When I told my mom about the Echo, she smirked and frowned: smirked because she thought I was getting a frivolous toy; and frowned because she was sure it would be expensive. (I explained the net $99, so she was less concerned.)
But she didn't know my ulterior motive (I generally have one): it was for her, not me.
For her age, Mom does... OK with technology. Not great, but she can check her email, do Google searches, and play music. She gets frustrated a lot, though, because she touches the wrong thing and then the computer does the wrong thing.
So I got the Echo so she could have voice control. It doesn't actually do much yet, but just the music playing is easier than trying to play music on the computer. I suggested she could use the Echo, but she scoffed.
Now? Over the weekend, she thanked me for the Echo. For weather, time, and music, it's as easy as she could ask for. And she's using it to find music suggestions. She likes Liberace's piano music, but doesn't own any. Now thanks to Prime Music, she has six hours worth, free.
My mom, the latent technophobe, actually experiments with the Echo while I'm gone. I call that a success.
And as Amazon adds features, she'll enjoy it even more. I consider it a great investment.
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branchandroot
I couldn't give it up if I wanted to!
Date: Wednesday, 4 February 2015 06:29 (UTC)But she didn't know my ulterior motive (I generally have one): it was for her, not me.
For her age, Mom does... OK with technology. Not great, but she can check her email, do Google searches, and play music. She gets frustrated a lot, though, because she touches the wrong thing and then the computer does the wrong thing.
So I got the Echo so she could have voice control. It doesn't actually do much yet, but just the music playing is easier than trying to play music on the computer. I suggested she could use the Echo, but she scoffed.
Now? Over the weekend, she thanked me for the Echo. For weather, time, and music, it's as easy as she could ask for. And she's using it to find music suggestions. She likes Liberace's piano music, but doesn't own any. Now thanks to Prime Music, she has six hours worth, free.
My mom, the latent technophobe, actually experiments with the Echo while I'm gone. I call that a success.
And as Amazon adds features, she'll enjoy it even more. I consider it a great investment.