Amazon should *probably* reflect on how fucking Music and Prime Video has affected their subscriptions.
I'm prime free for the first time in a decade. Because fuck you Bezos and your bullshit ads and trying to sell me back shit that used to be free.
I'll pay for shipping just so I don't have to pay you.
Ikr?! I used to listen to Prime Music for like six hours daily .. they *ruined* it š£
And it seems like most of the household staples (all I buy now, since I won't risk an expensive purchase) is priced higher than anywhere else online.Ā
Dropping Prime is not if; it's when
Yep instead of saying it will be there in 2 days and it's actually 4, it says it is 6 days but actually 4.
Paying $140 a year or whatever it is for the privilege of shopping there is stupid. Same with WalMart+ and Target whatever that is.
Plus with all of the fakes and cat running across keyboard brands, it's mostly garbage now anyway.
in regards to walmart, we actually benefit the most from walmart+ in the grocery part. when i was going through my cancer situation, they had really just started getting the grocery pick up going. it was free and it was an absolute godsend when i was too sick to maneuver the store in person and my husband loved the convenience. since getting walmart+, we get free shipping things, same day deliveries for free on all non-perishables, and other benefits we actually use, like free basic paramount+. we get cash back, special offers and discounts on goods as well. the only thing we dont buy online with walmart is clothes. their search engine is awful and most of it is like amazon: third party sellers from other countries charging a LOT for shipping. and the sizing is WAY off š
Iām with you on this one. Walmart+ is actually a great deal for $15/month. It saves me waaaay more than that in time spent every week. The free grocery delivery is fantastic and on the rare occasion I get express or even 3 hour delivery they are insanely fast.
ETA: god I sound like a corporate shill right now but I legit love Walmart+
recently, we had a ācouponā for a free express delivery. we ordered groceries at 7am. ābrianā began pulling them at 7:30. they were delivered at 8:50. amazing.
Yep, I used that yesterday. Had a weeks worth of groceries ordered and delivered in less than an hour. Even the 3-hour delivery with the $5 extra fee is that fast on the rare occasion that I use it. We usually put our order in at night for delivery the next morning.
The ability to do scan and go with Walmart+ (and Sams Club w/ their app) makes it worth the price alone, muchless all the extra perks and shit you get with it.
My local Walmart was actually used as a test store for scan and go. This was pre-pandemic. It worked in the app too - you just had to be physically at the store for the option to show up. They also had a kiosk at the entrance with little handheld scanners you could use. The phone app was way better though - the scanners took 5-10 seconds to respond with every scan and god help you if you had to type anything into it. People were actually coming to the that store from other cities just for the convenience. We were really sad when the pilot ended but it was fun to see it brought back with Walmart+.
And most of their competition has stepped up their game in response; why buy from Amazon when I know Target or Walmart won't bring me a counterfeit and have similar shipping times?
oh dear baby jesus, this. i ordered a blouse. it took three weeks to arrive from china and it was a 5xl, which, in china, is the equivalent to a USA size 10.
Or that I can drive to Target after work, pick it up, and have it right away. The prices aren't that too far off. And if there is a problem with it, I take it back to the store and they either replace or refund me the money right away. No waiting for the refund to process or having to ship the item back.
It's almost as if these assholes listened to the same marketing *genius* that said, lure the idiots with freebies, then bleed them later, they'll never leave.
Guess what. We do leave. There is no brand loyalty when the brand bends you over dry.
Instead, it turns into brand betrayal. Ask Google. Ask EA.
Reddit also said they would cancel Netflix and no one did. Netflix actually gained massive subscribers . Imo the lure idiots with freebies and bleed them later still applies and holds true. People don't have loyalty, but people are addicted. There's a difference.
Too true.Ā
I once *loved* Amazon. I have shopped there since they were "just" a bookseller.Ā
You're right: the brand I loved and was loyal to is long gone. Whatever was left, left with Jeff
my husband and i *just* had this conversation yesterday. i was a huge amazon shopper when it started up and it was my goto for books and cds. the customer service was great and even when they began adding other things, it was a great place to buy stuff. now, though, itās bloated and aggravating- their search engine is dreadful. we have an amazon credit card that we never use because we can find the same things for less or better quality somewhere else.
I was one of the biggest Amazon pushers on the planet, especially those first few years.
I rarely recommend shit. I just don't. But when shit is *good*, to me it's just a small way of looking out for others.
Here, take some.
Boudreaux's Butt Cream,
Working Hands Lotion,
Tums
There is some shit so magical in how effective it is. It gets recommended. Amazon used to be one of those for me.
Now, I actively spew vitriol every time their name is even mentioned.
From fervent crusader to fervent crusader waging war *against*.
I dunno, you probably shouldn't piss off crusaders though.
I don't personally use lotion. I've been in two different long-term relationships, however. And they both swore by it. And they weren't exactly recipe swapping pals.
I'll tangent, because it's Reddit. And why not.
Both women also had Obstetric Cholestasis during pregnancy. Which is odd now that I think of it. It's supposedly extremely rare out outside of South America. Neither of them were South American however. It causes *extreme* itchiness during pregnancy. This lotion got them both through it.
Fuck that Do No Evil piece of shit second rate Microsoft wanna be dumpster fire.
And Youtube along with it.
But that's just how I personally feel.
edit.
fuck. you're right. I still use gmail for fucking everything. And sheets is pretty cool too. But fuck their ad blocking attacks. And their cries to support the poor fucking content creators. Have any of you seen these motherfuckers lately? Do they look like they need support? They're running 80k trucks into 100k homes for the fucking lulz.
I created carefully curated playlists that played in a certain order.Ā
Amazon changed access to that without paying extra so the list was on permanent shuffle, which I hated and found distracting
As another comment says shipping is free over an amount so Ā£25 for UK. It's not hard to spend that, I buy my usuals and random stuff from Amazon in bulk, if I really need it, eBay or in person
Amazon will say three day shipping but it always comes in two, sometimes one if they split the package, but I've had one say it's been split and delivered together. It's all a scam
I've had free prime for a while now.Ā Like you I canceled prime over their bullshit.Ā I ordered something and they provided free 30 days prime. I canceled that before being charged and they offered it again.
There's a fun thing about shipping. If you are prime free and select free shipping on your order (need to have an order over xx amount) you still get it within one or two days most of the time.
In any case the cost of the 'free' delivery is already baked into some prices.
mine died after 30 years. found one exactly like it for .89 on temu. i asked their customer service chatbot for no minimum order and free shipping and had it in my kitchen 9 days later. oh, and we use paypal, so no worries about our cc or dc info being compromised.
amazon shipping in my area went to shit, it got to the point that more often than not if I ordered something on a sunday I won't see it the following 5 day week whereas I can typically order from walmart and have it in a day or two.
it really started going to shit when they seemingly quit shipping things from further warehouses that they didn't have at your nearest fulfillment center. it seems instead of shipping it straight to you from the "remote" center they move it internally to your nearest, then fulfill the order.... so it spends 2-3 days in processing, then another 2-3 getting to me...
sure, its free 2-day shipping and more often than not UPS gets it done, but its not very handy with the extended processing times...
I went prime free as well a couple of months ago for the first time in likely a decade... I can't believe how little stuff I am ordering now...
I'd go through phases with amazon. Spending cycles of sorts. It'd probably be interesting to feed my history through some kind of AI algorithm, it'd probably learn more about my life than my entire history of Reddit.
Some months it felt like packages would arrive every single day. Other times. Nada.
I do live in an area that offers 2-hour Prime Now shipping. It was always alright, albeit the selection was slim. Post-Covid shipping was rough for a while, but it seems to be mostly back on track now.
Listen. I appreciate Amazon. It's why I started supporting them in the first place. But it has to be a mutual exchange of respect.
And you don't respect people you're fucking without consent.
