Our Week with Echo

When I first found out about the Amazon Echo, I wondered if we really needed another electronic device. I watched the videos about it and then realized that this would not just be another voice that answered our stupid question.  I realized the more people use it the more people will hack and make new ways to use it.  Turning on/off your lights, turning on/off your burglary alarm, locking your doors, reminding you of tasks, making a grocery list.

Well it doesn't do all of that right now but it does make a to do list and a grocery list.  If only she could go grocery shopping for me.  I hate grocery shopping.  Mostly this week we have asked Alexa to play music and I love music playing throughout the house.  Addison loves to ask Alexa to play a random song.  The funniest time was when he asked her to play "Turn down for what".  She did and we had a little dance party in the den.  I have asked her to play random oldies so I can educated Addison about music.  I have gone to Biz Markie "Just a Friend" to Positive K "I Got a Man" with just the sound of my voice.  This also happened because of Amazon Prime music so I must mention that it his important to have Prime if you don't want to buy a bunch of music from Amazon.  Prime music also doesn't have every song you can think of but there are also some great playlist on Prime that will have you thinking of songs you haven't thought about for years.  Last night Echo played a playlist for dinner a party.  She played a little  bit of jazz and a little bit of soft rock.  I started imagining a dinner party of pasta, wine, great music and friends.

Alexa does not just play music via Amazon Music.  You can also connect it with I Heart Radio.  I have never used I Heart Radio before but in the past days I have listed to some wonderful streaming music from Beatles to Fleetwood Mac.  You can also choose to listen to radio stations from around the world.  I remember 10 years ago I would stream a radio station from London.  This is where I found Lily Allen and Adele for the first time.  I have not streamed radio stations yet but I am excited to use this feature.  You can also stream podcast which I am excited about it. I would love to listen to some interesting podcast while I am cooking and crafting.

I feel like I have only been talking about using Echo for music but she has also helped me set a timer for cooking,  converted ounces to gallons, and set an alarm to wake us up.  We have only had her for a week so I believe we have just scratched the surface.  I promise to blog another review after we have had her for month.  But if you have Amazon prime and have an extra $100, I say Yes you should get Echo.