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Original poster

Echoes & Dots

23 replies

Doseydots · 27/09/2017 06:10

I am thinking about getting dc a dot each and an echo for dh. But. In truth, I aren't sure the difference between an echo and a dot. As far as I can see it's the quality of the speaker. Can anybody enlighten/ educate me.

Can I buy a dot without an echo?

OP posts:
MongerTruffle · 27/09/2017 06:13

Yes, you can. If you have a sound system you can also plug your Echo Dot into that as well.

overmydeadbody · 27/09/2017 06:15

The for works on its own. If you already have good speakers you can plug the dot into them for music.

Three in one house seems excessive though, unless you have a very big house!

What would your kids use it for? If they already have smart phones a chrome cast might be a better option if they will mostly use it for music?

ChristmaslovingElf · 27/09/2017 10:03

I would love to know this too. I have 3dc and DH has a birthday before Christmas but no idea what we would really use them for Blush

Do people have them in bedrooms and then living room too etc?

islandmummy · 27/09/2017 10:12

I got an echo and dot in the Amazon Prime Day sale. There are advantages to having them in different rooms in the same way you might have cd players/speakers in different rooms. Our main echo is in the living room where we spend most of our time and kids enjoy listening to music. I have a dot (speaker a bit rubbish) in our bedroom which I use to listen to my audiobooks (much easier to start/stop/set sleep timers vocally than having to use the app when I'm half asleep!) and for music when I'm getting dressed, or for checking weather etc. I'm seriously considering another for the kitchen.

In all honesty we probably don't scratch the surface of what these things can do as we don't have all the tech that they can control (heating, lighting etc) but as someone with visual problems they are very handy and I do find I listen to music more now which I have rarely had time to do with how busy life has become since kids as it's just so easy to ask Alexa to play something!

islandmummy · 27/09/2017 10:13

I also sometimes move mine into my son's room when he wants to listen to an audiobook at bedtime. I can power it using a battery pack I bought for charging my mobile on the go as it just uses USB.

Original poster
Doseydots · 27/09/2017 13:45

Thank you for the replies. Just another question, what is the difference between a dot and an echo?

OP posts:
knockknockknock · 27/09/2017 13:59

An echo is just a dot with a built in speaker. The dot has a tiny speaker which is used to allow her to talk to you. If you want to play music you’d probably want an echo or a speaker attached to a dot.

ProfessorCat · 27/09/2017 14:01

I had both. The dot is fine for music - it's quite loud. I returned the echo and replaced it with another dot. Google it, there have been a lot of articles about how the echo isn't worth the money.

Redglitter · 27/09/2017 14:04

The speaker on the dot is ideal for background music or listening to the radio etc. Wouldn't be ideal for parties though

I'd think a dot would be plenty for children

HolyShmoly · 27/09/2017 19:00

Would a dot be enough to listen to the radio/podcast in the kitchen without another speaker? Or not quite powerful enough?
And do they connect to spotify and other apps like stitcher and tunein or just Amazon music?

XiCi · 27/09/2017 19:12

We have an echo in the living room and dots in ours and dd bedrooms and the kitchen. Dd gets it to play lullabies to send her to sleep at night or audio books.
The speaker on the echo is far superior to the dot so if you want it primarily to play music I would recommend paying that bit extra

Namelesswonder · 27/09/2017 19:24

Embarrassed to admit it but we have 1 echo (kitchen) and 3 Dots each in bedrooms. Dots are used for music, audio books, weather forecast, news mostly, small speaker is fine. Echo is used for all above plus shopping and todo lists. Really need Amazon prime account to use them fully. Planning on buying the light bulbs that you can switch on and off......

overmydeadbody · 27/09/2017 19:26

Holy the dot is absolutely fine for listening to the radio/podcasts/audio books, it's a good enough speaker.

lookingforbaubles · 28/09/2017 09:20

an echo is top of the list for my dd....i thought it was only the echo that 'responded' to questions, please say im wrong and i can just buy the dot!

snowmanshoes · 28/09/2017 09:36

We have only got the dots in our house and they are completely fine on their own. We have the one in the kitchen linked up to our sonos system but it isn't necessary. The kids have one each as we got good offers with them and they use them for alarms, timers for games, answering homework questions and playing games as well as listening to music when their friends come over.
Amazon are releasing all new gadgets to link up the dots and echos in the coming months including echo buttons which apparantly you'll be able to play games similar to trivial pursuit with.

lookingforbaubles · 28/09/2017 09:58

as if i hadnt been confused enough, amazon have yet more echo/dot type things -echo show- on the web site this morning!

jolufc · 29/09/2017 19:29

Echo great for my eldest as he uses it to check spellings for homework and the meaning of words when reading- well that's what I encourage him to use it for!

WhatInTheWorldIsGoingOn · 29/09/2017 20:34

We love the dots. We have one in the bedroom and one in the living room. The living room one is connected to our large TV sound bar by Bluetooth. The dot upstairs is fine to listen to the radio and music in the bedroom but not around the whole top floor. We also use it for our heating, hot water and a few of the lights.

WhatInTheWorldIsGoingOn · 29/09/2017 20:34

Oh and to turn on and off the TV!

Redglitter · 29/09/2017 20:35

an echo is top of the list for my dd....i thought it was only the echo that 'responded' to questions, please say im wrong and i can just buy the dot

You can just buy the dot Smile
Alexa will happily answer all your questions on it

Carrie76 · 29/09/2017 20:51

Another question we have sonas music systems they're wifi not Bluetooth can they be linked up to a dot?

shouldwestayorshouldwego · 30/09/2017 06:29

A really stupid question but how does the music/audio book get onto the dot? For example I have audible, dh has Amazon prime. Would our phones need to be here in order to connect? Can it connect to different accounts simultaneously? How does it work?

jellyandsoup · 30/09/2017 06:37

We are looking at these for.my dm who has memory problems, has anyone used it in this way?

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