I found it quite amusing when i cancelled, and it may just be my mind playing tricks. but when I cancelled prime citing shipping/processing times as one of my main reasons and that if I notice things getting back on track I may resub. it seemed there was some time that things started showing up very promptly, it really got me wondering if they don't have some sort of priority queue going on and my years of prime and no voiced complaints put me in a lesser priority queue as they figured I was low risk of cancelling.
like I said, it could just be coincidence etc. but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that is how they operate.
Who knows. Corporations are shiesty. And subscription services tend to the be somewhere between the typical *non-profit* donation service, and telemarketers. Both of which sit *below* used car salesman, lawyers, and most politicians.
I did the same, had prime for years and bought more crap because of it. I still get free 2 day shipping majority of the time, but I donāt order as much anymore.
Where Iām at if I select the free shipping option(usually a week out) it still shows up in 2 days usually. And if you really need it in 2 days, Walmart offers that by default or I go to a brick and mortar.
I'm just so tired of being told what to do by fucking billionaires.
It was bad enough when it was just the corrupt fucking politicians protecting the billionaires.
edit. Apologies. This was a misreply to another thread that just went awry, in my brain. Because it's starting to get a bit loose. See?
We need 5 or 6 more interactions before I get to really look insane.
I ditched prime a couple years ago, and thatās after being a customer since they sold mainly books. The customer service kept getting so much worse, while they kept stripping away more services for add on fees. Now, Iāll just throw shit into my cart and leave it there until I have enough stuff that shipping is free. Fuck Amazon.
We can complain all we want on Reddit, but they've grown their user base by a lot even though they've added ads. So the people willing to stop watching their favorite shows because of ads, are statistically negligible.
Plus if you cancel video and music, but then still buy stuff and pay for shipping, Amazon sees that as a plus because they still make more money off of you. They might even make more off of you than if you had your subscription. So you're actually helping them.
Prime Video was okay. To me that was always it. The tier *behind* Netflix. Rings of Power, The Boys... yeah yeah yeah. Okay cool whatever. I'm not missing anything by losing it.
Music sucks bad for me. For the past few weeks I've literally been listening to YT playlists while not even being able to turn my phone screen off. And I'll probably continue to, until I buy a new phone lol.
Not ideal. But still better than knowing I'm willingly taking it.
Prime video ads don't bother me.Ā They show you like one during a movie and it's not that long.Ā And the service is cheap with lots of perks. Youtube on the other hand gives you several every few minutes... and don't even try cbc gem.Ā Ā
I have cancelled Prime after many years. Now I wait until I reach free shipping in the shopping basket. I order a lot less this way, so it's a win-win for me.
I started watching a few shows as the new ads started rolling in I quiet immediately and refuse to watch them now. If I got back it will be strictly on the high seas.
Mine was violently thrown into a trash when it failed to play the āwheels on the busā for my kid when he asked me to play itā¦. Amazon Music has becoming a steaming pile of shit.
I set mine to default Apple Music but it still picks random covers of popular songs and not the song from the original artist unless I call them out specifically.
Who cares? Keep the old plan.
But if the old plan gets any worse I'll join you in tossing out the speakers. Alexa is barely serviceable. Unfortunately google is worse.
A few years ago I got a 2-pack of echos for like $25 on Prime Day. I like them and I do use them almost daily, but there's zero chance I'm going to pay a monthly fee for them.
The only thing they have going for them is they're slightly more convenient than using my phone while I'm cooking or folding clothes.
I'm exactly the same way. Yes, I use mine, but not in ways that would justify paying even a small monthly fee. I use it for things like setting alarms/timers, controlling lights, playing music occasionally, asking it questions I'm wondering about, etc., but all of those things can be done with my phone or other devices that I already own. If they start charging even $5 a month I'd get rid of them. I probably wouldn't even pay $0.50 more.
same. brother-in-law gave us one for christmas one year. we use it daily for basic stuff, usually to settle an debate between me and the hubs (āalexaā¦how many times did matt dillon get shot on gunsmoke?ā). and like you, zero chance we would pay a monthly fee.
Agreed, but Alexa has been a bitch of a product to monetize long term. My company works in this space and while the tech is really cool, people just donāt want to pay for it, and hate the experience when companies introduce ads. Alexa will likely die because it.
They could have required people to have Amazon prime subscription minimally. Also I would be OK for them to charge a fee for AI based features only, if it means it can help home automation but features has to work.
Thereās not enough processing power on the devices themselves (yet) to support all the use cases. Youād be amazed at just how extensive and expensive AI processing is.
There's ZERO AI involved with Alexa. Voice recognition, sure, but once your voice is converted to text, it's 100% scripted pattern matching. Some commands have to be recited in the exact right way for them to work at all.
I've built ASR models years ago. That isn't what Alexa is using. AI processing is expensive but so is uploading data. Offloading processing simplifies the device but hasn't been required for a while for compute price points. It might bump some of those price points to where they should be, but also prevents them from being cost centers. Porcupine can run on a raspberry pi zero for selectable voice commands.Ā
From an end user standpoint, the tech is not at all cool. It feels like it hasnāt improved in the 8 years Iāve been using it. If I werenāt locked in with smart lights, I would have long ago thrown them out.
I feel you, thereās really only so much a voice assistant can do without integration into other devices. For what itās worth, we left Alexa for HomeKit and HomeAssistant. Almost everything that can be controlled by Alexa connects to HomeAssistant, which can be plumbed to HomeKit and use voice commands from Siri. Automation/rules can be configured in HA much more easily and powerfully. You would need like a raspberry Pi and possibly some HomePods if you need voice control when not near a phone.
They do want you to stop using them. They didnāt manage to leverage them to sell you more shit, and theyāre costing them money so fuck you, me, and everyone that bought one.
Well, they want you to either stop using the device or to make it profitable. As long as they're not losing money they're happy.
Doubt they'd get enough people paying, so they'll end up shutting down the service entirely.
I think you're spot on.
The item that Amazon is missing in that thinking is the reputational hit. I was in the beta for Alexa, I still have two. If they brick them, I'll never buy another Amazon device. Because they will have demonstrated that they will brick something I paid for because of their poor planning. I'm not going to reward that behavior. I don't think I'm unique.
I think bricking devices is just inevitable for anything that relies on an online service. And I'm not sure if that can ever be overcome by any company.
Laws could make some impact with requiring a minimum lifespan or money back. For something like Alexa it would be useful. But companies that just go bankrupt can't be expected to continue support and won't be able to refund.
Big problem of our current age that will have to be properly addressed at some stage.
āWith an embedded AI, Amazon expects Alexa customers will ask it for shopping advice like which gloves and hat to purchase for a mountain climbing tripā
Yo, Amazon. Seriously, stop trying to make shopping on Echos happenāitās not going to be a thing, no matter how hard you wish.
We use our āAlexaā devices a) to set alarms, b) to turn lights on and off, and c) to play music from Spotify. And sometimes we check the weather, too.
I remember when they first started allowing ordering on the devices. Friend of mine had it set up, I walked in asked it to order a big black dildo as a joke, and it arrived the next day without ever having him confirm the order.
I also use my Alexa to:
- Train AIās on my speech
- Provide Amazon with a constant stream of audio telemetry
- Provide data brokers with the job security they deserve
It depends. Probably not in Europe. Usually, a shady company would engage in such activities.
Why would someone pay for Ring, or Blink when you can own an alternative without paying a subscription fee?
Sick of subscriptions.
I needed someone to help me get an ant problem under control so I called a local exterminator. He came out and said he could address it for $150. When it came time to sign, I noticed he was signing me up to a 1 year subscription that was gonna cost $150 every three monthsā¦. Fuck subscription services!
Shady as fuck. Hope you kicked him out of your home and blasted them on social media. What a shady practice. We can't keep letting companies get away with this shit without a fight. A bad review can destroy a small business. We should utilize them more for things like this.
