My own media

[Pamrap]

I have a Plex pass and also subscribe to MyMedia for Alexa. I am unable to get the echo to play the music stored on my Mac as server. It repeats the album or artist I have asked for and says playing........
But then there is silence and the light goes out on the echo. Has anybody any advice please.

[mike27oct]

I can play my own digital music to many devices (incl Alexa devices) and not by using third party apps e.g. Plex or My Media, but by using an iOS music=only app on old iPad (or old iPhone). 

And, if I can do this, why restrict playing to Alexa and Google Home devices when I can play it wirelessly on TV and stereo and have track info, too.  Yes, I sometimes play to the AI devices, but can easily change over to this other preferred way in a flash.  If you have iOS mobile devices and are interested in this method, reply back.

[Pamrap]

Thank you for responding. Yes I would be interested although I only have my current iOS devices. Have you any idea why my plex and my media do not work for me?

[mike27oct]

OK, I do not use My Media, but I have Plex on a WD My Cloud NAS server, and I use Plex sometimes.  I will tell you, too, Plex is not a favorite app of mine, but during the past month I have been working to get Plex and Alexa (aka Plexa) to use Plex app on an Amazon FireTV stick so I can use voice commands to a Dot to play albums, artists and tracks on my TV/stereo system.  I have had limited success (meaning I have it working on just one of my two FireTVs so far.

I also started a thread here at this forum where no one responded so I have just been ka log in my thread for me, or anyone, to see.  I will give you the link to that thread and see if you can get anything useful from it.

I have read that this setup can also play to an Alexa device, but so far in my setting this up an Echo or Dot was not found by Plex.  Take a look at this link after finishing reading this post.
 
http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,3323.msg17858.html#msg17858

My Preferred setup:
You don't need to have two iPads to listen to your own music on Echo. I use an earlier iPad because it ties up the iPad, and I want to use my other new one as an iPad while the older one is playing music.

I prefer using a larger screen than the iPhone and is why I use an iPad.  So, here is my setup.
I have a server with all my music files on it; it's my My Cloud NAS,  I installed a music app called Music Streamer on iPad that can access the server, and I can play the music files from server on iPad.  If I want to hear the music on an Echo, I use Bluetooth to send iPad's music to the Echo. I also have Google Home and Chromecast, and Music Streamer has capability to cast the mustc to the Google devices.  With Chromecast device on my TV and stereo I have video of album art and info as well as music.through stereo.  Music Streamer is the best app I have for this purposem and it is built with large music collections in mine.

You don't need a NAS for a server; a computer is also a media server, and Chromecast can find all the servers on the home network, including  a computer.  All my music is consolidated on my NAS and that is why I chose to use my NAS as my target server in the Music Streamer app.


If I lost you in this discussion, it is because I wrote it for one who understands home networking pretty well. If that's not you, I trid my best to be clear.  Good luck and keep me posted on your progress.

[dragon123]

Have you any idea why my plex and my media do not work for me?

If you have a plex server running, that plex server is accessible over the internet (!) and you have the plex skill on your alexa, it should work.

If the above is not working, what exactly is where you get stuck?

[Pamrap]

mike27oct...thanks for your help  The post is clear and I will try it out 

dragon123..... thanks for replying  I have the plex skill and remote access is enabled  The ios apps work fine as well  But when i try to use the voice commands to play my music on the echo (i have set the player to the echo) Alexa says she will play the track or album so presumable accesses the server ok but then only silence  Could it be i need to do something with port forwarding? not sure what I need to do with that

[dragon123]

mike27oct...thanks for your help  The post is clear and I will try it out 

dragon123..... thanks for replying  I have the plex skill and remote access is enabled  The ios apps work fine as well  But when i try to use the voice commands to play my music on the echo (i have set the player to the echo) Alexa says she will play the track or album so presumable accesses the server ok but then only silence  Could it be i need to do something with port forwarding? not sure what I need to do with that

If you get silence, you probably have flac in your library? Plex over Alexa will only play mp3s (otherwise, silence or hiccups).

2nd, are you trying to play a playlist? Try 'Alexa, ask plex to play music by <artist>' first.

3rd thing to try is te reboot everything: plex server and your echo.

[Pamrap]

no flac files all MP3  Have tried your suggestions before but no success Thank you for replying 

[mike27oct]

Have you any idea why my plex and my media do not work for me?

If you have a plex server running, that plex server is accessible over the internet (!) and you have the plex skill on your alexa, it should work.

If the above is not working, what exactly is where you get stuck?

