Limited Time? Changes? Changes? Changes?
Friday, 3 April 2015 18:25![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsTwo months ago we got our Amazon Echo (DW) (LJ). Can it really be just two months? I suspect that between Kindle Fires for a couple of years, Prime, and months of heavy use of Amazon Music Library before getting Echo, it's hard to quite divide the time. But we have certainly gotten a lot of use out of the unit.
Perfect? No. Being cloud based, it's dependent on the WiFi/DSL connection. And Tune-In, which provides the radio over the Internet service, is sensitive to the streaming getting interrupted. Unlike a podcast or movie, or Amazon Music, it can't buffer ahead. So I don't know if the connection has more flakies that we know. But... the radio function works great most of the time. And they just added Pandora.
I hadn't even realized it was the two month date. Instead, yesterday I had been offered a link to an Amazon Kindle ebook, which seemed to be some guy's guide to Echo, in lieu of the manual, which doesn't exist. I was amused that it suggested it might be good to learn what Echo could do, while waiting for your Echo to come. And that some might have been given a six month wait. Huh? What?
Curious as to whether demand has jumped so much, or whether they're retooling for coming out of the Beta program, I went to Amazon. Unfortunately, I got a mixed message. The search screen said Echo had a one or two month wait, but when I clicked on the link to the Echo page, Amazon knew I had an Echo, and since you can only buy one right now, there was no sales information. Just product and set up stuff. I had to go to another browser which never had logged into Amazon -- the Linux desktop on my Kindle from Always On PC -- to see the info.
You still need to request an invite. The price is still $199 -- $99 if you have Prime. But if you want that Prime deal, you have to order by Tuesday 7 April 2015.
And that's why I am posting this. Because it's a steal at $99. We had rebate bucks from Discover, so it was free for us.
Anyway, thought some of you would like to know.
Dr. Phil
Perfect? No. Being cloud based, it's dependent on the WiFi/DSL connection. And Tune-In, which provides the radio over the Internet service, is sensitive to the streaming getting interrupted. Unlike a podcast or movie, or Amazon Music, it can't buffer ahead. So I don't know if the connection has more flakies that we know. But... the radio function works great most of the time. And they just added Pandora.
I hadn't even realized it was the two month date. Instead, yesterday I had been offered a link to an Amazon Kindle ebook, which seemed to be some guy's guide to Echo, in lieu of the manual, which doesn't exist. I was amused that it suggested it might be good to learn what Echo could do, while waiting for your Echo to come. And that some might have been given a six month wait. Huh? What?Curious as to whether demand has jumped so much, or whether they're retooling for coming out of the Beta program, I went to Amazon. Unfortunately, I got a mixed message. The search screen said Echo had a one or two month wait, but when I clicked on the link to the Echo page, Amazon knew I had an Echo, and since you can only buy one right now, there was no sales information. Just product and set up stuff. I had to go to another browser which never had logged into Amazon -- the Linux desktop on my Kindle from Always On PC -- to see the info.
You still need to request an invite. The price is still $199 -- $99 if you have Prime. But if you want that Prime deal, you have to order by Tuesday 7 April 2015.
And that's why I am posting this. Because it's a steal at $99. We had rebate bucks from Discover, so it was free for us.
Anyway, thought some of you would like to know.
Dr. Phil