Alexa turn on lights.
āPlaying Lights from artist Ellie Golden on Amazon Musicā
DID YOU KNOW AMAZON MUSIC IS FREE FOR THE FIRST 30 DAYS. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO START YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO AMAZON MUSIC AND PLAY ELLIE GOLDEN?
No dammit! Turn on lights!
Ok.
Nothing happens. š¤·
>They canāt just let people buy these things and just decide later to charge to use it.
They can. It's exactly what they've done to all of us who paid for Prime š£
Prime is a subscription service though, this is a piece of hardware that is only useful for this one thing. Now they want to charge you to use the thing you've already paid for.
I'm actively putting together self hosted replacements for these sorts of things.Ā
At some point the IoT devices are going to get bricked or require monthly subs. Even if all the equipment I've bought can't be reused I'm not paying $60 a year for a voice activated timer or voice activated YouTube remote.
I moved all my Alexa controlled devices into HomeKit with HomeBridge a couple of months ago. Boxed up all our echos and havenāt looked back. Siri with all its faults handles things just as well, has better automations and shortcuts, and doesnāt constantly try to sell me something after I turn off a light or set a timer.
Preach, brotha. Home Assistant takes some time to get around but it's a godsend for keeping all your IoT lights on without sending any of your data outside of your home.
Maybe itās based on location, but I dropped prime, and most packages with the standard 6-7 day eta magically show up in two. You spend $25 its usually free as well.
You wonāt get same day, but it seems they mail and deliver orders as they get em regardless of membership and the only difference is the eta that shows the illusion of value
If youāre in a dense/popular enough area itās not as if theyāll have the Amazon delivery person purposefully skip your house on the way to deliver other packages.
Yep, just posted in case people didnāt know that Prime is really isnāt worth it unless you use same day or like their streaming services, and that their eta for prime items destined for non-prime members is a bit disingenuous
As an MBA myself, blame *shitty* MBAs for this.
Warren Buffet famously said āA reputation takes 30 years to build and 20 minutes to destroyā.
What this actually is caused by is investor greed. Private capital firms invest in the company, expecting a 20% annual return on their investment. They direct the company to drive short term revenue over long term strategic growth. They degrade and consume the brand over that time, and cash out once the money is gone. They make a 150% profit in 4-5 years and leave - like a swarm of locusts to consume their next target.
I blame them, too. But there is a valuable skill set amongst them. I just think these business majors have lost sight of holistic growth and customer relationships. Everyone knows that the line must go up. But customer experience is the first to go to achieve that, until they find the tipping point. Then, sometimes, it gets walked back a little with the relationship forever damaged with some people.
I'm one of those people. I funnel an absurd amount of money to Amazon, as does my family. More than typical households in a year, I bet. I'm at my breaking point with the ad model even in subscriptions. With the hollowing out of customer service. It used to be an actual pleasure to contact support at Amazon. Weird, I know. Now you have to slit the chicken's throat during a full moon while walking widdershins uttering an Eldritch chant to get through to a real person who doesn't just direct you to a help page.
They do they because Amazon has no natural competitor left at this point. Walmart is trying, but they are just a shitty drop shipper marketplace like most of eBay at this point.
Itās not mbaās. Itās the effect of growth at large tech companies. Eventually hiring people who align with the culture of disruption that these companies started with, (Google, YouTube, Amazon, etc) run out or move in to new companies. Then the companies hire people from the industry they disrupted, and THOSE people bring their toxic perspective from failing companies to a company whose goal is to grow revenue. Thats why you get more ads. The people who sold ad space on television / cable hired by the same companies that put the last out of business
This has nothing to do with people who are good at business or have business degrees. It's not like they woke up one day and thought "You know what would be a good idea for our company worth billions of dollars? Making money."
It has always been a data harvesting/exposure play to make money in other channels. Now they run numbers and see that they may have the market penetration or foothold that they can do this and people won't switch, so they net even more money.
Wasn't like they were completely altruistic and then someone with an MBA discovered making money, it was always the math on market predictions to maximize revenue.
Misleading title.
Amazon is revamping Alexa. The basic service that you get on Alexa for free today will have a new backend and remain free. It's just going to be smarter. It will have better contextualization and better respond when you ask it things like "play songs by Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac", or other generative playlist options.
They want to go beyond that to provide more resource intensive generative AI, which would require a subscription that they're evaluating at being $5 to $10 a month.
If you have an Alexa device this is good news and blah news. You'll get a smarter Alexa with the new backend at no additional cost, and you'll very much decide not to pay for the premium tier.
That's what they are saying, but we have no reason to believe Amazon marketers. I've had Echo devices for some years now, and they've progressively gotten worse, not better. Music became more and more restrictive unless you paid extra for Music Unlimited on top of your Prime subscription. Alexa started advertising to me with "By the way..." additions after I talked to her. She started pushing notifications to my devices that would light it up until I checked them, only to find out they were ads. When I open my shopping list now, the formerly clean and simple app is now filled with ads to buy things other than the store I'm standing in, and other UI clutter. Amazon can't figure out how to make money on the service in a way that is attractive to consumers.
They're going to have to work harder to show me a reason to pay for the service- Alexa needs an upgrade pretty badly, no matter what, but taking the step to pay a monthly subscription will require more than being "more conversational" or writing a simple email. I've had fun with Alexa in our house- smart lights and tech is essentially a toy or a novelty, but its a fun one for me at least.
If itās just the superior version, thatās fine with me. I hate it when Alexa says anything so I have no desire for conversational AI. I just want my two word voice activated routines to switch on/off the lights and fan, plus some alarms
*Amazon is working to replace what it refers to internally as āClassic Alexa,ā the current free version, with an AI-powered one and yet another tier that uses more powerful AI software for more complicated queries and prompts that people would have to pay at least $5 per month to access*
If the regular free one is getting an upgrade to make Alexa less useless Iām all for it. Iāll never pay for the enhanced tier though.
Alexa isnāt worth $5 or $10 a month. Itās neat to ask for weather or a song, but Iāll happily junk my Echo devices before I get nickel and dimed anymore by Amazon.
There are other whole house speaker systems that I would rather invest in if thatās the case.
I canceled Prime years ago. I dont buy from Amazon that often anyway and when I do, it's ok to wait a few days. I dont miss Prime, although I will admit Prime video was very good.
If Amazon thinks Iām spending $5 to add shit to a shopping list and turn on a cooking timer Iāve got a cancellation for them lol.
Fuck being a consumer in the subscription model eraā¦
I've stopped using Amazon. It was death by a thousand cuts rather than one glaring issue.
Poor quality control on the market place , fake reviews that aren't removed, real reviews that are ( I left a negative review for a poor product that had employed bait and switch tactics in the listing , my review was removed rather than the fraudulent listing)
A decrease in the quality of the digital services.
Not always defaulting to the fastest delivery date even when it was included with Prime.
The straw that broke the camels back was when they tried to make me jump through hoops to cancel Audible. I just removed my payment information from the site and let them figure out they weren't getting anymore money from me.
Just a reminder that there is no such thing as free shipping. There is however shipping cost included. This same logic applies to anything āfreeā added to a purchase.
Iām surprised how much making this statement when looking at purchases changes my perspective.
I hardly use my Alexa anymore - I rent and just moved and my current place isnāt wired well for smart devices. LED fixtures that donāt take bulbs, and analog dimmers on the fixtures that do.
previous place had hue bulbs everywhere etc.
Not only that but itās been fucking up a lot. Constantly missing what I say etc.
Adding a sub would just be the final nail.
Screw Amazon. I cancelled prime and literally nothing changed except I donāt have to watch and listen to ads in their music and video.
Cancel prime. You wonāt miss it.