OK, now I have a question for dragon:  What EXACTLY does "you have the plex skill on your alexa"

I currently have the Plex SKILL installed on my Alexa mobile APP. and I have the Plex APP installed on my FireTV sticks.  I have no idea how to have an Echo play my music mp3 from NAS server on an Echo, Dot or Tap.  I can play them on Fire Stick, and that is because the Plex APP on FireTV asks me for my preferred player, and I choose Roku.  So how do I get an Echo/Dot or Tap to tell me where I can play the Plex selected music and what do I say to the device to have it play my music from my server on a particular Alexa device?  Sometimss along with the list of player choices (which include the Roku) I also am told a choice is "Alexa" I have a lot of Alexa devices, so which one is it referring to?  This whole procedure seems a bit klutzy and unclear.

[dragon123]

Have you any idea why my plex and my media do not work for me?

If you have a plex server running, that plex server is accessible over the internet (!) and you have the plex skill on your alexa, it should work.

If the above is not working, what exactly is where you get stuck?

OK, now I have a question for dragon:  What EXACTLY does "you have the plex skill on your alexa"

I currently have the Plex SKILL installed on my Alexa mobile APP. and I have the Plex APP installed on my FireTV sticks.  I have no idea how to have an Echo play my music mp3 from NAS server on an Echo, Dot or Tap.  I can play them on Fire Stick, and that is because the Plex APP on FireTV asks me for my preferred player, and I choose Roku.  So how do I get an Echo/Dot or Tap to tell me where I can play the Plex selected music and what do I say to the device to have it play my music from my server on a particular Alexa device?  Sometimss along with the list of player choices (which include the Roku) I also am told a choice is "Alexa" I have a lot of Alexa devices, so which one is it referring to?  This whole procedure seems a bit klutzy and unclear.

Talk to your dot: "Alexa, ask plex to play music by Florence and the Machine"^*)
"Playing music by Florence and the Machine" (it'll start playing on that particular dot, or on a default player you set)

_{*) Insert fav artist there} 

If the above doesn't work, the issue may be a default player that is set, but isn't the player you expected or isn't turned on.

Read this:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/115000320808-getting-started-with-alexa-voice-control/

[mike27oct]

Dragon.
Not sure you understood my request.  I know HOW to play from Plex using Alexa command to say, play on a Fire TV or Roku.  I want to know HOW to play music ON an Alexa device (e.g. a Dot) using Alexa command on the Dot.  I think the problem is there is no Plex app running on the Dot, whereas there is a Plex app running on the FireTV (so as to play on the Fire TV), so it might not be possible to have Plex play music ON an Alexa device that cannot run the Plex app.  I cannot make an Alexa device be the default player.  Correct?

[dragon123]

Dragon.
Not sure you understood my request. <snip>I want to know HOW to play music ON an Alexa device (e.g. a Dot) using Alexa command on the Dot. 

I think the problem is there is no Plex app running on the Dot, whereas there is a Plex app running on the FireTV (so as to play on the Fire TV), so it might not be possible to have Plex play music ON an Alexa device that cannot run the Plex app.  I cannot make an Alexa device be the default player.  Correct?

Yeah, the above is how I play music on any of my dots/show. So, did you try the command I gave you, and what happened?

The plex skill should be installed in your alexa app, I believe you said you already did that right? You know, the alexa skills you can find in the alexa app or your alexa website..? Basic question but I'm not sure you're following me...

So installing the alexa plex skill means any echo can access plex, no 'separate app' needed (or even possible), just the alexa skill enabled (and linked to your account and server  of course).

You do not need to make one of your dots or other alexa hardware the default player, just talk to that specific dot/fire tablet/etc when you want music on that specific device.

If you do want to 'cast' music to another alexa player, and/or music you're asking one dot plays somewhere else, read the link I gave you. I don't have my house set up that way. I just play music whatever room I'm in.

[mike27oct]

Yes, I am doing everything right -- how else could I have Plexa play music from my server on a FireTV and Roku? !
But, if I ask an Alexa Dot to "Ask plex to play Paul Simon" Dot replies "playing Paul Simon" and then there is silence. It's as if the results fell into a black hole, because nothing came out THIS is the problem I have.

If I ask same Dot, "Alexa, ask Plex to play Paul Smon on fire TV", it even turns on the Plex app of FireTV. says it will play it there, and plays the music on the Fire TV

It all plays where it is supposed to play except on ANY Alexa device.

Are you sure when you ask Plex to play you are specifying PLEX, because if I as a Dot to "Play Paul Simon" it is not playing via Plex; it is playing from Amazon prime music and not my server!