We have an Alexa now. We’re moving into modern times, as you can see. The decision to get one was prompted by our eldest, who revealed to us that they actually have one at his preschool, and they pull it out whenever it’s someone’s birthday (which seems to be every week). Now we have one, I understand the appeal. This thing has a whole heap of bass in its tiny body and it can liven up a room in an instant. However, it’s bringing about problems in this house.
As someone that has been using Spotify for some time, I’ve come to accept that there are a few gaps in the Amazon selection. Most of the time, they are completely reasonable omissions. While I’m not happy with them, I understand why there may be gaps with some more obscure releases from some fairly obscure artists. As someone that listens to a lot of that stuff, it can get irritating, but I can make do.
While it would be easy for me to go around looking for missing music and then complaining about it, when I go about my typical day and I need Alexa to set things off with a popular song that’s in my head and it hasn’t got it, it’s really not good enough. I’m someone that listens to a lot of albums and so many of my favourites just aren’t there. An unforgivable example is first BLACKstreet album.
I’ll hail Amazon up for the playlists though. They do a pretty good job with those and they tend it hit the spot whenever I go through those, but I really can’t forgive them for denying me an impromptu session with some of my favourites. I get that those that mostly just listen to Pop music and currently releases are going to be fine with the content found on Amazon Music, and won’t see the problems, but I come across them on the regular.
The reason this thing is really causing trouble in the household is because of my eldest. As I say, he had his Echo initiation months before the rest of us did, and he’s always sure to remind us by taking up the role of music selector. Unfortunate for us, that just means a healthy dose of the Frozen soundtracks and plenty of Mickey Mouse singalongs. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hack it.
Where these two topics collide is that the one Mickey Mouse album I actually rate, the Rap one from the ‘90s – something I used to bang back in the day – isn’t on Amazon Music Unlimited. If they can fix this, they’ll solve a big issue in my life right now.