Useless Xmas present

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Greg A

Nothing but monitoring devices that are listening in and recording private conversations in your home. Not ever going there, and I keep Siri, Cortana, deactivated on all phones, tablets and PC’s.

Like everybody else, Alexa isn't listening to me.
I said I didn't want anything for Xmas.
Apparently I have to subscribe to a streaming service for her to do anything musical.
I could listen to the radio, but I have my Sangean personal digital radio in my pocket, already tuned to my radio station.
Takes less effort to use my iPhone and speaker.
If I got up out of my chair, I could turn on the iPod in its dock and play the same music over the six-speaker Onkyo audio system.

[Jim Bennett]

For music at home I have a Sonos setup, which works over our WiFi network. It is controlled from any of our devices. We also subscribe to Spotify, which gives us a monstrous selection of songs. Nice to sit in my chair and control great sounding music in every room from my phone, tablet or laptop.

I am considering bringing a Sonos speaker along in to use in our trailer, using the WiFi setup I am putting in it. Does not work on 12V though, and could be a fair draw on the inverter.

[gbaglo]

How do you choose a tune, if you can't remember the title? I just scrolled through my library looking for a particular artist and album and then came upon another artist that I hadn't listened to in a while. Selected that instead.
"Alexa, what am I thinking"?

[Jim Bennett]

Easy to search by artist, album or genre.

We have listened to a ton of great music since getting Spotify that we would have otherwise never heard of.

[Jim Bennett]

Aren't iPods pretty much only found in museums now? [emoji38]

[gbaglo]

My iPod should be in a museum - no Bluetooth to connect to my speaker.
But, Alexa doesn't have a display so you would have to say "Alexa, play a song I heard that was on the Beatles White Album, or maybe it was Rubber Soul". And, then you can wait for her to say she doesn't know the Beatles.
I can just click on Music on my iPhone, click on 'B', find Beatles and the albums and the tunes.
Your Sonos is a wireless speaker controlled by a device.
This Echo is just an attempt to use voice commands to control a device, with no display.

[gbaglo]

Look for and listen to Christmas Island by Leon Redbone.
It's not too late for this Xmas.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Asked Alexa to play Harry Belafonte. She has no clue.
I finally told her to shut herself off ( she complied ) and then I connected my iPhone to my Bluetooth speaker and played the music I wanted by selecting the artist or title.

Glenn, you can pair the Echo to play music from your phone via bluetooth. Same music, just controllable by voice instead of touch. It will also pair with a bluetooth speaker.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-s...e-amazon-echo/

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Glenn, you can pair the Echo to play music from your phone via bluetooth. Same music, just playable by voice instead of touch. It will also pair with a bluetooth speaker.

Techy son-in-law is looking into that. It only makes sense. But, I can't count the number of times I've gone through the library and selected different music than I set out to find.
And, my iPhone is sitting next to me, the Bluetooth speaker is about eight feet away, as is Alexa. Why pair it through Alexa instead of directly?

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

And, my iPhone is sitting next to me, the Bluetooth speaker is about eight feet away, as is Alexa. Why pair it through Alexa instead of directly?

No real advantage, except if you want to tell Alexa to skip, pause, raise or lower volume, etc. And there's also the issue of which speaker sounds better.

[gbaglo]

The planet is doomed.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Aren't iPods pretty much only found in museums now? [emoji38]

Please clarify Jim. Are you designating my 5.0TA a museum? Of course my iPod Touch is not the only historically old thing that can sometimes be found within.

I did have to add a module to the Jensen that was being installed by ETI in 2015 to make it Bluetooth capable and to pair with the iPod. I would eliminate the iPod and stream from my phone, but that would deprive Gail from listening to music if I am out walking/talking. She is somewhat “electronically challenged” and would get frustrated trying to pair her phone to the Jensen. So my solution was to pull the museum piece off the shelf and leave it paired whenever we are on the road.

Does the museum designation mean I can charge an entrance fee for potential viewers?

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

Please clarify Jim. Are you designating my 5.0TA a museum? Of course my iPod Touch is not the only historically old thing that can sometimes be found within.

I did have to add a module to the Jensen that was being installed by ETI in 2015 to make it Bluetooth capable and to pair with the iPod. I would eliminate the iPod and stream from my phone, but that would deprive Gail from listening to music if I am out walking/talking. She is somewhat “electronically challenged” and would get frustrated trying to pair her phone to the Jensen. So my solution was to pull the museum piece off the shelf and leave it paired whenever we are on the road.

Does the museum designation mean I can charge an entrance fee for potential viewers?

Just responding to what Apple is doing, which has been eliminating most of their iPods over the last while. That, and pretty much everyone I know has stopped using theirs now, though there are still a few hanging on.

