Amazon Echo - Vanity

petercooper ^ | 12/10/2016 | petercooper

[petercooper]

Hi FReepers, I won an Amazon Echo with a raffle ticket last night at a Christmas party. I have heard about the microphone recording people using it, and am not too keen on that. The question is, can I turn off the mic and just use as a speaker? Also, does it work playing music off an iPhone via Bluetooth?

Thanks in advance!

[petercooper]

Merry Christmas!

[SamAdams76]

You will need the mic in order to tell it what to do (i.e. play music) or ask it a question (i.e. "What's the current weather in New York City?"). I don't see anything intrusive about it. This is first I heard of it "recording conversations". The mic only appears to be activated after you call it by name (Alexa).

It's a lot of fun at parties. Ask it what it thinks of Siri. It will tell you.

[Ouderkirk]

Ask it to tell you an Obama joke... it won’t

[Kirkwood]

Just sell it and use the money to buy some speakers if that is what you really want. The purpose of the device is to always be listening so it can access the internet and deliver what you asked for.

[Menehune56]

I haven’t bought an Echo yet but I was researching them and yes, you can stream music to it via Bluetooth. I’m hoping Santa brings us an Echo in a couple weeks, they look like they’re very cool.

[Psycho_Runner]

I have owned a Echo for over a year and it does not record conversation. It does listen for the command: Alexa.

After the command it will do certain things:
Turn off/on lights (Insteon add On)
Play music/talk radio through I heart radio
Timer
weather.

There are many more options I dont use.
Hope this helps.

[Kirkwood]

It is a networked microphone and in theory someone can listen in to the audio from your home if they are able to tap into your network. Some also feel it is an invasion of privacy when the device is used for marketing products to you, but the same happens whenever you do internet searches or shopping by keyboard and mouse input.

[Empireoftheatom48]

I’ve had mine since they first came out. I have a good time with it. It doesn’t do recording that I know of. Later on I’ll ask Alexa if she records things. Do you have the full size version or the new Hocky puck size. I see that Google has just come out with it’s version.

[SamAdams76]

The lights on top will turn green when it is in listening mode. I believe the only way to trigger it is to say "Alexa". Maybe there's a way to hack into it but anybody listening in my home would be bored to tears. Also, you would see the lights turn green and you would know something was up.

I prefer the passive wireless speakers. I use the Bose Soundwave speaker system and I can stream audio to them from all my Apple devices using Airplay. Whether it's music from my collection, Sirius/XM radio app or any other Internet audio feed.

[topspinr]

I have the echo and a Sonos speaker.

I use the Sonos with the Amazon Music app and play music.

You could also use the Echo as a music player if you subscribe to Amazon Prime Music by asking Echo to play songs or albums from your Amazon Prime music or playlist.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Have a little fun with it and talk about Al Qaeda, ISIS and explosives. All the voice recognition is done on the servers so Amazon can have a few laughs at your expense too.

[petercooper]

Ok. Thanks everyone!

[petercooper]

Full size

[ameribbean expat]

I use it for one thing — has a nice feature called “Flash Briefing”, where you select various news feeds. I keep it in the bathroom, walk in and say “ Alexa flash briefing” and it fires up a weather report, Bloomberg market minute, Fox News latest headlines, the BBC’s latest hourly news, AP global news, APs political news and the overnight sports scores. Lasts about 20 minutes, and by then I’m done showering and shaving.at

There’s a “skill” some guy developed to read the latest Reddit headers. Wish someone would develop one that reads the links on Drudge.

[ican'tbelieveit]

We do not use the one I bought anymore because of that reason. Samsung was the first company hit with the “snooping” concern as they recorded everything going on in the background and used it to improve their listening software effectiveness. Alexa, and similar devices, will have the same issue.

It can be run from the Alexa app from smart phones. I liked that better than otherwise trying to control it because it couldn’t “understand” me.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Until they invent one of these machines that makes and delivers me a Martini while I’m on the couch in front of a roaring fire, I don’t want one of those creepy things in my house. ;)

[BlueCat]

If you ask it a question that is biased toward the left it will respond with a biased answer - against the right. If you asked an unbiased question it will respond with a biased answer - again diminishing the right point of view.

For instance, when I asked who the won the election, it responded that DJT had won and then went on to talk about the popular vote - as if that is a factor.

I do not trust today's technology. Alexis records and saves each and every question you ask it, so be forewarned.

[petercooper]

That's what kids are for!. 🍸

[ShorelineMike]

Can I turn off the microphone and just use it as a speaker?

Yes. Depress the microphone button on top of the Echo.

Does it work playing music off an iPhone via Bluetooth?

Yes. The Echo will create its own private WiFi network with an ID of “Amazon-XXX-YY” during its setup. Pair your iPhone to that network in Bluetooth Settings and you’re good to go.

[nclaurel]

The devices have buttons that turn them off when you want privacy or simply unplug when not using.