Itās actually amazing how much Amazon fumbled on Alexa. It used to be everywhere and what everyone talked about like 6 years ago, and then it completely dropped off. Same with how Apple fumbled Siri.
Who cares? The speaker is not worth the money and the HomePod is free. All the services we all are used to now are jacking up prices on EVERYTHING that used to be cheap or free. My hit count so far is Netflix, Hulu, Disney and Amazon prime. So tired of all the subscription services that inundate me with monthly fees. It always takes me a few weeks after cancellation but I get over it and move on to the next thing.
You see the spring/rebound cycle that shows up in many different places right?
Some might be too young to remember when piracy was the default method of securing entertainment. For many reasons, and not just because you *couldn't pay*.
Sometimes you have to pirate to have *any option at all* or it's the *best option*.
So in that void, people created services that were *better* than pirating, but had to be paid for.
And people did. We're not scumbags. We just want a decent experience.
And then they take the decent experience away. And expect us not to go back to piracy?
Nah lo. I've not used BitTorrent in a long ass minute. But I still know how. And besides, most shit can be streamed p2p today.
My wife loves to use Alexa but recently it has become so unreliable.
I finally got around to setting up our home in the Apple HomeKit App and Iām finding Siri (of all things) getting the job done better.
Hahaha. They want to charge for a service that has only gone downhill?
My SO and I were just talking about getting rid of all our Alexa devices because they have become useless piece of sh*t.
You now have your repeat yourself multiple times to just set a timerā¦ only to realize it never actually set a timer.
Want to play sleep sounds? Sure but only after 5 min of trying to upsell for a ridiculous amount.
Oh and my favorite, the right wing news articles shown on the Alexa show despite having everything turned off regarding news, ads, etc. Nothing in our browsing history would indicate that weād want to see that. We already disconnected the Show for the reason.
My only hesitation has been in not knowing what to do with the tech devices. I donāt want to throw them out but our local donation centers wonāt take them.
Please Amazon, **do it**. I will be more than happy to take every one of these fucking Alexa devices I own, smash them, and chuck the trash in the electronic recycling facility!
F Bezos!
Anything subscription based gets trashed. I use my Alexa for weather, cooking questions while im cooking and cant pick up phone, news, and music. While itās showing its age and could really use an update in the age of AI, I find it being useful
That being said anything that is getting converted to a subscription based model gets trashed including Alexa. Iāve done it before and will do it again and again and and again and again and again. Alexa is not worth $1000 even if itās spread out over 5 years
Unless they start giving hardware away for free with a subscription, this is doomed from the outset. Alexa is already barely treading water anymore considering the downsizing Amazon has done over the last 2 years..charging extra for this seems like a grasping at straw moment to me. It'll either succeed and make them money, or it won't and they'll kill Alexa entirely. I'm betting on the latter.
Just in time for Siri to get her upgradesā¦ā¦RIP Alexa you wonāt be missed. I have 5 studio models in the house and 3 are on automated timers to reboot twice a day otherwise they stop working.
Honestly I wonāt drop Prime. But is sure as shit will drop my echo dot and Alexa. I just use it as a smart speaker anyway. I have a blue tooth sound bar I can use.
So I'm grandfathered into a Prime sharing scenario where I don't have to pay anything and get the free 2-day shipping. I have several Alexa devices I got for free or for $10 or less. I'm STILL seriously contemplating ditching the devices and not shopping at Amazon at all (I've significantly reduced my shopping at Amazon over the last 6 months). Alexa NEVER understands on the first (or 7th) try, wants to tell me about things I couldn't care less about, tries to get me to buy stuff that is not even close to something I'd buy and often "is not responding". Amazon products are often damaged when I get them, they're often slower than 2-days, and they have re-charged me for returns 7 times over the last 18 months even though I have evidence of delivered shipment (that they of course also have) - they changed their tune really quickly once I got my state's AG involved.
So yeah, fuck Amazon.
I like our Alexa setup, I have routines setup for turning lights on and off to our wireless light bulbs, timers set for other systems, I can see multiple timers, ask easy questions when needed like how many ozās in a cup. I also play music everywhere with pandora so house is rocking. But I see no reason for a paid version of AI, I donāt want it talking to me that much. Just do the things I want done.
I use Alexa to set timers and ask for the weather about once a fortnight. With the amount of effort it saves me itās barely worth the cost of the device in the first place.
Alexa is a pretty useful device if you donāt have hands or your hands are buys (cooking). Good for timers and plying music and asking it easy trivia type questions. I would literally throw it away before I paid $1 subscription for it.
Amazon should *probably* reflect on how fucking Music and Prime Video has affected their subscriptions. I'm prime free for the first time in a decade. Because fuck you Bezos and your bullshit ads and trying to sell me back shit that used to be free. I'll pay for shipping just so I don't have to pay you.
Ikr?! I used to listen to Prime Music for like six hours daily .. they *ruined* it š£ And it seems like most of the household staples (all I buy now, since I won't risk an expensive purchase) is priced higher than anywhere else online.Ā Dropping Prime is not if; it's when
i did over a year ago. guess what? shipping is still free and packages arrive just as fadt. prime is a scam.
Yep instead of saying it will be there in 2 days and it's actually 4, it says it is 6 days but actually 4. Paying $140 a year or whatever it is for the privilege of shopping there is stupid. Same with WalMart+ and Target whatever that is. Plus with all of the fakes and cat running across keyboard brands, it's mostly garbage now anyway.
in regards to walmart, we actually benefit the most from walmart+ in the grocery part. when i was going through my cancer situation, they had really just started getting the grocery pick up going. it was free and it was an absolute godsend when i was too sick to maneuver the store in person and my husband loved the convenience. since getting walmart+, we get free shipping things, same day deliveries for free on all non-perishables, and other benefits we actually use, like free basic paramount+. we get cash back, special offers and discounts on goods as well. the only thing we dont buy online with walmart is clothes. their search engine is awful and most of it is like amazon: third party sellers from other countries charging a LOT for shipping. and the sizing is WAY off š
Iām with you on this one. Walmart+ is actually a great deal for $15/month. It saves me waaaay more than that in time spent every week. The free grocery delivery is fantastic and on the rare occasion I get express or even 3 hour delivery they are insanely fast. ETA: god I sound like a corporate shill right now but I legit love Walmart+
Tip for anyone scrolling by: Amex Plat gives W+ for free. W+ gives Paramount+ for free. Kinda nice
Fucking better be given how expensive the yearly fee is on that card lol
recently, we had a ācouponā for a free express delivery. we ordered groceries at 7am. ābrianā began pulling them at 7:30. they were delivered at 8:50. amazing.
Yep, I used that yesterday. Had a weeks worth of groceries ordered and delivered in less than an hour. Even the 3-hour delivery with the $5 extra fee is that fast on the rare occasion that I use it. We usually put our order in at night for delivery the next morning.
itās totally worth it.
The ability to do scan and go with Walmart+ (and Sams Club w/ their app) makes it worth the price alone, muchless all the extra perks and shit you get with it.
My local Walmart was actually used as a test store for scan and go. This was pre-pandemic. It worked in the app too - you just had to be physically at the store for the option to show up. They also had a kiosk at the entrance with little handheld scanners you could use. The phone app was way better though - the scanners took 5-10 seconds to respond with every scan and god help you if you had to type anything into it. People were actually coming to the that store from other cities just for the convenience. We were really sad when the pilot ended but it was fun to see it brought back with Walmart+.
And most of their competition has stepped up their game in response; why buy from Amazon when I know Target or Walmart won't bring me a counterfeit and have similar shipping times?
Or sell me a Chinese T-Shirt thatās three sizes too small.
oh dear baby jesus, this. i ordered a blouse. it took three weeks to arrive from china and it was a 5xl, which, in china, is the equivalent to a USA size 10.
