far at least I have just about stopped using my Echo because the Tap is more convenient.
There is one caveat though. When you are out on your bike, the Tap can't reach the Amazon cloud unless you have a phone with a personal hotspot.
I've listened on my Echo, and have not been able to increase the speed. Its okay for some books, but I usually listen with it sped up, so I've resorted to listening on the app on my phone. What I sometimes do to "cheat" is run my phone through the Echo via Bluetooth so I can still listen at a different speed. As someone earlier said, they are doing constant updates, so hopefully this will be one of the updates they do.
I finally got my dot yesterday. Maybe I'm dense, but what's the phrase I should use to get Alexa to read the complimentary subscription of NYT?
I tried the obvious "Alexa, read the New York Times" but her response is that she can't find a subscription in my library.
(Complimentary meaning the NYT/WSJ subscription that comes with Audible membership)
Melanti wrote: "I finally got my dot yesterday. Maybe I'm dense, but what's the phrase I should use to get Alexa to read the complimentary subscription of NYT?
I tried the obvious "Alexa, read the New York Tim..."
Try adding "from audible" to your request?
Her full answer to "Read the New York Times" is "I couldn't find the New York Times Audio Digest 1 Month Subscription in your Audible Library" so she's already searching on Audible. But it seems like she's looking for the paid version and not seeing the free version.
oh. well. that is the extent of my Alexa troubleshooting. I yell at her when she doesn't do what I want her to do. Doesn't fix anything, but it makes me feel better. :)
lol. There's definitely a learning curve! Most of it seems pretty intuitive. "Turn off the ceiling fan", "turn on the coffee pot", etc. Those all work fine but then there's other things that seem like they should work but don't. Like the NYT subscription.
Or the stereo. For some reason she gives an error message saying she can't turn off the stereo, even though she goes ahead and turns it off anyway.
As a joke, I told her "Sudo turn off the stereo" and it worked! She didn't complain! I'm baffled. Amused, but baffled.
I'm impatient and emailed Echo tech support, who ended up forwarding it to Audible tech support. They said that audio newspaper/magazine subscriptions aren't available through the Echo, but that "We're working hard to bring additional features to Amazon Echo. We have forwarded your request to our development team, rest be assure that this feature will available in our service very shortly."
So, if that's true, that sounds like it might be available soon? Not sure what "very shortly" means to whomever wrote that email, though. Hopefully it wasn't just a generic "they're working on it" meaning.
I'm kind of bummed. I was hoping to easily listen to the newspaper in the morning as I'm getting ready for work. I didn't realize subscriptions don't work. (Though now that I'm looking, it says that right at the top of their disclaimers on the Echo/Audible commands help page so I can't say they didn't warn me.)
On a different note, this is the first time I've gotten a response from Audible customer service that wasn't grammatically correct. I wonder if they've moved some of their tech support overseas?
CrimsonTyd wrote: "oh. well. that is the extent of my Alexa troubleshooting. I yell at her when she doesn't do what I want her to do. Doesn't fix anything, but it makes me feel better. :)"LOL :)
Will the Echo read books that are in the Overdrive app (and/or other apps) or just the ones in Audible?
Just the audible ones.And if you're using the Text to Speech, it only seems to do that for true Kindle books. It can't find the book I emailed to my account.
However, a workaround for you is to pair your phone to the echo like you would for a bluetooth speaker and listen that way.
The voice controls are probably more limited that way though.
Thanks, that's too bad. I haven't tried using the Echo as a Bluetooth speaker, but I assume that I would not be able to control it using Alexa.
You can do the standard play, pause, next track, previous track, etc. Which should suffice for most purposes.https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...
But it wouldn't be the full control that you get from native Audible books.
Thanks. I've bookmarked those instructions.
Guess what I'm getting for my birthday since the price on Prime Day was lower! Now I need to figure out all the ways to use it for audiobooks. Will be checking out this thread more closely in a couple days.
So I have my echo all set up but am really annoyed that when I tell it to read one of my audible books it can't find it. I'm sorry, I don't see that book in your library..let me play you a sample.
I have tried loads of different books that are in my library and it won't play them unless I start them from the Alexa App first. And then if I stop it and come back the next day I assumed it would know it was there. But no, I have to use the app again.
Does anyone know a work-around for this???
I haven't had any issues other than with newspaper subscriptions.Very occasionally a homophone will cause issues, but that's been relatively rare.
How are you phrasing it?
And if you look at your request in the Alexa app, is she picking up what you're saying properly?
"Alexa, read my book" generally works for me to resume the book I've been reading lately.
"Alexa, read xxxxx" works to change from one book to another.
Jan wrote: "So I have my echo all set up but am really annoyed that when I tell it to read one of my audible books it can't find it. I'm sorry, I don't see that book in your library..let me play you a sample..."
I had that problem with one book so I downloaded the book to my kindle fire. After listening for a while I tried the echo again and it worked.
Melanti wrote: "How are you phrasing it? And if you look at yo..."
Thanks for your thoughts...she is understanding what I'm asking because she then says, let me play you a sample and plays the sample from the book I requested.
And all my books are listed on the app under music & books so my account is linked up correctly. It's just strange. At least when I start it from the app, it does start where I left off but I would prefer to just ask her to start it rather than go to the app.
She plays my prime music just fine...only having problems with the audio books.
Amazon has brought the Echo Dot back for $49. I have the first generation and its speaker is perfectly adequate for listening to audiobooks.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DFKC2SO/...
I pre-ordered one! I've been kicking myself for not ordering another before they sold out so I'm glad to see them come back.
I have the Amazon Tap which is the portable version of the Echo and I LOVE it....the number of books I listen to has increased exponentially. Does anyone know if it supports Overdrive or other types of audio books other than Audible? I guess you can plug the books in directly but that kind of ruins the purpose...
Shawn wrote: "I have the Amazon Tap which is the portable version of the Echo and I LOVE it....the number of books I listen to has increased exponentially. Does anyone know if it supports Overdrive or other ty..."
See messages 79 and 80.
The Amazon Echo is on sale right now.. cyber Monday. I still totally love mine.
I love listening on the Echo, but the inability to speed up the playback makes it much less useful. I doubt that I will use it much anymore.
Amazon has designed a hands free mode for the Tap. Looks like it's something you'll have to manually enable/disable it - so not the automated charger = voice enabled, battery = tap version most people were looking for, but better than nothing: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/help/cust...
Audiobooks
Books mentioned in this topic
Tesser: A Dragon Among Us (other topics)I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (other topics)
Les Misérables (other topics)
Yea I dunno if I woulda paid the $180 for it before I knew what it can do.....now I would pay the $180 for it....well worth it IMO