No, there is no monthly charge for Alexa. The Echo is always on and connected to the cloud so it can respond instantly when you say “Alexa”. It also has far-field voice recognition so it can hear you from a distance. The Amazon Echo has seven microphones and noise cancellation so it can hear you from across the room even while you’re watching TV or listening to music. For now, she is just a voice incorporated into Amazon’s smart devices to help enhance user experience. Tech-specifics aside, this means Alexa interactions aim to act like a human assistant.

All you have to do is ask.Īlexa is an artificial intelligence program, meaning creators structured its algorithms to mimic the human thought process. What Is An Amazon Echo And How Does It Work?Īn Amazon Echo (aka Alexa speaker) is a hands-free, voice controlled device that uses the Alexa Voice Service to play music, provide information, news, sports scores, weather and more. Just in case you aren’t quite sure what an Alexa (Echo) device is, let’s start with that. There are several questions that my friends and neighbors (who don’t yet have an Alexa device) ask me so I thought it would be a good idea to write a blog post about these questions. It’s estimated that one device uses about 15.2 killowatt hours for an entire year which for most homes tallies up to about $2.00 per year.

The other cost to consider is the amount of electricity that an Echo device uses. It can tell you the weather forecast, time, stock prices, play games, set cooking timers, provide medication reminders and the list goes on. The Amazon Echo and Dot are fabulous products that can make a senior’s life so much easier. I do pay for the premium services of Amazon’s Music Unlimited because I love listening to all kinds of music, depending on the energy of the day.

I love my Echo devices and they truly do make my life easier and frankly, a bit more fun. Otherwise, you can still listen to music through Amazon’s Music Service – you just can’t get every song you may want to hear. However, if you want to use some of the more advanced features, you may need to sign up for a paid subscription.įor example, if you want to use Amazon Music Unlimited, you’ll need to pay $9.99 per month or $8.99 per month if you are Amazon Prime member. You can use the Alexa app and Amazon website for free. No, you don’t have to pay for using an Alexa smart speaker device.

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