New Amazon Eccho Subscription Service (A Lady Plus)

Got the one that looks like a baseball. Not sure which it is but probably will not get the show. Also will see when amazon have their special deals in June or July. Do have prime.

The lady A whose name cannot be mentioned for fear of a hundred ears pricking up across the land.
More like a millian ears. Interesting wording.

I here that the new lady A has a new voice. Is there a video/audio clip of the same? I would love to know how my future robotic AI loard of speakers is going to sound.

Hope is a choice. I love my lady A voice and prefer her over any other voice.

Not sure about any new voices, but there are quite a few voices you can choose from. My device currently sounds a lot like the Australian-English Karen voice from voiceover, Karen premium that is.

Hi,
Yep, I heard about this. The thing that made me take an interest is you can buy stuff from seemingly any website, or at least, that's my understanding. And apparently it'll work with Ticketmaster in some capacity. I hope you can buy things through it, because buying on Ticketmaster is totally inaccessible. I've only got an Echo Dot, so it won't work with this, and I actually hate Alexa as it is at the moment. Every single skill I now try on the Echo Dot asks me to pay a subscription, I'm talking about the games and quizzes that used to give me quite a lot for free. But I've never found any practical use for Alexa as it is at the moment. I can live without quizzes and games. I bought it to listen to music, but the sound really wasn't that great. I'm hoping the Alexa website will be able to do everything the Echo Show can do, because I don't want to have to buy a device that I might only need once in a blue moon to access inaccessible stuff. If it means blind people can buy stuff through Ticketmaster independently, that really will be a game changer as far as I'm concerned.

You all are doing better than I. I don't even have Bluetooth with my Alexa device, as I have a first GEN model. The only positive thing I could say about mine, is that it has an excellent speaker, since the device is about the size of a Monster Energy Drink can. Ha ha

, puts out quite a bit of sound! Got mine for 17 dollars on Prime Day.

It'll be interesting to see which non-echo Show speakers will support Alexa Plus, let alone Amazon's own tablets (which I hope will be able to have more ram to make the screen reader voice work better!)
Um, hopefully?

Amazon has been phasing out the Alexa web portal for over the past couple of years. It is now completely gone.

I have the disk chaped echo dot 3rd gen, and the baseball chaped dot 4th gen. And I have a smart audio-video system with surround-sound in my living room. There is a echo skill for this system, and if I was subscribed to Amazon music, I could say, "Alexa, play 'This Land is Your Land' by Woody Guthrie on the speakers," and the AVR would start playing the song. So the poor quality of the echo dot speakers is a non-factor for me.

However, what really annoys me is that the echo dots will start playing music spontaneously and I have to go to the specific device to tell it to stop, otherwise, the echo dot that did not start playing simply responds, "You can control Amazon music in the Amazon Echo app on your iPhone."

feofil

One thing, though I'm in the UK and the release for Alexa Plus is (before end of year), is that the show can be used as a fire TV and works with the remote. This could be very interesting for a bedroom, for either the 15 or 21 inch. Though, maybe I'm just trying to find new tech to play with to fire off that dopamine I crave.

I am hoping, at some point, the new alexa will come to Sonos. I've got the Roam 2 and, aside from some frustrations when moving networks and having to re up the alexa connection when I'm staying else where, it is a really excellent alexa speaker, bluetooth and, obviously, part of the whole Sonos thing.

I've not herd amazon's more premium speakers, but I'm guessing it's relative. Everything I've bought from them is functional but it seems cost is the driving factor over quality. A Sonos era 300 with a super smart alexa which can jump to a Roam when moving about the house, sounds awesome.

Also, note, there is going to be a new app for Alexa plus for IOS and a web based version of it. I think it's going to be pretty huge. It can access the internet, maybe microsoft on the web, for example, so I wonder how it will fair against apple's offering which, let's face it, is failing to launch.

Alexa is a great product, I just don't think it's natively in a good form factor. there is talk of Amazon expanding in to higher tier products to compete with the likes of Sonos, so I guess, watch this space.

Hi SeasonKing,
I was on Amazon, and there's a sample voice video clip. Sounds like a real person. Since I'm a Prime member, I might download the app, when it comes out, and see if I'll use it. I don't have any of the A Lady devices in my home.

I'll search for video.

The original post did say you initially need an echo show to enable it, just a reminder since you said you presently have no A lady devices.

Thank you, Icosa!