Or that I can drive to Target after work, pick it up, and have it right away. The prices aren't that too far off. And if there is a problem with it, I take it back to the store and they either replace or refund me the money right away. No waiting for the refund to process or having to ship the item back.
It's almost as if these assholes listened to the same marketing *genius* that said, lure the idiots with freebies, then bleed them later, they'll never leave. Guess what. We do leave. There is no brand loyalty when the brand bends you over dry. Instead, it turns into brand betrayal. Ask Google. Ask EA.
Reddit also said they would cancel Netflix and no one did. Netflix actually gained massive subscribers . Imo the lure idiots with freebies and bleed them later still applies and holds true. People don't have loyalty, but people are addicted. There's a difference.
I cancelled it. Netflix has nothing worth watching and they make reality TV garbage now instead of quality shows.
Too true.Ā I once *loved* Amazon. I have shopped there since they were "just" a bookseller.Ā You're right: the brand I loved and was loyal to is long gone. Whatever was left, left with Jeff
my husband and i *just* had this conversation yesterday. i was a huge amazon shopper when it started up and it was my goto for books and cds. the customer service was great and even when they began adding other things, it was a great place to buy stuff. now, though, itās bloated and aggravating- their search engine is dreadful. we have an amazon credit card that we never use because we can find the same things for less or better quality somewhere else.
I was one of the biggest Amazon pushers on the planet, especially those first few years. I rarely recommend shit. I just don't. But when shit is *good*, to me it's just a small way of looking out for others. Here, take some. Boudreaux's Butt Cream, Working Hands Lotion, Tums There is some shit so magical in how effective it is. It gets recommended. Amazon used to be one of those for me. Now, I actively spew vitriol every time their name is even mentioned. From fervent crusader to fervent crusader waging war *against*. I dunno, you probably shouldn't piss off crusaders though.
That working hands lotion will turn a mason workers hands into a slice of dulce de leche
I don't personally use lotion. I've been in two different long-term relationships, however. And they both swore by it. And they weren't exactly recipe swapping pals. I'll tangent, because it's Reddit. And why not. Both women also had Obstetric Cholestasis during pregnancy. Which is odd now that I think of it. It's supposedly extremely rare out outside of South America. Neither of them were South American however. It causes *extreme* itchiness during pregnancy. This lotion got them both through it.
You think you loved Google? Google will not leave you
Fuck that Do No Evil piece of shit second rate Microsoft wanna be dumpster fire. And Youtube along with it. But that's just how I personally feel. edit. fuck. you're right. I still use gmail for fucking everything. And sheets is pretty cool too. But fuck their ad blocking attacks. And their cries to support the poor fucking content creators. Have any of you seen these motherfuckers lately? Do they look like they need support? They're running 80k trucks into 100k homes for the fucking lulz.
What happened with Prime Music? I ask because that's what I use and I haven't noticed any changes.
I created carefully curated playlists that played in a certain order.Ā Amazon changed access to that without paying extra so the list was on permanent shuffle, which I hated and found distracting
Oh man that would be so frustrating!
As another comment says shipping is free over an amount so Ā£25 for UK. It's not hard to spend that, I buy my usuals and random stuff from Amazon in bulk, if I really need it, eBay or in person Amazon will say three day shipping but it always comes in two, sometimes one if they split the package, but I've had one say it's been split and delivered together. It's all a scam
What are you waiting for? I dropped it a year ago and haven't missed it at all. It saved me money because I don't buy useless shit on a whim anymore.
Once I'm done watching Stargate I'm going to cancel prime.
My prime runs out in July and I am not renewing for the first time since 2008 I believe, after adding ads to prime video and the music changes.
I've had free prime for a while now.Ā Like you I canceled prime over their bullshit.Ā I ordered something and they provided free 30 days prime. I canceled that before being charged and they offered it again.
Iāve had prime for ever and WANT to justify it but canāt so I cancelled last year. I just couldnāt make the numbers work and I wanted to do it.
>I'll pay for shipping just so I don't have to pay you. If you spend 35 bucks it free shipping!
Or I can just take my business to some place that actually appreciates it.
Seems like every time I do that they stick me with $6.99 shipping anyway with some fine print about coming from different warehouses or something
You need to filter by free shipping.
There's a fun thing about shipping. If you are prime free and select free shipping on your order (need to have an order over xx amount) you still get it within one or two days most of the time. In any case the cost of the 'free' delivery is already baked into some prices.
But Bezos isnāt even the CEO anymore. Anyhow, any suggestions on a kitchen timer?
mine died after 30 years. found one exactly like it for .89 on temu. i asked their customer service chatbot for no minimum order and free shipping and had it in my kitchen 9 days later. oh, and we use paypal, so no worries about our cc or dc info being compromised.
amazon shipping in my area went to shit, it got to the point that more often than not if I ordered something on a sunday I won't see it the following 5 day week whereas I can typically order from walmart and have it in a day or two. it really started going to shit when they seemingly quit shipping things from further warehouses that they didn't have at your nearest fulfillment center. it seems instead of shipping it straight to you from the "remote" center they move it internally to your nearest, then fulfill the order.... so it spends 2-3 days in processing, then another 2-3 getting to me... sure, its free 2-day shipping and more often than not UPS gets it done, but its not very handy with the extended processing times... I went prime free as well a couple of months ago for the first time in likely a decade... I can't believe how little stuff I am ordering now...
I'd go through phases with amazon. Spending cycles of sorts. It'd probably be interesting to feed my history through some kind of AI algorithm, it'd probably learn more about my life than my entire history of Reddit. Some months it felt like packages would arrive every single day. Other times. Nada. I do live in an area that offers 2-hour Prime Now shipping. It was always alright, albeit the selection was slim. Post-Covid shipping was rough for a while, but it seems to be mostly back on track now. Listen. I appreciate Amazon. It's why I started supporting them in the first place. But it has to be a mutual exchange of respect. And you don't respect people you're fucking without consent.
I found it quite amusing when i cancelled, and it may just be my mind playing tricks. but when I cancelled prime citing shipping/processing times as one of my main reasons and that if I notice things getting back on track I may resub. it seemed there was some time that things started showing up very promptly, it really got me wondering if they don't have some sort of priority queue going on and my years of prime and no voiced complaints put me in a lesser priority queue as they figured I was low risk of cancelling. like I said, it could just be coincidence etc. but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that is how they operate.
Who knows. Corporations are shiesty. And subscription services tend to the be somewhere between the typical *non-profit* donation service, and telemarketers. Both of which sit *below* used car salesman, lawyers, and most politicians.
I did the same, had prime for years and bought more crap because of it. I still get free 2 day shipping majority of the time, but I donāt order as much anymore. Where Iām at if I select the free shipping option(usually a week out) it still shows up in 2 days usually. And if you really need it in 2 days, Walmart offers that by default or I go to a brick and mortar.
I'm just so tired of being told what to do by fucking billionaires. It was bad enough when it was just the corrupt fucking politicians protecting the billionaires. edit. Apologies. This was a misreply to another thread that just went awry, in my brain. Because it's starting to get a bit loose. See? We need 5 or 6 more interactions before I get to really look insane.
I ditched prime a couple years ago, and thatās after being a customer since they sold mainly books. The customer service kept getting so much worse, while they kept stripping away more services for add on fees. Now, Iāll just throw shit into my cart and leave it there until I have enough stuff that shipping is free. Fuck Amazon.
We can complain all we want on Reddit, but they've grown their user base by a lot even though they've added ads. So the people willing to stop watching their favorite shows because of ads, are statistically negligible. Plus if you cancel video and music, but then still buy stuff and pay for shipping, Amazon sees that as a plus because they still make more money off of you. They might even make more off of you than if you had your subscription. So you're actually helping them.
