New Amazon Echo user here

[GingerOverlord]

Hi,

Soz about being a complete neewb to all this

Got my Echo yesterday and was blown away by it, couldn't stop asking her questions!
My wife asked her to play some Michael Jackson (which she did, played Thriller all the way through!) and I asked her to play numerous Christmas songs (which she also did). My son and I both got the Echo app and things seemed to be going swimmingly. Until today.
Today I have asked her to play numerous Christmas songs and tunes but she will only play samples or doesn't recognise who the song/person is! I tried asking her to play Michael Jackson but she says that I do not have anything in my playlist of that name!
In frustration, I have got Amazon Music Price FOC until January, I created a playlist but Alexa doesn't seem to recognise the list is there or any of the artists I have added to it.

The Amazon Echo: started out being a great gift but suddenly turned all stinky the next day.

What am I doing wrong?

Cheers in advance,

GingerOverlord

 

[Laurel]

I feel your pain.  I have had Echo since they came out, and I also have Echo Show x 2 now, and a Tap.  I think phrasing seems to be key to response.  But recently I started adding playlists --several in one sitting.  All of a sudden, Alexa wouldn't recognize any playlists or anything I was saying.  Hubby suggests that I overwhelmed her with adding half a dozen playlists at once and I did keep asking her to play things over and over because she was screwing up.  I think he is right in that you can overwhelm her system by adding too much and asking too much all at once.  I did a reset last night and all my playlists are back.  One thing to note there is a "my playlist" and a "amazon prime playlist" and I was getting no playlist until I specified.  It is sometimes crazy making and other times goes so well.  I nearly called tech support (I emailed to complain and they suggested the reset and said to call if I couldn't straighten things out. They are very helpful. So call if need be.)

[Jeff29]

Hi GingerOverlord!

Welcome and I love your nick!

In the Alexa App (or via the web page--which may be easier depending upon your preference) you can review your history.  Doing this will allow you to review commands you thought were successful.  History doesn't necessarily "know" your command was successful.  You will need to remember the time you issued the command that worked.

If you find a command in History you specifically remember being successful you can then repeat the command to see if you get the same successful result; the fun part being you may not :^)

Reviewing your History for things like this can help you build your skill at "getting what you want from Alexa" DING!!! You have just reached Level 1.

One additional note:  When you review commands in History you will notice you have an option for feedback.  Using this option you can send the command to Amazon stating that it worked and now it doesn't.

Amazon is pretty good about getting back to customers with requests like this if you complete them successfully and with the correct verbiage.  If you don't get a response, try again.

I'll share my recent example with you:  I listened to The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin all through October 2017.  Then Thor Ragnarok was released and suddenly on November 11 I was no longer getting the song just the "here's a sample."  I used the History to send in feedback and identified the command the worked and the 1st instance of failure.  I promptly received a very polite note from Amazon stating they were sorry I ran into issues and that the song in question was moved from the "free" library to the Amazon Music Unlimited library.  Guess why (which they didn't say).  I can still listen as I'm a subscriber to Amazon Music Unlimited I just now have to issue the command correctly (in a manner that addresses the subscribed solution which is a long and convoluted discussion I won't even touch here but searching will provide details on how AMU works).

Finally, to answer your most-likely question at this point--How the heck do I find my History???

• Open the Alexa App
• Use the menu icon (top left, 3 horizontal bars)
• Select Settings
• Scroll down to History (under General)

I've never done this via the web page but you are welcome to give it a shot at https://alexa.amazon.com/.  I suspect you won't have too much trouble finding History there, either.

Good Luck!

[GingerOverlord]

Hi,

Laurel & Jeff29 - many thanks for your replies (and comments on my nick!), I'll work on your suggestions today and report back my findings.

Merry Christmas.

GingerOverlord.