I've been hearing about this quite a bit lately. From what I understand, it's rolling out to devices with screens first, but eventually, the majority of devices from the 2nd gen dot on up will supposedly gain access to it. The way it's been worded confuses me a bit; some sources imply that you have to own an echo show, but I have no interest in getting one because the dots I have are meeting my needs just fine. So, I hope its just a matter of waiting a few extra months for the service to get rolled out to screenless echo devices. If I didn't have Amazon Prime, though, I wouldn't even remotely consider paying $20 a month for this service. If it's included in prime, it might be fun to check out, but the last thing I need is another subscription fee, and from what I've heard in demos so far, $20 is way, way too much for what it does, at least in my little opinion.

I just read Amazon's announcement. They said they're rolling A lady plus out to prime subscribers in waves and prioritising echo show owners, so basically everyone with prime will get it eventually regardless of what if any echo devices they have but echo show owners will get it first. While that seems to be a tactic to goose the sales of the show, Amazon even encourage people to buy a show to get earlier access, it seems like noone's going to be left out in the longer term.

I have no desire to own an Alexa device with a screen, with the exception of my next Fire TV that I will eventually own, and I also have way too many subscriptions as it is.

I have an Echo Pop, and I got notified about the next-gen Alexa yesterday. Alexa asked me if I wanted to be notified when it is available for me, so here's hoping this means when it is available for my device. I can't see paying any more than what I already pay for Prime for this, but if it's included with my existing subscription and works with my existing device, I'll certainly try it.

Here are some parts directly from the official announcement, I'll emphasise they say all prime members.
Quote
Alexa+ costs $19.99 per month, but all Amazon Prime members will get it for free.
end quote
And
Quote
Alexa+ will start rolling out in the U.S. in the next few weeks during an early access period, and subsequently in waves over the coming months. We will prioritize Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 device owners in the early access period.
end quote
They go on to say this, I'll emphasise they specify early access not any access
Quote
If you don’t have one of those devices, and want to be among the first to experience Alexa+, you can buy one now. If you want to put your name on the list to be considered for early access, please visit www.amazon.com/newalexa
End quote
They repeatedly say early access or first to access. I'm confident they'll offer this to people with or without any echo device, screen or otherwise. The only question in my mind is whether it will be available on third party devices with A lady support such as Sonos or whether it will be restricted to first party devices and apps.

This app is already so useful on my iPhone, I can't wait to see what it's like with Alexa plus. Otherwise, I will have to finally upgrade my poor old echo. As I have mentioned before, I have a first GEN model.
Sigh
I will miss the speaker on that device. It's so good, compared to the little hockey puck shaped newer device models.

I don't see why an older echo would stop you getting this. Amazon would like you to purchase their devices of course but more than that they would prefer you use the A lady than a competitor, they want your data and the more you use her the more likely you are to buy new echo devices down the road. I don't even see why first gen echoes wouldn't get the new A lady plus since all of the work is being done in the cloud, chances are they're still making security updates to the first gen devices and all it has to handle is the same voice recognition it already does.

I just received a notification from my Alexa device the other day, reminding me that Alexa + was coming soon, and would I like to be notified when it was available to me.

So, here is to hoping I can still use my old 1st gen Alexa. Because I hate replacing a device, if said device still works. 🙂

Guy that I follow on a podcast got the show echo to test it and he stated there was so many adds that he return it. More adds than bugs on a NY hotel.

User: "Alexa, what time is it?"
Alexa plus: "for a limited time, you can buy the latest Fire Stick 4K Max, only $39.99. While Supplies last."
User: "Alexa !!! What. Time. Is. It?"
Alexa plus: "10% off the latest Apple Watch. By now while Supplies last!"
User: 🤯
User: "Hey Siri, what time is it?"
Siri: "You currently have no timers set."
User: 🤦‍♂️
User: "Argghhh!!!"
*Goes to look for trusty Abacus*

Probably both visual and audio. Regarding podcast is by Stephen Robles
@stephenrobles He did Apple Insider podcast now he has another which I can not recall. Is about tech.

Yes. That it is.

Hate to be the one to tell you this but A lady already has ads. It'll give a notification sound, when you check it'll say it looks like it's time to reorder thing you previously ordered a couple times would you like me to add it to your cart?

Once in a blue moon. The AI more than than bugs on a NY hotel.

I absolutely agree, but the precedent has already been set with barely a squeak of complaint. To Amazon the question is now not whether they can force ads on us but how many they can force on us before the backlash outweighs the benefits. It's executive and marketing thinking and it's kind of... special, not in a good way.