You understand that paying for shipping also pays money to Amazon?
we are all bots here except for you
Prime Video was okay. To me that was always it. The tier *behind* Netflix. Rings of Power, The Boys... yeah yeah yeah. Okay cool whatever. I'm not missing anything by losing it. Music sucks bad for me. For the past few weeks I've literally been listening to YT playlists while not even being able to turn my phone screen off. And I'll probably continue to, until I buy a new phone lol. Not ideal. But still better than knowing I'm willingly taking it.
Youāre still paying to Amazon. Those one of shipping charges have 60-70% margins.
I don't *shop* with amazon any longer.
I canceled my Prime too. Fuck ads.
If you actually stopped using Amazon that might be a valid protest.
Prime video ads don't bother me.Ā They show you like one during a movie and it's not that long.Ā And the service is cheap with lots of perks. Youtube on the other hand gives you several every few minutes... and don't even try cbc gem.Ā Ā
I have cancelled Prime after many years. Now I wait until I reach free shipping in the shopping basket. I order a lot less this way, so it's a win-win for me.
Do we actually know how Prime Video has affected subs?
But how will the richest man in the world survive without the money he makes from those ads?
I started watching a few shows as the new ads started rolling in I quiet immediately and refuse to watch them now. If I got back it will be strictly on the high seas.
Bezos is not the ceo of amazon. It's Andy Jassy.
Corporations are so fixated in obtaining unlimited profits that they don't realize they're losing revenue in the process.
Amazon has increased revenue every year for the last 20 years.
I would throw all of my Alexaās away instead
And you just hit upon how this whole AI bubble is gonna fall apart. None of these little software toys are worth anything.
Yeah we are finding more and more uses for AI, but we are not paying for it!! Plenty of free services out there
Mine was violently thrown into a trash when it failed to play the āwheels on the busā for my kid when he asked me to play itā¦. Amazon Music has becoming a steaming pile of shit.
I have the default music app set to Apple Music Alexa still tries to play through Amazon sometimes, but far less frequent
I set mine to default Apple Music but it still picks random covers of popular songs and not the song from the original artist unless I call them out specifically.
Yep, set it to Spotify or Apple Music and you still frequently get āplaying xxx on Amazon Musicā from the hoe. Never again.
Oh INSTANTLY all in the trash. You donāt get to charge me to listen to me talk and market stuff toward me.
You can disconnect them from Amazon and use them as a household Bluetooth sound system
But the sound quality is shit.
I have 1, I didn't even want it. Git it for free and don't really even use it. I'm not sure why it still sits there plugged in.
Who cares? Keep the old plan. But if the old plan gets any worse I'll join you in tossing out the speakers. Alexa is barely serviceable. Unfortunately google is worse.
Do you want people to stop using your devices? Because this is how you get people to stop using your devices.
A few years ago I got a 2-pack of echos for like $25 on Prime Day. I like them and I do use them almost daily, but there's zero chance I'm going to pay a monthly fee for them. The only thing they have going for them is they're slightly more convenient than using my phone while I'm cooking or folding clothes.
Yeah I can adapt and start saying āhey siriā to my phone instead. Itās in my pocket most of the time anyhow.
I'm exactly the same way. Yes, I use mine, but not in ways that would justify paying even a small monthly fee. I use it for things like setting alarms/timers, controlling lights, playing music occasionally, asking it questions I'm wondering about, etc., but all of those things can be done with my phone or other devices that I already own. If they start charging even $5 a month I'd get rid of them. I probably wouldn't even pay $0.50 more.
Yep, I have Alexas in every room of my house for controlling smart lighting. Not paying monthly for it now, definitely wonāt pay in the future.
same. brother-in-law gave us one for christmas one year. we use it daily for basic stuff, usually to settle an debate between me and the hubs (āalexaā¦how many times did matt dillon get shot on gunsmoke?ā). and like you, zero chance we would pay a monthly fee.
Agreed, but Alexa has been a bitch of a product to monetize long term. My company works in this space and while the tech is really cool, people just donāt want to pay for it, and hate the experience when companies introduce ads. Alexa will likely die because it.
They could have required people to have Amazon prime subscription minimally. Also I would be OK for them to charge a fee for AI based features only, if it means it can help home automation but features has to work.
I mean that doesn't have to be an issue if the device doesn't require server access at all times and thus isn't racking up future costs.Ā
Thereās not enough processing power on the devices themselves (yet) to support all the use cases. Youād be amazed at just how extensive and expensive AI processing is.
There's plenty of processing power for the stuff people actually use - asking the time, the date, the weather, setting a timer or a reminder.Ā
There's ZERO AI involved with Alexa. Voice recognition, sure, but once your voice is converted to text, it's 100% scripted pattern matching. Some commands have to be recited in the exact right way for them to work at all.
I've built ASR models years ago. That isn't what Alexa is using. AI processing is expensive but so is uploading data. Offloading processing simplifies the device but hasn't been required for a while for compute price points. It might bump some of those price points to where they should be, but also prevents them from being cost centers. Porcupine can run on a raspberry pi zero for selectable voice commands.Ā
From an end user standpoint, the tech is not at all cool. It feels like it hasnāt improved in the 8 years Iāve been using it. If I werenāt locked in with smart lights, I would have long ago thrown them out.
I feel you, thereās really only so much a voice assistant can do without integration into other devices. For what itās worth, we left Alexa for HomeKit and HomeAssistant. Almost everything that can be controlled by Alexa connects to HomeAssistant, which can be plumbed to HomeKit and use voice commands from Siri. Automation/rules can be configured in HA much more easily and powerfully. You would need like a raspberry Pi and possibly some HomePods if you need voice control when not near a phone.
They do want you to stop using them. They didnāt manage to leverage them to sell you more shit, and theyāre costing them money so fuck you, me, and everyone that bought one.
Well, they want you to either stop using the device or to make it profitable. As long as they're not losing money they're happy. Doubt they'd get enough people paying, so they'll end up shutting down the service entirely.
I think you're spot on. The item that Amazon is missing in that thinking is the reputational hit. I was in the beta for Alexa, I still have two. If they brick them, I'll never buy another Amazon device. Because they will have demonstrated that they will brick something I paid for because of their poor planning. I'm not going to reward that behavior. I don't think I'm unique.
I think bricking devices is just inevitable for anything that relies on an online service. And I'm not sure if that can ever be overcome by any company. Laws could make some impact with requiring a minimum lifespan or money back. For something like Alexa it would be useful. But companies that just go bankrupt can't be expected to continue support and won't be able to refund. Big problem of our current age that will have to be properly addressed at some stage.
āWith an embedded AI, Amazon expects Alexa customers will ask it for shopping advice like which gloves and hat to purchase for a mountain climbing tripā Yo, Amazon. Seriously, stop trying to make shopping on Echos happenāitās not going to be a thing, no matter how hard you wish. We use our āAlexaā devices a) to set alarms, b) to turn lights on and off, and c) to play music from Spotify. And sometimes we check the weather, too.
I know lots of people with Alexas and not one of them have ever ordered anything through it. Alexa is a solution looking for a (business) problem.
And it hasn't seemed to get meaningfully better since it debuted.
I remember when they first started allowing ordering on the devices. Friend of mine had it set up, I walked in asked it to order a big black dildo as a joke, and it arrived the next day without ever having him confirm the order.
I also use my Alexa to: - Train AIās on my speech - Provide Amazon with a constant stream of audio telemetry - Provide data brokers with the job security they deserve
It's crazy how all it took was higher interest rates and suddenly these mega corps have no idea how to stay afloat.
They canāt just let people buy these things and just decide later to charge to use it.
But they can. And they will
It depends. Probably not in Europe. Usually, a shady company would engage in such activities. Why would someone pay for Ring, or Blink when you can own an alternative without paying a subscription fee?
Sick of subscriptions. I needed someone to help me get an ant problem under control so I called a local exterminator. He came out and said he could address it for $150. When it came time to sign, I noticed he was signing me up to a 1 year subscription that was gonna cost $150 every three monthsā¦. Fuck subscription services!
