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Got our first Echo and Echo dot at the weekend. I've set other folks Echos up before (e.g. in-laws), and the whole process seemed very easy and quick. Straight into "Alexa, play BBC Radio 2" and off it went.
if I do that on mine, it plays other some random US radio show, or BBC Wales radio.
Everything seems wrong - it started during set up when it assumed we were in the US so all radio stations, news outlets etc are all US. Phoned amazon and they did 'something' and now at least it knows I am in the UK (may amazon account is UK).
But to get BBC Radio I had to add a 'skill'. WTF? OK, so it works now, but I have 'ask BBC to play...".
With other things (e.g. Radio X) I now have to add more 'skills' but on the app its not available and on amazon it tells me it needs my postcode and location (which I have given Alexa permission to do) and I can't enable it.
Even though I have amazon prime, it won't play any music other than radio, just says "I can't find any music by xxx (e.g. Radiohead)". I've linked my Apple Music account on the app, its definitely there, but tells me "Apple Music is not supported on this device" when I try to play anything from that source.
Should I just delete the app, reset everything and start again? Any experts able to tell me why everything is wrong? Am I just an idiot?
I am wrapped into the apple ecosystem, but Ironically I didn't want the HomePod as it can't play BBC Radio (unless through a phone, which is no good for a whole family). The only thing that bloody Alexa will do!
Calling her Alex really ****s her off.
Calling her Alex really **** her off.
Women really hate you using the wrong name while they are performing a service for you....🙄
🙃🥴
I am wrapped into the apple ecosystem, but Ironically I didn’t want the HopePod as it can’t play BBC Radio (unless through a phone, which is no good for a whole family). The only thing that bloody Alexa will do!
The added irony of BBC radio not working in the UK with Apple/Siri is that it works everywhere else in the world (for those who don't pay for it), but the BBC blocks it in the UK, presumably so they can track us all.
It's possible there are now similar issues with Alexa, hence the new need for a skill (just a guess though).
I find if I say BBC first it never works. I have to say "Alexa play Radio BBC 2". Then it returns with TuneIn BBC Radio 2.
Sometimes if this does not work I just say "Alexa play Radio BBC2 from TuneIn"
Edit: I am in Austria so the post before may explain why I have no issue.
I have a feeling that she's starting to get the omnipresent, AI equivalent of dementia. The odd random answer to a question nobody has asked one minute, completely ignoring everything you say the next.
The absolute best fun in the world though is watching my MIL interacting with an echo, obviously she speaks slowly and loudly in her best "answering the phone voice" but she's not someone who's ever really had to think about constructing a boolean search before so to Alexa it must seem like illiterate gibberish with lots of 'please' and 'thankyou's. Once the initial request fails, she defaults to her "dealing with a Spaniard" mode; where the same sentence is repeated louder and louder and the BBC English accent slips. If nobody intervenes it can go on for ages...
Somehow though Alexa is able to deal with my missus who requests the artists name before a song title (who does that FFS?) and 90% of the time is understood...
Not had the issue the OP has but wiping and setting-up again probably isn't a bad idea (unless someone here knows what the issue is). I've always accessed radio via Tune-In (as in "Alexa, tune-in station xyz", just tried asking her "Alexa, play BBC Radio 2" and after warning me about mature content and suggesting I link my BBC account it started playing OK (after stopping and asking again it just played straight away).
Your problem was buyimg a product made by amazon, where you probably should have plumped to let google be the provider of choice to listen to you have sex - it's voice recognition is streets ahead and: not geoff bezos.
Cortana/windows was actually very good but microsoft screwed the pooch on mobile/voice.
Anyone purchasing apple products should be shot. It would probably help the human race as a whole by driving IQ's up - the purchasing of apple products shows you're no better than a magpie who likes shiny over-expensive things in their nest, from a company that is so blatantly ripping you off they should probably receive praise for sheer balls and affrontery.
But that's just my professional opinion.
Is it your accent?
check in your music providers (settings -> music) what is set up for radio - should be tunein.
I just say 'play radio 6 music' and it works
On the BBC radio issues, the BBC decided last October to remove themselves from TuneIn for us UK licence payers. It's still there for the rest of the world.
Therefore you are forced to use their BBC Sounds Alexa skill, which IME is very unreliable, and doesn't work at all on one of my speakers. You get a confirmation of what you asked for, then silence. Also, you can't use stereo paired speakers, speaker groups, Sonos integration, alarms etc. with a skill.
