Can you kind people explain which Alexa I need?

[Supersleuth21]

I’m a bit bewildered by what I need to buy. I’d like it to play music on demand, kids can play games on it and ask it things etc.
What amazon subscription will I need and if I want to add extra smaller ones in the kids rooms etc what do I need then? The echo? The dot? I’m flummoxed by it all so if someone can explain I’d be grateful thanks

The difference between the Echo and the Dot is just the speaker, I personally can't tell the difference though, we've got the Echo in the living room and dd has the Dot in her bedroom and they sound the same to me.

To get access to the most music you can subscribe monthly to Amazon Music for £7.99 a month but if you want to listen on multiple devices it's the family plan for £14.99.

We've also got one in our bedroom, I can't remember the name, it's the round ball one with a little screen which dh uses as his alarm clock.

We use ours most days, dd uses hers for music, I use it for timers, weather and to answer anything I'd have looked up online, it's also handy to "drop in" on dd upstairs to talk to her instead of yelling up the stairs

Hi. I am the least techy person you could meet, but will try to help. Ok, so we don't have an Amazon account. We already had a Spotify account, which my teen connected to Alexa for our music. For everything else (timers, questions, games, jokes, etc) you just need to get the Alexa app.
The dots are great for individual rooms, but the speaker isn't huge, so not ideal for large areas. The Echo is bigger, and you could probably hear it throughout the whole house, or a flat at least.

Great thank you! So I need an echo for the main living room but if the teens want to listen to music in their rooms then they can have a dot and all devices will work with the amazon family plan? I guess we can’t all listen to music at the same time though?

Can I listen to radio through it? Do you just ask it to tune to a radio station?

I've just got dots. I find the sound ideal on them. I've got a spotify family account which I use. That let's up to 5 people listen to music on different dots. And yes you can use it for the radio

If I just get dots can I talk through a dot to another dot to tell the kids to come for tea etc? Or do I need an echo to do that?

If you have any existing speakers it's really easy to connect an alexa device to them using a 3.5mm aux cable.

You can get a single device music plan for £3.99 a month. This won't have the entire Amazon music library, but will give you an idea of what it's like. Or you can usually get a 30 day trial of music unlimited free. You can also stream digital radio through Alexa for free or you can use it as a Bluetooth speaker for free Spotify or your own music library. Lots of different options!

The dots work exactly the same as an echo, so yes you can use them as an intercom. It's literally just the speaker that's different.

I think I prefer the look of the Spotify family plan - amazon music seems to have some poor reviews. Is it easy to set Spotify up on the dots?

Yes, you can play the radio. You literally just say 'Alexa, play Smooth Radio' or whatever, and it's done!

Teen has popped out to the shop. I will ask on her return how easy the Spotify thing was, and report right back!

For instance, if DD has a sub account on the Spotify plan will her dot recognise her playlist etc? Sorry for the daft questions, I haven’t a clue

You go to the settings menu on the app and then go to the music section and it guides you through. Really easy!