Greetings, Afterworders. Long-time lurker, first-time poster, so be gentle with me. The tax dodgers recently delivered one of their fiendish Alexa devices, so I’m sure Mr Bezos is listening to every word I say. He must be so bored! Anyway, I’m having great fun with it by trying to find tracks the damn robot doesn’t know. It’s quite happy to play Too Drunk to Fuck by the Dead Kennedys in its unexpurgated glory, although she says Too Drunk to Bleep when she repeats the title.
However, If I ask for A Song for Europe by Roxy Music, or Incident on 57th Street by Bruce Springsteen, Alexa draws a blank, although she will play these tracks if you ask her for the albums on which they appear (Stranded and the Wild, the Innocent…). So my ATM question is…why? Is it my accent? Does Alexa insist on playing Stranded in its entirety or not at all? Any thoughts, Afterworders?
Rigid Digit says
Obvious question: do you have a Prime account?
Before I got prime, many single tracks wouldn’t play but others would – it was all a bit random.
It could be the accent – Mrs D has a Wiltshere twang and will often spend minutes (hours?) shouting at Alexa.
Watching this is often more entertaining than listening to the music
dai says
Alexa is well known as being a huge Dead Kennedys fan, doesn’t care too much for Bryan or Bruce though.
Where are you attempting to play this music from? Amazon music, Spotify?
Simpering wreck says
Yes, I have a Prime account, so I’m using Amazon music. My accent is standard Northern English, so flat vowels but nothing in the way I pronounce these song titles to scare the horses I think. Does anyone else have trouble with particular tracks?
Vincent says
I asked my Alexa to play The Specials (I don’t only listen to rubbish), and it ignored me until I said “The Specials 2002 remaster”. Bloody audio snobs.
Neilo says
@Vincent: if there’s a song more suited to lively-ing up oneself than Do The Dog, I’ve yet to hear it!
Lunaman says
Good to hear from you Simpering wreck. I have the same problem with Alexa. I only use it in the kitchen when I’m cooking but I find that I end up playing the same Spotify playlists because individual tracks seem to be hard work for Alexa. I should do some more research myself. Hopefully some bright person from the massive will educate us.
johnw says
This is the intrinsic problem with voice commanded systems. Access to a library when you don’t know the titles is very limiting so unless you ask Alexa to list all the available playlists you’ll struggle to know what’s available. Even with albums I own, I can’t always remember the exact title so without being presented with a list, I’m stuffed. I’m never going to remember how I tagged the bonus disc on the second deluxe packaging of an album I have 6 (slightly) different copies of! I can’t think how there will ever be a method that doesn’t have some sort of visual feedback so we can scan down a list really fast without having it read out to us.
I use a tablet or phone to find what I want to play (in the kitchen I have a Fire tablet on a show stand so I get the best of both worlds) then ask Alexa to skip, pause or play.
Tiggerlion says
Never trust Alexa. She’s cunning and misses nothing.
But, she is correct. Stranded should be played in its entirety in one sitting, although you could make a cup of tea after Psalm. Would Alexa make one for you?
Vulpes Vulpes says
Does she do spelling for you? Can’t you ask her “Alexa, what does “F”, “U”, “C”, “K” spell?” Does she come back with “Bleep” or does she quietly mutter, in a HALish fashion, “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Simps”?
Bloody good job I haven’t got one of these monstrosities; I’d waste hours trying to fuck with its algorithms.
Simpering wreck says
I liked your suggestion Foxy, so I tried it. Firstly, for control purposes, I asked “Alexa, what does H-O-R-S-E spell?” H-O-R-S-E spells horse, she replied, seemingly unconcerned that i wouldn’t know this already. Then I tried your suggestion. “I’d rather not say” she replied. What a prim robot!
However, the big news is that I then asked her to play A Song for Europe and she did! It’s as if being exposed to the Afterword massive has made her see the error of her ways. Thanks readers!
Vulpes Vulpes says
She is HAL! Turn the damn thing off, and stay away from the airlock is my advice.
davebigpicture says
I’m sorry Vulpes, I’m afraid I can’t do that
Beezer says
Ask her to open the pod bay doors and listen to what she says.
johnw says
It’s interesting that most people seem to refer to Alexa with words like ‘she’ & ‘her’ when they really should be using words like ‘it’ & ‘It’s.
