Alexa Not Exactly Playing What I Asked For??

[dilligaf44]

I purchased a new car stereo recently and was happy to learn it was compatible with Alexa. After downloading the app on my phone and pairing it with the car stereo I asked Alexa to play me a particular song by a certain artist but it she said "here is a station with the artist in question" or something like that anyway.

My point is I did not want a station I just wanted that artist and that song, was I asking too much??

[Joachim47]

Do you have a subscription for music? Unless you have that you will not be able to completely control what Alexa will actually play. Also you may have to define the music service that Alexa by default is going to be used. So if you have a subscription for Apple music but you don't let is default to that provider, Alexa may decide to try to meet your request by offering something available for free on Amazon.

[jwlv]

A couple of years ago, Alexa can play just about any song by any artist just by asking for it.
More recently Amazon changed course on that. Instead of playing the exact song you asked for, it'll give you a station with that song and similar songs. It's a decision that Amazon made to nudge people to pay for Amazon Music which costs $10/month.

Similarly Amazon has eliminated the free version of Alexa Guard. Another example is the Ring Security System, a product owned by Amazon. You used to be able to get notified on your phone when the alarm is triggered. And you can arm, disarm, or silence the alarm remotely. That's gone too. You now have to pay to be able to change settings on your Ring Security Alarm.

[renegade600]

Do you have a subscription for music? Unless you have that you will not be able to completely control what Alexa will actually play. Also you may have to define the music service that Alexa by default is going to be used. So if you have a subscription for Apple music but you don't let is default to that provider, Alexa may decide to try to meet your request by offering something available for free on Amazon.

It will play if you subscribe to their music service.   Otherwise, it is a tossup as to whether or not it will eventually play.   

[Joachim47]

My expectation of the Alexa functionality of providing customizable music selection goes further than sourcing from some online database. The lack of enabling user stored data to be integrated into the resource pool available to service a specific request is the most obvious shortcoming. I use to avoid this by having a thumb drive attached to my car stereo with my favorable songs. The only limitation in this remains the random selection rather then the verbal control to a particular song with a disc jockey feature.

[renegade600]

My expectation of the Alexa functionality of providing customizable music selection goes further than sourcing from some online database. The lack of enabling user stored data to be integrated into the resource pool available to service a specific request is the most obvious shortcoming. I use to avoid this by having a thumb drive attached to my car stereo with my favorable songs. The only limitation in this remains the random selection rather then the verbal control to a particular song with a disc jockey feature.

should have done your homework prior to getting it.   And instead of complaining, maybe ask if there was a way to play your own personal library on alexa and using alexa commands.    Which there is.   

[Joachim47]

I am still learning features that I never Knew about. THX
So in this context of a car stereo enabled alexa, I could ask for a particular song on my thumb drive if I link to the alexa session with My Media skill?

[renegade600]

I am still learning features that I never Knew about. THX
So in this context of a car stereo enabled alexa, I could ask for a particular song on my thumb drive if I link to the alexa session with My Media skill?

mymedia is a skill that connects a local media cloud storage to alexa.   You will need to install mymedia for alexa, pay the subscription fee (last I look it was 5.50 bucks a year) on your computer.  Create your library.   Once you do that, you link the skill and you can play your own media remotely and using alexa.     You do not need a thumbdrive. 

[Joachim47]

So if there is no cloud repository created with my library, my computer would have to be always running to give alexa  access to the library?
In that case to have the library on my NAS which is running 24/7 and is always accessible from anywhere would be much more practical.
Any idea how this could be done?

[renegade600]

So if there is no cloud repository created with my library, my computer would have to be always running to give alexa  access to the library?
In that case to have the library on my NAS which is running 24/7 and is always accessible from anywhere would be much more practical.
Any idea how this could be done?

you can use any external usb drive or nas drive that is connected to the router for the cloud   or you can upload it to ibroadcast, which is free, install their alexa skill and use it as a media server.