[DEPRECATED] Echo Speaks

This looks extremely interesting, but as others have said, I would prefer a local cookie solution. I don't even have a problem with the cut/paste of the cookie that was done in the past for Dan's TTS solution, as long as there is a way to know when the cookie expires.

Restoring the local option is on my road map.
There is an option to manually enter the cookie for now on the heroku login page.
You will get notified if enabled when it expires.
I will restore local install support asap.

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Thank you!

Just my 2¢, probably the minority... but I'm happy with the Heroku solution.

After using Echo Speaks for a few days I like it. I'm very happy that I can send a message to all 9 of my echos. Since it's not a synced message, there's a bit of an echo throughout the house, but that's okay. Not having the 2 or 3 device limit is really great. I haven't been able to figure out how to set volume levels per message yet. I use all of my echos for Spotify and that's usually a lower volume than the notifications like "the dryer is finished" etc.

I understand, and even voted for local cookie storage. I don't think the Heroku should be removed though. My hope is that there are a lot of people who would benefit from having some non-local cookie storage solution until Amazon releases a proper API for this. Not all of us run computing farms in our basement :slight_smile:

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Look at the documentation for the setVolumeSpeakAndRestore() commands

@homeauto2112

The way to get setvolumespeakrestore to work is likely through the custom command system of RM.

Good point. I hadn't thought about a custom command. I'll give that a go later today and post up how it went.

Until there as an app built that deals specifically with these commands, this will be the way to do automatons with echo speaks I think. Hmm now that I am thinking, maybe WATO as well.

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I have an unfinished companion app that will be in v3.0. I just need to get inspired to finish it :wink:

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Everybody switched to Google.
I only had one echo in total and wanted out when I saw the home hub.
The price made it all too good to pass up.

See I've just never been that impressed with the google homes. I have a few but rarely use them.

I do like that they have a more natural speech to them when they speak and that there are different voices

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I locked into the Echo because it was the first device where I could stream music into all 9 room simultaneously without any delays, skips or other nonsense. It just worked, as all tech should :wink: I tried for years to shoehorn into an AirPlay solution, but it never worked consistently. Once this was up and running, it didn't make sense to try and change it out for anything else.

I myself was thinking about moving away from Alexa about 4 monthes ago then suddenly it was like amazon was on a mission with update after update with a new app and tons of new features. It started to feel like they were listening to what users wanted.

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I was reluctant to switch from Alexa for the exact same reasons. However, I was disappointed with the original echo show and hoped the second one would be a lot better. Well, I bought it and was disappointed once again. It was an improvement, but just wasn't what I had hoped.

Then I got the Google Home hub. Firstly, it recognized what I was saying a lot better. I feel like the echo's are actually regressing with their voice accuracy as they add more and more integrations (probably just my accent :wink:).

Secondly, I use google photos and I love the slide show that it auto creates. The Echo version of this SUCKS in comparison.

Thirdly, the ability to string commands together seamlessly, and create routines using text based commands...fantatstic.

Lastly, my wife actually uses one in the kitchen because it actually has helpful videos and recipes. Echo :-1:

With ALL that said. I cant give up Alexa yet. Amazon has been aggressively adding feature and moving at a pace that Google has always struggled to keep up with. I know the moment I sell my Echo devices, I'd probably regret it. Plus she's my first love and totally changed the game when I got my first preorder.

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I do like how Alexa handles skills better.
Linking Tile tracker has been has been confusing, even for me...

Having Amazon Prime, Fire TVs, and tablets made the jump into the Alexa ecosystem a smart move.

While the Google Home stuff looks awesome, I didn’t want to complicate things more, plus we all know Google’s business model. I don’t trust Amazon any more than Google but I picked my devil to sleep with.

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Well, I started to play around with the custom commands and I was getting success at setting volumes and messages.

And then .....

I thought, "I wonder if there is a volume setting if I use the "on this music device" in RM. And, of course, there was. So, I can set the volume using the "music device" setting to set the volume of single/multiple echos in RM. Of course it took me about 45 minutes of mucking around before that thought graced me. Now, it doesn't sync the message sending so there is a bit of an echo as the message reaches multiple echos, but at least I don't have to create 10 different custom commands for the messages I have.

However, after playing with other options in the custom commands, you can use RM to play music, tell jokes and all kinds of there assorted Alexa commands.

What a great job @tonesto7!!!!!

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To those that have been asking for local server support I just want you to know it's coming in the next release.
I don't foresee it being any more than 1-2 days tops.

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How did you do this exactly? I found a "Set Level" under Control Music Player, but when I use that and set a level to say 5, my Echos do not work. As soon as I remove that setting they work.