I just pulled the trigger on one of these things...in queue for delivery on 1/21/15.
Probably a waste of money, but it is close enough to idea of the computer on Star Trek (always listening - kinda creepy that way!) that I
had to check it out!
Anyone else out there have one of these? Any others signed up for one?
My worst case for this thing is it is:
1) A way to play music from my Amazon Music Library (cloud) anywhere there is wi-fi. If lucky, it may even have some of the wizardry that made the Kindle Fire HD sound so good despite its size constraints!
2) A novelty for my daughter and her friends to mess with.
3) A music/news/radio source and timer for the kitchen - while my hands may be messy I can ask it to play the news or to listen to "Car Talk", etc.
At $99 (for Amazon Prime members) if it has good sound quality, it isn't too expensive for a portable speaker. At least that is how I am rationalizing it!
I think these have been essentially available to Prime members on a "pre-order" basis since Thanksgiving, so I imagine some of you already have one.
After the flop of the Fire phone, I think they are establishing demand before running production (under the guise of pretending like you have this opportunity because you are special).
Amazon site:
http://www.amazon.com/oc/echo/ref_=ods_dp_ae
Some Reviews:
http://www.informationweek.com/it-life/amazon-echo-my-first-10-days/a/d-id/1318479
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/196689-living-with-amazons-echo-a-cylinder-of-fun-and-frustration
http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml (click on "continue to site" to the right of teh Forbes logo up top)
http://www.zdnet.com/pictures/amazon-echo-review-a-perfect-10/
Amazon's informational Video (commercial):
Spoof of above video:
Another spoof (55 sec):
Reading the reviews, there are lots of uncertainties.
Personally, I think it would be ridiculously naive to believe that, at a minimum, Amazon doesn't intend to use is as a marketing tool to sell stuff. The big question is how intrusive Amazon is willing to get.
If I had much to hide or that I thought would compromise me, I would be more wary; but my life is kind of boring that way.
