Anyone have an Amazon Echo?

[SHRED]

I'm think of getting one for my elderly mother in law who has limited vision.

Can I log her on to my Amazon Prime account or is that not neccesary?
I'm afraid she might accidentally buy someting.
Will she need her own Amazon account instead and if so can an account be opened without a credit card on file?

[sharp_stick]

1. You should be able to open an account without

a card on file. If there needs to be one you can also set it up so that it doesn't allow one click ordering and a password is needed for all purchases.

If you need to you can also log her on to your Prime account although it might not allow multiple connections meaning that if she's logged on you might not be able to access Prime services. I'm not a Prime member so I'm not sure about that, it should be in the terms of service.

[haele]

5. We've had no problems with Prime account and multiple connections.

Rather like a Kindle - you can have several Kindles on one account; the purchaser just needs to set it up under their account then it doesn't matter where the device is located or who is using it.
In our home, the Echo is always active, and we have been able to stream Amazon Prime separate from Alexa.

I'd double-check, but I think you can set up several different areas within Amazon Prime because the Prime media offerings might have several users associated with the single household account; so Grandma can get her own folder for her Amazon Prime music that the Echo will access if the primary account holder doesn't want to share or risk Grandma being exposed to NWA or your secret collection of hip-hop bagpipes (not that this grandma would care). But the primary account holder will still need to purchase the music for that library.

Haele

[OriginalGeek]

2. We just got one a couple weeks ago

It's a lot of fun but be warned: Alexa will unashamedly read you definitions from the Urban Dictionary.

She also tells jokes but they are pretty tame. And stupidly funny.


We already had an amazon prime account so I'm not really sure what minimum things you have to have to set it up but I am sure Sharp_Stick is right about being able to confine purchases with passwords and whatnot.

[haele]

4. You can disable the purchase function on Alexa; but I think you also have to disable one-click.

If Alexa is hooked up to a home network that includes a security or infrastructure component (switches, thermostat, etc), you can program her through the operator's account to change status of your systems with voice commands.

The speakers are great; the 4-year old grandbaby likes to ask her to play Bobby Darren's "Splish-Splash" when she's getting ready for her evening bath, and she can sing along with it on volume 6 the next room over from where Alexa is.

She does have some modicum of voice recognition and can pattern a reasonably appropriate response based on the patterns of response to that voice. Her answers are slightly different for the grand-baby than it is for me or Laz (mainly in music or joke selection), but pretty much generic to others.

Be careful setting her up near the TV or home stereo though; she's occasionally started playing music or provided us with an answer to something we didn't ask because of dialog or a sentence that sounded as if someone asked her something. Especially when someone on the TV says "Likes".

Haele

[OriginalGeek]

6. lol yeah that happened the other day

I was watching TV and crushing candy when out of nowhere she just up and said it was 3.8 miles to the center of a little town close to us. No idea what triggered that. I thought maybe my wife was messing with me remotely lol.

I fully intend to eventually get all those cool light bulbs and other things to integrate the house with Echo. I think it will be fun to just tell the lights to turn on and off. (or dim)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. You can log it on to your account.

If she accidentally buys something, you'll get an email from Amazon, so you can cancel the purchase. Or send it back when the drone drops it at your door.