Carolina says
Well in all fairness it is a female name. I think that is half the problem with me using it because a bit of my brain is probably thinking “Alexa? I don’t KNOW anyone called Alexa. I don’t even know anyone called Alex.” If you have an Echo speaker at least saying “Echo” makes some sort of of logical sense.
Black Celebration says
My wife is a heavily accented kiwi and her conversations with Alexa often end badly. I genuinely feel sorry for Alexa sometimes. Sometimes Alexa lights up uninvited. It’s fair to say she is sent away with a flea in her ear when she does that:
fentonsteve says
Mrs F, who is half-Spanish, half-Scottish and raised in France, sounds just like you’d imagine someone French speaking English with a bit of a Scottish twang would sound.
She encountered an automated voice-recognition verification thing the other night. She was born in Sep 1966 but, despite trying three times to speak most clearly, it came back with “1st December 1951”.
In the end I had to speak to the machine on her behalf but, because I was giggling, it took me three attempts to get it right.
Arthur Cowslip says
Welcome. I was a lurker a long long time myself before i started postimg. Rest assured it’s a seamless transition.
Voice software is, I think, where I draw the line with modern technology. I just can’t get comfortable talking to a robotic thing. I’m barely comfortable with touchscreens as it is.
NigelT says
I’m with Arthur – I haven’t adopted voice commands for my iPhone, Amazon Firestick and so on. I’ve only just mastered the TV remote control….
Carolina says
Yes I agree, I’m not happy talking to robots. I do use a speech voice recognition software app sometimes to dictate text, and also make loads of voice messages, but it’s not like you are talking to a disembodied voice which is rather unnerving.
dai says
I haven’t used it much. My daughter always complains that Alexa won’t play the song she wants though, and she possesses a North American accent.
Sitheref2409 says
Aside from the privacy concerns, the voice recognition thing? Not really
fentonsteve says
That’s a documentary, shot in my house.
Carolina says
Welcome, simpering 🙂 I have had a few frustrating sessions with it or Siri, and it has played the right song but a totally different version than I wanted, or the wrong song or no song, and it is just too tiring and irksome to work out the exact verbal command that will elicit the track I want. Much more relaxing to put an ipod linked to a speaker on shuffle and let it choose what to play while I take no part. I do feel sorry for anyone called Alexa who lives with other people and then the system must go into overdrive!
johnw says
Although you can choose not to have Alexa as your wake word, the alternatives are not very sensible. Echo is probably the least used of them all but at two syllables, something that sounds like it crops up too often in normal speech.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Can you choose your own alternative? Like “shitferbrains” for example?
johnw says
I’m afraid not. I think the only options are Alexa, Echo, Computer or Amazon. I’m sure if shitferbrains was an option, it would constantly be interrupting my conversations with my wife!
Carolina says
Yes, computer and Amazon are pretty rubbish ones, as you may say them accidentally and agree with you about Echo too. I think I would pick Yoda or Merlin, the whole process being a bit ‘magical.’
I was reading an interesting article yesterday about the new facial de-aging technology being used in films (eg Robert DeNiro in the Irishman) and how it was very unsettling and put you off from the story. Apparently there is an “uncanny valley” effect. If you are watching something that is completely alien like a cartoon, that’s fine, but if it is too similar to reality yet slightly out, as in not having the normal micro-expressions, our brains which are evolved for complex facial recognition throw a wobbly and find it very freaky. I think the same thing is true of artificial speech and why I don’t like virtual voice assistants so much.
Rigid Digit says
Quite like the idea of changing the name to Merlin. Except that is the name of one of my dogs, and Mrs Ds incessant shouting at the device would probably drive him batty.
What about Geoff? I’ve always wanted a friend called Geoff.
Simpering wreck says
I knew there was more than one option for the wake word, but until JohnW pointed it out, I’d assumed you could set up your own. Pity, as I was intending to call it something filthy just for a laugh. As saying Alexa was setting the Kindle fire off as well as the speakers, we’ve changed the speaker word to Echo, ‘cos that’s what it is after all. She is now obeying my instructions on both the tracks I mentioned earlier, so it must just take her a while to get used to my voice. She took her time, though, this has been going on for weeks!
Mike_H says
Had to ask Jeff Bezos for permission before it would respond to you.