Lisa too is not very good with technology, but I have loaded up her phone with her music, and sync the bluetooth for her in our vehicles and bluetooth stereo components so she can play there at will.

Just like a handheld calculator, all mine have gone to recycling, now multi-tasking that with my phone too.

If you were mummified in your trailer, you might be able to charge a museum fee.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Techy son-in-law is looking into that. It only makes sense. But, I can't count the number of times I've gone through the library and selected different music than I set out to find.
And, my iPhone is sitting next to me, the Bluetooth speaker is about eight feet away, as is Alexa. Why pair it through Alexa instead of directly?

Hi: gbaglo... From what I hoid, having a long distance relationship in your house was next to imposible!!! You're never to far from the fridge.
Alexa... bring me a beer!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

https://www.techworld.com/security/d...tions-3661967/

Thanks for the info.

I have a related story: A while back I was using the Kindle app on my Android tablet. I normally buy Kobo ebooks, but this time I bought and read an ebook from Amazon on the Kindle app because I couldn't find it on Kobo. It was only the first or second time I had used the Kindle app to read an ebook. At the time I was listening to classical music for the first time in a long time. The Kindle app started showing ads for classical albums at the bottom of its window.

I have never bought music of any kind online, from Amazon or anyone else that I remember, and I never listen to the various online music services (Spotify, etc). This could not be a coincidence, I thought; the Kindle app has activated the mic in the tablet and is listening to my music.

I emailed the Electronic Frontier Foundation about this and got a response that they have found no evidence of monitoring like this, implying it was a coincidence. I find that hard to believe.

[thoer]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Techy son-in-law is looking into that. It only makes sense. But, I can't count the number of times I've gone through the library and selected different music than I set out to find.
And, my iPhone is sitting next to me, the Bluetooth speaker is about eight feet away, as is Alexa. Why pair it through Alexa instead of directly?

Just tell Siri to do it for you if your iPhone is already paired with the speaker. Maybe you can get Siri and Alexa into a sparing match.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Look for and listen to Christmas Island by Leon Redbone.
It's not too late for this Xmas.

I also found versions by Bob Dylan, Colin James, and Ella Fitzgerald.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I have never bought music of any kind online, from Amazon or anyone else that I remember, and I never listen to the various online music services (Spotify, etc). This could not be a coincidence, I thought; the Kindle app has activated the mic in the tablet and is listening to my music.

George Orwell, I believe (1984): "Big brother is watching you."

Originally Posted by thoer

Just tell Siri to do it for you if your iPhone is already paired with the speaker. Maybe you can get Siri and Alexa into a sparing match.

Rolling on the floor with tears in my eyes. Nothing quite like a good cat fight!

[thoer]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

Please clarify Jim. Are you designating my 5.0TA a museum? Of course my iPod Touch is not the only historically old thing that can sometimes be found within.

I still have 2 buddies who are using the pre-touch iPods (wheel control). That tiny hard drive they had always amazed me, especially that is has lasted for them all these years.

[wetzk]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Thanks for the info.

I have a related story: A while back I was using the Kindle app on my Android tablet. I normally buy Kobo ebooks, but this time I bought and read an ebook from Amazon on the Kindle app because I couldn't find it on Kobo. It was only the first or second time I had used the Kindle app to read an ebook. At the time I was listening to classical music for the first time in a long time. The Kindle app started showing ads for classical albums at the bottom of its window.

I have never bought music of any kind online, from Amazon or anyone else that I remember, and I never listen to the various online music services (Spotify, etc). This could not be a coincidence, I thought; the Kindle app has activated the mic in the tablet and is listening to my music.

I emailed the Electronic Frontier Foundation about this and got a response that they have found no evidence of monitoring like this, implying it was a coincidence. I find that hard to believe.

You should see all the contortions needed to completely disable the OK google feature on android phones using the newer Oreo 8.1+ firmware. Some parts like the swipe left to access Google Now are easy to disable but OK google detection requires rooting the phone to completely remove. Otherwise it will keep popping up a request for you to sign back in. I removed it for increased battery life and lowered data usage. Having it always monitoring for its command and recording all data you consume eats into both your data plan and battery life a bit. While it might be great to simply say OK Google send a text for some people I do not send many text so that is useless to me. As are the majority of the other abilities OK Google and Google Now offer. I suspect the Amazon apps are not listening to you instead they are sending your playlist and search command strings to Amazon ( and Google). I've noticed if I search for something afterwards Amazon will add it to suggestions to buy even though I have suggestions turned off. The only way to completely remove the ability to have my life mapped by them would be to never use the Internet.
And no way in hell would I ever own a smart speaker unless it is required.