Slinger,

I am about 2 months ahead of you in terms of exploring the "just for fun" route... Bought cheap on prime day. Actually, I bought another for my mum back in Plymouth so that I can call her from cyprus easily. I also bought a rechargeable speaker which the dot fits into so it looks like the bigger model. One aim was to increase my exposure to new music, radio and podcasts, particularly while doing other things such as showering etc. This is working well. I have taken out a year long subscription to Amazon music. I am not in a position to comment on quality since it currently only going through this speaker.

I have a techie background, but had largely ignored voice recognition. I was also of the view that it brought nothing uniquely new to the party. However, I rather like it... it surprises you.... For example... the shopping list feature is really useful... you tend to notice that stuff is running out while cooking or in the shower.... no easy access to a pen... just shout at Alexa... list ends up on your phone. I find voice navigation of a hierarchical music collection really useful when I am doing something else like cooking. It is not perfect.... live vs acoustic vs original versions is currently an issue.

I have previously explored home automation in the UK (Tado and SMAPEE)... I will not be doing it here via Alexa at the moment due to travelling very light. However, there is the ability to hook up Alexa to volumio.... shout at Alexa, music comes out on Pi... obviously this requires coding etc. I plan to explore this during the winter.

I have only scratched the surface of what can be done... but I think it has real promise... ultimately, it might not be Alexa, but I think the concept has legs and is gaining traction. I am using Android Auto and "OK google" to play music in the car via my phone and bluetooth doo-hickey.

Happy to compare notes and share ideas

Cheers

Sean

I'd say it depends how you use Amazon Music.
I find A.M. perfectly adequate for casual listening (which is the market I believe it's aimed at). What I tend to do is listen to an album on A.M. and if I like it, buy the CD.
However, to me this only makes sense because I already have a Prime subscription, so A.M. costs me nothing.

I agree that if I wanted to actually pay money, I would not go for Music Unlimited but something like Qobuz which undoubtedly has better quality.

Does anybody know how the streaming services create their digital catalogues? I assume it is not an intern out the back with a stack of CDs and a PC!

The Dot is set up, I have sound, and I have a floor lamp switching on and off via voice commands. The other two lamps can wait until tomorrow. Obviously, setup is only as good as the manufacturer's app and associated instructions but this is not something I'd like to have attempted were I not technically inclined. I even had to manually connect the Dot to the net rather than the automatic setup working for me.

Getting part-way through the socket setup and finding out that it can only be set up via the 2.4GHz band, and responds to bugger-all if you've got 5GHz switched on was a bit of a downer, and that's even with "Separate Bands" activated on the hub. Of course, the PC and the tablet I was using for setup were both connected over the 5GHz band so switching the 5Ghz band off meant I had to start from scratch, and then re-enable the 5GHz band after setup was complete.

As I say, not something I'd have fancied without being a bit tech savvy, but all's well that ends well, and at least I can sort the other two sockets out tomorrow forewarned.

"Alexa, play Creedence Clearwater Revival" and despite my moaning, it turns out I'm a "Fortunate Son and am now having a quick "Run Through The Jungle." If only it understood "Alexa, cook my dinner." though.

After an hour or so of listening to Creedence, Pink Floyd, a bit of Bach, Mahler, and some Classic FM via the Dot, Amazon is not even going to get £3.99 a month out of me I'm afraid.  Flat, boring, uninspiring, one-dimensional, all of the above.  Fine for background music but it'll drive you mad if you actually try to listen properly to something you like. 

I may activate my free 60-day Premium offer at some stage just in case there's a rise in sound quality, but from what I've read it just gives you an even bigger choice of music you don't want to hear and better playlists.  For instance, you can ask Alexa for "Prog Rock" on the free service, but all you'll get is told that "she" can't do that unless you'd like to upgrade to Premium.

I have tried Amazon vs. Spotify on my system upstairs, and I found that Spotify won by a significant margin in sound quality and available music/artists.

That's handy. I've just picked up a 7" Amazon Fire with Alexa for £15.00 on eBay. 

Given that we're all reasonably tech-fluent, and the majority of the public aren't, I do wonder how many of these gadgets are purchased, then given up on, and now lie unused in a cupboard, because it's too complicated to set them up.
Even my reasonably technical wife cannot cope with my programmable remote control...

Which, when queried on their lack of expertise often brings the age-old retort of "just because I drive a car I don't need to know how to change the oil,"  or something similar.

Of course, you don't, but it does help if you know how to open the boot, and where the bloody petrol goes.

I'm 64, 65 in a few months, and I'm still learning, and wanting to learn.  Despite all of the moaning that comes from my direction solving problems brings a sense of achievement.  I dread to think how low the bar is set for "them" to achieve that feeling.