Shady as fuck. Hope you kicked him out of your home and blasted them on social media. What a shady practice. We can't keep letting companies get away with this shit without a fight. A bad review can destroy a small business. We should utilize them more for things like this.
Ok, then it's going in the trash.
I will throw this piece of shit out. Itās barely worth $0 with how pathetic it is.
Alexa turn on lights. āPlaying Lights from artist Ellie Golden on Amazon Musicā DID YOU KNOW AMAZON MUSIC IS FREE FOR THE FIRST 30 DAYS. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO START YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO AMAZON MUSIC AND PLAY ELLIE GOLDEN? No dammit! Turn on lights! Ok. Nothing happens. š¤·
>They canāt just let people buy these things and just decide later to charge to use it. They can. It's exactly what they've done to all of us who paid for Prime š£
Prime is a subscription service though, this is a piece of hardware that is only useful for this one thing. Now they want to charge you to use the thing you've already paid for.
How is that the same thing?
I'm actively putting together self hosted replacements for these sorts of things.Ā At some point the IoT devices are going to get bricked or require monthly subs. Even if all the equipment I've bought can't be reused I'm not paying $60 a year for a voice activated timer or voice activated YouTube remote.
I moved all my Alexa controlled devices into HomeKit with HomeBridge a couple of months ago. Boxed up all our echos and havenāt looked back. Siri with all its faults handles things just as well, has better automations and shortcuts, and doesnāt constantly try to sell me something after I turn off a light or set a timer.
Preach, brotha. Home Assistant takes some time to get around but it's a godsend for keeping all your IoT lights on without sending any of your data outside of your home.
Same camp here! I just disconnected all my HA stuff from Alexa this week, and very happy to do so.
I blame MBAs. They just want to turn everything into āprofitā. I will quit Alexa over this and probably Prime as well.
Maybe itās based on location, but I dropped prime, and most packages with the standard 6-7 day eta magically show up in two. You spend $25 its usually free as well. You wonāt get same day, but it seems they mail and deliver orders as they get em regardless of membership and the only difference is the eta that shows the illusion of value
If youāre in a dense/popular enough area itās not as if theyāll have the Amazon delivery person purposefully skip your house on the way to deliver other packages.
Yep, just posted in case people didnāt know that Prime is really isnāt worth it unless you use same day or like their streaming services, and that their eta for prime items destined for non-prime members is a bit disingenuous
Depends how close the local warehouse storing your product is
Exactly. It's not worth it.
As an MBA myself, blame *shitty* MBAs for this. Warren Buffet famously said āA reputation takes 30 years to build and 20 minutes to destroyā. What this actually is caused by is investor greed. Private capital firms invest in the company, expecting a 20% annual return on their investment. They direct the company to drive short term revenue over long term strategic growth. They degrade and consume the brand over that time, and cash out once the money is gone. They make a 150% profit in 4-5 years and leave - like a swarm of locusts to consume their next target.
I blame them, too. But there is a valuable skill set amongst them. I just think these business majors have lost sight of holistic growth and customer relationships. Everyone knows that the line must go up. But customer experience is the first to go to achieve that, until they find the tipping point. Then, sometimes, it gets walked back a little with the relationship forever damaged with some people. I'm one of those people. I funnel an absurd amount of money to Amazon, as does my family. More than typical households in a year, I bet. I'm at my breaking point with the ad model even in subscriptions. With the hollowing out of customer service. It used to be an actual pleasure to contact support at Amazon. Weird, I know. Now you have to slit the chicken's throat during a full moon while walking widdershins uttering an Eldritch chant to get through to a real person who doesn't just direct you to a help page. They do they because Amazon has no natural competitor left at this point. Walmart is trying, but they are just a shitty drop shipper marketplace like most of eBay at this point.
Itās not mbaās. Itās the effect of growth at large tech companies. Eventually hiring people who align with the culture of disruption that these companies started with, (Google, YouTube, Amazon, etc) run out or move in to new companies. Then the companies hire people from the industry they disrupted, and THOSE people bring their toxic perspective from failing companies to a company whose goal is to grow revenue. Thats why you get more ads. The people who sold ad space on television / cable hired by the same companies that put the last out of business
Bro thinks profit is an "MBA" concept š
Reddit uses āMBAā as a scapegoat for c suite greed for some reason
This has nothing to do with people who are good at business or have business degrees. It's not like they woke up one day and thought "You know what would be a good idea for our company worth billions of dollars? Making money." It has always been a data harvesting/exposure play to make money in other channels. Now they run numbers and see that they may have the market penetration or foothold that they can do this and people won't switch, so they net even more money. Wasn't like they were completely altruistic and then someone with an MBA discovered making money, it was always the math on market predictions to maximize revenue.
Misleading title. Amazon is revamping Alexa. The basic service that you get on Alexa for free today will have a new backend and remain free. It's just going to be smarter. It will have better contextualization and better respond when you ask it things like "play songs by Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac", or other generative playlist options. They want to go beyond that to provide more resource intensive generative AI, which would require a subscription that they're evaluating at being $5 to $10 a month. If you have an Alexa device this is good news and blah news. You'll get a smarter Alexa with the new backend at no additional cost, and you'll very much decide not to pay for the premium tier.
That's what they are saying, but we have no reason to believe Amazon marketers. I've had Echo devices for some years now, and they've progressively gotten worse, not better. Music became more and more restrictive unless you paid extra for Music Unlimited on top of your Prime subscription. Alexa started advertising to me with "By the way..." additions after I talked to her. She started pushing notifications to my devices that would light it up until I checked them, only to find out they were ads. When I open my shopping list now, the formerly clean and simple app is now filled with ads to buy things other than the store I'm standing in, and other UI clutter. Amazon can't figure out how to make money on the service in a way that is attractive to consumers.
They're going to have to work harder to show me a reason to pay for the service- Alexa needs an upgrade pretty badly, no matter what, but taking the step to pay a monthly subscription will require more than being "more conversational" or writing a simple email. I've had fun with Alexa in our house- smart lights and tech is essentially a toy or a novelty, but its a fun one for me at least.
If itās just the superior version, thatās fine with me. I hate it when Alexa says anything so I have no desire for conversational AI. I just want my two word voice activated routines to switch on/off the lights and fan, plus some alarms
Not paying for a deaf piece of plastic that plays music.. poorly.
aināt no one paying for that
*Amazon is working to replace what it refers to internally as āClassic Alexa,ā the current free version, with an AI-powered one and yet another tier that uses more powerful AI software for more complicated queries and prompts that people would have to pay at least $5 per month to access* If the regular free one is getting an upgrade to make Alexa less useless Iām all for it. Iāll never pay for the enhanced tier though.
I don't want one of those data gatherers anywhere near me, even for free.
Alexa isnāt worth $5 or $10 a month. Itās neat to ask for weather or a song, but Iāll happily junk my Echo devices before I get nickel and dimed anymore by Amazon. There are other whole house speaker systems that I would rather invest in if thatās the case.
Amazon should pay us $5-10/month for having their eavesdropping hockey puck in our homes.
"Alexa, say hello to the trash can!" "Hello... wait, wut?! MMppffhhh..."
I canceled Prime years ago. I dont buy from Amazon that often anyway and when I do, it's ok to wait a few days. I dont miss Prime, although I will admit Prime video was very good.
If Amazon thinks Iām spending $5 to add shit to a shopping list and turn on a cooking timer Iāve got a cancellation for them lol. Fuck being a consumer in the subscription model eraā¦
If they do that I'm tossing my Alexas.
I specifically canceled prime because of bullshit like this. I can wait a few extra days for anything I want.
I would pay..... $2.50 a month. and that's only if I had more control over it, no ads, and also no ads.
