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Music related posts
Stumbled on this and maybe useful in the run up to Christmas to make sure you have the rights leads or plugs in order to use what ever presents Santa leaves under the tree. Almost all new phones are USB-C these days, and smaller devices and gadgets , but there will be some stuff lingering on with Micro-USB until they refresh the designs.
The one exception will be slightly older Apple phones (iPhone 14 or below) that use the Lighting Port (not shown)
Sorting out the house over the summer I came across an old AppleTV Gen 2 box. Its long since gave up getting updates and logging into the damn things proved a trial as its too old to recognize 2FA logins.
Some googling threw up the fact you can still do this, but have to append the generate 2FA code to your password in the password field.
This unlocked my iCloud so I could bring up my Camera Roll and finally accessed all the photos I have taken over the years from my phone. Too many don’t make it into proper albums or printed, but watching them back brings back happy memories of holidays and days out.
A bonus byproduct of this trial of viewing old photos, which I had hooked into the AV AMP under the telly, was the music quality that was being pumped out alongside the pictures. Being a Gen2 AppleTv, though the pictures although good did not match the audio quality, being a max of 720 lines.. not even full HD.
A quick trawl of Amazon turned up the AppleTV 4K 64Gb model on a next day delivery with payments spread over 5 months.. Not quite an impulse purchase, but now I have access to all of the Apple content and HQ music and easy access to all the family photos for not much more that a good quality digital photo frames of not so long ago.
the TvOS has come along way since the original device, so will probably penlty of playing with the new apps and settings to get things just right.
Finding I had a couple of spare Gen 1 Echo devices (the nice solid ones with the rotary volume dial atop) I thought I would try and pair for proper Stereo effects in the Kitchen. Sadly there are distinct pairing combinations you can use. and two Gen 1 Echos don’t cut the mustard. I wasn’t too worried as the reason for the spares is that I have slowly been upgrading Echo’s so they all support the HD quality stream so suspect I will be buying some more!
This chart from Amazon details what you can actually pair together.
| Echo Device | Pairable Devices |
|---|---|
| Echo (1st Generation) | Echo Sub |
| Echo (2nd Generation) | Echo (2nd Generation)Echo Sub |
| Echo (3rd Generation) | Echo (3rd Generation)Echo Plus (2nd Generation)Echo Sub |
| Echo Dot (3rd Generation) | Echo Dot (3rd Generation)Echo Dot with clockEcho Sub |
| Echo Dot with clock | Echo Dot with ClockEcho Dot (3rd Generation)Echo Sub |
| Echo Plus (1st Generation) | Echo Plus (1st Generation)Echo Sub |
| Echo Plus (2nd Generation) | Echo Plus (2nd Generation)Echo (3rd Generation)Echo Sub |
| Echo Show (1st Generation) | Echo Sub |
| Echo Show (2nd Generation) | Echo Sub |
| Echo Show 5 | Echo Show 5Echo Sub |
| Echo Show 8 | Echo Sub |
| Echo Studio | Echo StudioEcho Sub |
Upgraded the family to the Amazon Music HD subscription but then found that most of my devices being 1st generation did not support the new HD format. For Christmas I had already treated myself to an Echo Show 5 to feed the Hifi, with the added bonus that song artist and titles are now displayed so I don’t have to interupt and ask what song Alexa is now playing.
This was fine for the lounge, but my bedroom still was stuck with a 1st generation “pringle tube” speaker at Lo-Fi sound quality. My GF had treated herself to a 3rd generation Echo and the sound was significantly better than I was getting, so looking at the options for upgrade I saw this bag boy ……
A full blown speaker sized Alexa, The downside is I have lost the rotary volume control of the Gen 1, but the sound quality, especially the bass is immeasurably improved. It also has more heft and volume and even better I have managed to spread the payments over 5 months as was mostly an impulse purchase, but cost me less (in the first month) ) then upgrading to a standard Next Gen Alexa. So overall very pleased, only downside is that I hoped to relegate the surplus bedroom Alexa to a Stereo pair in the Kitchen, but seems you can’t have two 1st Gen Echo’s functioning as a Stereo Pair, so looks like my parents could be getting an Alexa sometime soon….
Its looks like Amazon may have heeded some of the comments around the removal of uploaded MP3’s to your Amazon Library and if you are quick enough can at least save what you have already uploaded once the service is terminated next month.
A quick visit to Your Amazon Account and Music Settings, shows a new option to “keep my songs”. Ticking this should at least retain anything already uploaded. A bit annoying as its means I can’t upload anything new brought via iTunes, but at least the stuff I have already uploaded will still be there.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201379330
Amazon are cancelling the ability to upload your own .mp3’s from 2019, which the vast collection of music I have amassed on CD and ripped and then uploaded wont be available to Alexa and the Echo’s unless I re-purchase them in digital form, or subscribe to their full streaming service and hope everything I have previously purchased is also available from them.
Maybe there’s a way to write a skill that will reference my OneDrive where is all also backed up
Its finally arrived, the ability to pair or group multiple Echo’s and Dots into a mesh network, so I can stream the same song upstairs, downstairs or into the girls rooms on command.
Little test planned for tomorrow at 6:45am, get Alexa to stream Misirlou into the Girls rooms in syncro…
Been messing with the Amazon Echos and Dots in the house, trying to make the most of them. I already have 4 smart plugs that let me control background lighting and front and back garden lights that come on and off on schedule and on demand by invoking Alexa. Amazon Music has long been my streaming service of choice as available on a number of platforms (PC, Android, iOS, even on my Blackberry thru the Android compatibility mode).
Intercom mode has supposedly been launched which would let me call the kids down to tea without bellowing up the stairs, but doesn’t look like it landed on UK shores yet. It was only recently launched in the US. (Our Merrycan friends can also make telephone calls by pairing with their mobile as glorified hands-free setup), which also doesn’t work here.
A key missing feature for me is lack of support for kids profiles. Amazon Household allows another Adult member to share content for books via Kindle, but seemingly not multiple accounts for calendar or even Music. This means I can’t link the kids calendar to their Office365 accounts for their own personal schedule. Musically they are linked to my music library which is no bad thing, but as they get older sure they will want to create playlists of their own, and I won’t Playlist recommendations based on their listening habits.
Finally the main feature though I would like to see is Mesh-Audio so the all the Echos, or a sub-set can play the same track at the same time. Supposedly coming when they join up with Sonos.