Is Alexa a person or a programming language? How to play My Music.

[Alex in NH]

We love our Echo Dots.  We started with one in the kitchen, attached to our Tivoli Model One radio.  It sounds great. We just ask Alexa to play NH Public Radio and we get the morning news, then throughout the day we ask Alexa to play various types of music.

Our second Echo is in our bedroom, attached to a small stereo system with Polk S10 speakers.  We set a daily wake-up alarm for Alexa to play the morning news.  At bedtime we play music from our iTunes library via bluetooth to Alexa from our iPod Touch.

So far, we have just spoken to Alexa in plain English - Alexa, play NH Public Radio; Alexa, play Handel's Messiah, etc.  She may look in Tunein Radio, or in Amazon Prime Music, but she does it entirely on her own after we ask her in plain English.

Today, for the first time, I wanted her to play an album we purchased from Amazon, which is in our My Music library.  First I just said "Alexa, play (album name) by (artist)".  She said she could not find it.  Then I said "Alexa, play My Music (album name) by (artist).  Alexa said "I can't find that song".  This was a hint to me that we needed to say "Alexa, play My Music (album name) album".  That language worked.  We did not need to say the artist's name.

Once we learned Alexa's programming language everything went smoothly.

[scottrods]

We love our Echo Dots.  We started with one in the kitchen, attached to our Tivoli Model One radio.  It sounds great. We just ask Alexa to play NH Public Radio and we get the morning news, then throughout the day we ask Alexa to play various types of music.

Our second Echo is in our bedroom, attached to a small stereo system with Polk S10 speakers.  We set a daily wake-up alarm for Alexa to play the morning news.  At bedtime we play music from our iTunes library via bluetooth to Alexa from our iPod Touch.

So far, we have just spoken to Alexa in plain English - Alexa, play NH Public Radio; Alexa, play Handel's Messiah, etc.  She may look in Tunein Radio, or in Amazon Prime Music, but she does it entirely on her own after we ask her in plain English.

Today, for the first time, I wanted her to play an album we purchased from Amazon, which is in our My Music library.  First I just said "Alexa, play (album name) by (artist)".  She said she could not find it.  Then I said "Alexa, play My Music (album name) by (artist).  Alexa said "I can't find that song".  This was a hint to me that we needed to say "Alexa, play My Music (album name) album".  That language worked.  We did not need to say the artist's name.

Once we learned Alexa's programming language everything went smoothly.

The craziest thing about the Echo products, is they sometimes change the most insignificant thing, and the language you've been using, no longer does the job. Try to keep in mind, you are a "live beta tester" for Amazon, and maybe it won't frustrate you much. It's always a matter of finding the current correct phrases to get the desired results. it's like writing a tech manual for your Echo. Sometimes she thinks like and adult... sometimes she thinks like a kid. So you have to gear your verbiage to fit the moment...LOL
Watch this video on YouTube to see what I mean... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct-lOOUqmyY

[jwlv]

Sometimes you might be the cause of something not working like the way it used to.

Here is a perfect  example. I've been saying, "Alexa, arm away mode" for about a year now to arm my security system. Alexa would respond by saying, "Security system is armed. You have 120 seconds to exit."

About a week ago, Alexa started responding, "What device would you like?" I figured that Amazon must have done something to force me to say the device name when I want to arm the security system. Then today I realized that the only new device I added was a couple of Wyzecams. Since I rarely view the camera on my Echo Show (I always use the app on my phone) I just disabled the Wyze skill. That didn't solve the problem but it did get me to start thinking about security devices. What else do I have that is related to security? For whatever reason, my Arlo camera base unit now shows up as a security device in the Alexa device list. It was never there before. But I do have the Arlo skill enabled in Alexa. So I also disabled the Arlo skill. Lo and behold, I can say, "Alexa, arm away mode" like I've always been saying.

In summary, many times we might think Amazon did something to break what we've been saying or doing for months or years. But also keep in mind that Alexa skills are made by third parties. Skill are updated automatically whether you want it or not. They can change how Alexa responds to certain voice commands. In my case, the Arlo skill decided to identify the Arlo base unit as a security device. So now I have two security devices (Arlo base unit and my home security system). So when Arlo updated its skill, it changed what I'm accustomed to.

It's not always easy to find out what caused the problem. Amazon takes the blame most of the time. But it might not be Amazon every time.

[tngw1500se]

Alexa is female. Sometimes she hears you and sometimes she doesn't. Talking to my wife I have the same problem. It's in their programing.

[LordWycroft]

Funny, that’s what my wife says about me.