I ended up getting a couple of MW/FM radios back out of the loft. Progress, eh?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/ba37d6b5-59fd-470d-9da2-dec1b45b8bd5
Can't say I've had these problems. Just say "Alexa play 6 music" or "play radio 2" and it works. Apart from when some annoying arses released an album called 6 music or something similar, that ballsed it right up bit she's got over it now. She's deaf though, out willfully ignorant, I have to say "Alexa" at least twice each time. 🙄
Yeah the BBC Skill works for a single speaker.
But if you have any plans to get more speakers, configure them as stereo pairs, want to have groups of speakers playing the same thing etc. I'd avoid Amazon Echos as the BBC seems to have fallen out with Amazon/TuneIn and are going their own way with Sounds.
Anyone purchasing apple products should be shot.
OK I'll bite. You alluded to privacy concerns above. Apple have pledged to protect their customers' information rather than sell it to the lowest bidder, and have strongly resisted approaches by the government / FBI to examine an individual's data. That's a massive plus IMO. With Google / Alexa, you're the product. It's chilling. We live in a dystopian world where your TV can now spew targeted ads at you whether you like it or not, companies are monitoring your smart-oven usage and hackers can get in via your lightbulbs. It's only going to get worse.
Now, you may or may not care what happens to your data (you should care, but that's your call), but I'm happy to vote with my money and steer away from Google / Amazon. I'll fall short of suggesting capital punishment for anyone who disagrees with me, though.
As a Scot with a Scots accent I find Alexa racist.
To the OP...
- BBC as you say, you need the skill, they are not on TuneIn anymore. You should be able to say 'alexa play radio 6' and it will use the skill. But it's picky about what you say IME. Won't work with 'listen to radio 6' for example - it goes off to TuneIn looking for it and comes back with some random station.
- For Radio X, you don't need the Global Player skill to listen to them, but it likes to use a skill if you don't explicitly say 'from TuneIn'. I assume the radio stations get more data about your listening habits from a skill.
- Check your music service settings for the other stuff. Amazon Music/Spotify/TuneIn works on mine. Maybe remove and add them again?
I’m happy to vote with my money
Or you're in the fortunate position of being able to. Let's not forget that. Apple have more cash than any other company in the world and yet they still charge loads for the products. They'd sell a lot more if they simply knocked the prices down - which they could afford to do - but they don't. They want to be elitist. They don't care about people's privacy, really, they just don't need to sell the data because there are enough well-off people in the world to buy their stuff at those prices. If they did, maybe they would.
So I just said "Alexa, play BBC Radio 2" to mine and it replied "Here's Radio 2. BBC Sounds." and started playing.
I do have the BBC skill enabled, so I guess that is why.
What you actually want to say is "Alexa, play Kerrang Radio". That works much better 😉
Yes, don't get me wrong I completely understand that market forces mean there's a recent trend for corporations (not least Apple) to pretend to be 'woke' to people's concerns and appear ethical in order to drum up business.
They don’t care about people’s privacy, really, they just don’t need to sell the data because there are enough well-off people in the world to buy their stuff at those prices.
I think we're agreeing. Apple could probably charge less for their products if they whored out everyone's information, yes. Whether you think that's worth paying for is up to you. Just don't devalue your own personal information. That's what got us into this state.
P.S. #deleteFacebook
P.S. #deleteFacebook
Honestly at this point there is little point.
At least one of your friends or family will be on Facebook and allowed it access to their contacts. So even if you've never used it Facebook will still have at least some of your details which then get matched up with you when you visit websites that have Facebook plugins or use the Facebook API. Or when you use other Facebook-owned products like WhatsApp or Instagram.
edit: apologies to the OP for the derailment.
NP Graham, I love a good apple bashing. Fnaar!
Interestingly, just got it sorted.
I got in touch with Amazon support, and they gave me a call back. Turns our that buried in my account, under digital content and devices, music settings, then down at the bottom under music account country/region, it was still set for Switzerland (where we just moved from back to Scotland).
Once we changed that to GB, everything has magically sprung into life! Hurrah!
And, fair nod to Amazon music tech support who were fast, accurate and efficient in diagnosing and fixing the issue.
For apple bashers, they asked me to do this in Chrome and not Safari 🙂
And, fair nod to Amazon music tech support who were fast, accurate and efficient in diagnosing and fixing the issue.
That's cos nothing on there is private 😉