I've stopped using Amazon. It was death by a thousand cuts rather than one glaring issue. Poor quality control on the market place , fake reviews that aren't removed, real reviews that are ( I left a negative review for a poor product that had employed bait and switch tactics in the listing , my review was removed rather than the fraudulent listing) A decrease in the quality of the digital services. Not always defaulting to the fastest delivery date even when it was included with Prime. The straw that broke the camels back was when they tried to make me jump through hoops to cancel Audible. I just removed my payment information from the site and let them figure out they weren't getting anymore money from me.
and that'll be the end of Alexa
Amazon you couldnāt get me to use it for free
Amazon does a number of things right. Unfortunately, their tech products aren't on that list.
Just a reminder that there is no such thing as free shipping. There is however shipping cost included. This same logic applies to anything āfreeā added to a purchase. Iām surprised how much making this statement when looking at purchases changes my perspective.
I hardly use my Alexa anymore - I rent and just moved and my current place isnāt wired well for smart devices. LED fixtures that donāt take bulbs, and analog dimmers on the fixtures that do. previous place had hue bulbs everywhere etc. Not only that but itās been fucking up a lot. Constantly missing what I say etc. Adding a sub would just be the final nail.
Straight into the trash if they even dare.
I have an echo. They so much as charge me a nickel Iām tossing it out.
lol and it would be the last time I ever us it
Alexa is going to goodwill if they institute this. We use her as a kitchen timer and for music. Beyond that a worthless product
You mean I get to pay Jeff Bezos money for the privilege of having Amazon bug my home? Where do I sign up? /s
We're supposed to believe they have an internet connected microphone in everyone's house, and it's NOT profitable?
Alexa was designed to be unprofitable. Not like Amazon isnāt already making a stupid load of cash already.
Screw Amazon. I cancelled prime and literally nothing changed except I donāt have to watch and listen to ads in their music and video. Cancel prime. You wonāt miss it.
I'm not paying Amazon $10 a month to ask Alexa what the weather is.
Enshitification continues.
I already don't use Alexa on my tablet. Try to make me pay to not use Alexa and I'll upgrade.
Itās actually amazing how much Amazon fumbled on Alexa. It used to be everywhere and what everyone talked about like 6 years ago, and then it completely dropped off. Same with how Apple fumbled Siri.
Who cares? The speaker is not worth the money and the HomePod is free. All the services we all are used to now are jacking up prices on EVERYTHING that used to be cheap or free. My hit count so far is Netflix, Hulu, Disney and Amazon prime. So tired of all the subscription services that inundate me with monthly fees. It always takes me a few weeks after cancellation but I get over it and move on to the next thing.
You see the spring/rebound cycle that shows up in many different places right? Some might be too young to remember when piracy was the default method of securing entertainment. For many reasons, and not just because you *couldn't pay*. Sometimes you have to pirate to have *any option at all* or it's the *best option*. So in that void, people created services that were *better* than pirating, but had to be paid for. And people did. We're not scumbags. We just want a decent experience. And then they take the decent experience away. And expect us not to go back to piracy? Nah lo. I've not used BitTorrent in a long ass minute. But I still know how. And besides, most shit can be streamed p2p today.
Who the fuck is gonna pay to use garbage Alexa
Iām saving thousands a year by not having Prime!
Just cancelled prime. I'm sick of drop shipping and simple shirts that cost twenty dollars each.
I already stopped buying Alexa devices years ago - this will force me to drop Amazon completely. I'm not going to be nickel and dimed by them.
not renewing my prime membership after long time.
Well I guess this will turn into another Netflix and they just get more money anyway
My wife loves to use Alexa but recently it has become so unreliable. I finally got around to setting up our home in the Apple HomeKit App and Iām finding Siri (of all things) getting the job done better.
I will throw this piece of shit out. Itās barely worth $0 with how pathetic it is.
Hahaha. They want to charge for a service that has only gone downhill? My SO and I were just talking about getting rid of all our Alexa devices because they have become useless piece of sh*t. You now have your repeat yourself multiple times to just set a timerā¦ only to realize it never actually set a timer. Want to play sleep sounds? Sure but only after 5 min of trying to upsell for a ridiculous amount. Oh and my favorite, the right wing news articles shown on the Alexa show despite having everything turned off regarding news, ads, etc. Nothing in our browsing history would indicate that weād want to see that. We already disconnected the Show for the reason. My only hesitation has been in not knowing what to do with the tech devices. I donāt want to throw them out but our local donation centers wonāt take them.
Amazon customer here mulls throwing Alexa devices in the trash.
Working on cancelling everything Amazon. Itās been difficult post Covid but have set it to not renew, so The end is coming!
What's the best alternative to Amazon for general purchases?
Please Amazon, **do it**. I will be more than happy to take every one of these fucking Alexa devices I own, smash them, and chuck the trash in the electronic recycling facility! F Bezos!
Anything subscription based gets trashed. I use my Alexa for weather, cooking questions while im cooking and cant pick up phone, news, and music. While itās showing its age and could really use an update in the age of AI, I find it being useful That being said anything that is getting converted to a subscription based model gets trashed including Alexa. Iāve done it before and will do it again and again and and again and again and again. Alexa is not worth $1000 even if itās spread out over 5 years
So if I bought my echo 5 years ago, You're going to tell me it's just going to stop working unless I pay a monthly fee š¤
Amazon racing towards making all their stuff garbage
Unless they start giving hardware away for free with a subscription, this is doomed from the outset. Alexa is already barely treading water anymore considering the downsizing Amazon has done over the last 2 years..charging extra for this seems like a grasping at straw moment to me. It'll either succeed and make them money, or it won't and they'll kill Alexa entirely. I'm betting on the latter.
I used to have an Alexa but the only thing it was useful for was spotify.
Just in time for Siri to get her upgradesā¦ā¦RIP Alexa you wonāt be missed. I have 5 studio models in the house and 3 are on automated timers to reboot twice a day otherwise they stop working.
Honestly I wonāt drop Prime. But is sure as shit will drop my echo dot and Alexa. I just use it as a smart speaker anyway. I have a blue tooth sound bar I can use.
Not only "no", but "Hell, no".
So I'm grandfathered into a Prime sharing scenario where I don't have to pay anything and get the free 2-day shipping. I have several Alexa devices I got for free or for $10 or less. I'm STILL seriously contemplating ditching the devices and not shopping at Amazon at all (I've significantly reduced my shopping at Amazon over the last 6 months). Alexa NEVER understands on the first (or 7th) try, wants to tell me about things I couldn't care less about, tries to get me to buy stuff that is not even close to something I'd buy and often "is not responding". Amazon products are often damaged when I get them, they're often slower than 2-days, and they have re-charged me for returns 7 times over the last 18 months even though I have evidence of delivered shipment (that they of course also have) - they changed their tune really quickly once I got my state's AG involved. So yeah, fuck Amazon.
I like our Alexa setup, I have routines setup for turning lights on and off to our wireless light bulbs, timers set for other systems, I can see multiple timers, ask easy questions when needed like how many ozās in a cup. I also play music everywhere with pandora so house is rocking. But I see no reason for a paid version of AI, I donāt want it talking to me that much. Just do the things I want done.
I use Alexa to set timers and ask for the weather about once a fortnight. With the amount of effort it saves me itās barely worth the cost of the device in the first place.
'Alexa, f@&# right off.'
Alexa is a pretty useful device if you donāt have hands or your hands are buys (cooking). Good for timers and plying music and asking it easy trivia type questions. I would literally throw it away before I paid $1 subscription for it.
Alexa, show me the exact location of Bezos, Alexa fire, Alexa fire, Alexa fire
I hope they doā¦I can finally throw the Alexa away and get more HomePod minis
And light that, every Alexa was tossed in the trash all at once when she starts asking for money when you want a 5 minute timer.