Alexa advice needed, which one?

[gg321]

So basically I want to buy an Alexa. So do I go and buy a speaker then download Alexa to that speaker? (sorry I don’t know much about how it works!) I want one to play music as well (do I need to subscribe e to Amazon music for this) so a decent speaker would be good, I’ve heard the dots are not as good for this? So just want it there for all the usual Alexa questions and reminders etc, don’t need it for video calls or don’t need a screen (I don’t think) and to have a good sound quality to play music, what should I be getting?
Many thanks

[Allthegoodnamesaregoneffs]

Echo Dot would do the job then if you dont need a screen.

There are lots of songs available with your Prime subscription, but to get the full library you need a music sub, single device is 3.99 a month.

[Hotelhelp]

We have multiple Dots and Shows and I must admit the speaker on the Shows is very much better than on the Dots. Just in case that’s important to you.

[gg321]

What’s good about having a show as opposed to a dot? And the plain echo before dots, aren’t they meant to have better speakers than the dots. Would the show be the best version of Alexa you can buy?

[NannyGythaOgg]

You can also get a dot and connect it to a blue tooth speaker if you find the sound isn't good enough.
I find the dot on it's own is fine playing the radio or 70s music alongside blitzing the kitchen.
If I want to really listen to an album then the sound could definitely be improved and I suspect this is even more important for a classical fan.

[Deadivy]

The 4th generation Dot is much better quality that the smaller flatter 3rd gen Dot. Never tried a Show. The Flex has appaling sound. I don't have Amazon music, instead I linked my free Spotify account. Use it mostly for radio though

[Hotelhelp]

Yes the Dot is absolutely adequate and they're so cheap! I just noticed a marked difference between the Dot and the Show. You'd need to be wanting to play music all the time for it to bother you though I'm sure!

The Show is handy to have I suppose but I can't think what we use it for that we couldn't use the Dot for - just security cameras really and the children sometimes YouTube something. Could be handy for cooking videos etc depending where you keep it of course.

[Abcdefu]

Echo show is good as you can also use YouTube on it...so any song Is accessible

[aliloandabanana]

You have to pay for the full Amazon Music subscription now, in order to get individual songs played on the Alexa. You might get them with Prime, I'm not sure, but you don't get them with the £3.99 subscription like you used to.

[gg321]

Thanks everyone, all so helpful. So if I got the dot @NannyGythaOgg you can connect it to a Bluetooth speaker? We have a really good Bluetooth speaker, and it would be fairly easy to connect the two? so I could ask Alexa and it would do it? All sounds a bit technical for me!

[NannyGythaOgg]

Yes, the dot has blue tooth and I connect it to the speaker.

If you already have a blue tooth speaker, you can also stream it from your smartphone. Your own music, spotify or install Alexa on your phone

[BettaSplenden]

The flex is rubbish for music but that's cos it's meant as an extra. Like to have in the hallway so you can tell it to turn lights on etc.

Dot is pretty good for music cheap as chips and easy to hide out the way.

Show is my favourite. I had one before my other half stole it for his desk. Great sound quality and can watch videos etc in it if you wanted to. Next time they're on offer with a blink camera I'm getting another one

[WeAreTheHeroes]

The echo dot is still on offer I think. You need Prime them it's something like £10 for the dot plus £7 for Amazon Music. Once you've got your dot you can cancel Prime and the Music subscription if you don't want to keep them on.

[gg321]

So I have a Bluetooth speaker, can I install Alexa on my phone and use it via the Bluetooth speaker I already have?! Or does it need to go via a dot or show (sorry for my ignorance, I’m not in the know about any of this!)