Anyone out there starting their day with a dose of Alexa exasperation?

…just like me.

Monday;

Me: “Alexa, play downtempo music”

Alexa: “Ok. Playing downtemp music – Downtempo from Amazon Music”

Me: “I love you, Alexa”

Tuesday;

Me: “Alexa, play downtempo music”

Alexa: “I can’t find Brown Temple music in your playlist”

Me: “Strange, you heard me just fine yesterday. Alexa, Play d-o-w-n-t-e-m-p-o music.”

Alexa: “I can’t find Crowd Femple music.”

Me: “WTF! Alexa, play DOWN TEMPO music.”

Alexa: “Playing downtempo music – Downtempo from Amazon Music.”

Wednesday;

Me: “Alexa, play downtempo music.”

Alexa: “I can’t find downtempo music in your playlist.”

Me: “@#*K me, Alexa you just played downtempo yesterday!”

Alexa: “Something went wrong.”

Me: “Alexa, play DOWN TEMPO music.”

Alexa: “I can’t find downtempo music.”

Alexa, dear…I didn’t mean it. [beeoch]

But there are seemingly daily changes back at “Cloud – Amazon” which have manifested at my end of the signal chain in the following way;

Day #1 – music genre Downtempo exists and plays from Amazon Music

Day #2 – Downtempo does not exist at all as a genre (and yes, I looked on the Alexa app and verified the word Downtempo was understood correctly).

Day #3 – Asking Alexa to play Downtempo serves up 50’s swing and Crooner songs (Are you shi^^ing me?). I love Swing, but asked for Downtempo!

Day #4 – Downtempo is again Downtempo.

From one day to the next it’s like spinning a bottle. I often marvel at the complexity Amazon must face when it comes to blanket functionality for the masses vs. personal preferences. While I didn’t invent the term Downtempo for the musical genre (a genre of electronic dance music with influences from jazz, bossa nova, and dub reggae), it’s a matter of definitions and semantics to be reckoned with on a grand scale.

Granted, I am enamored with my Dots and am [mostly] tolerant of misbehavior from dear, nascent Alexa. I find Echo very useful for a fairly narrow range of applications.

Here’s my list of most useful functions:

Playing Music: Amazon Music even has some obscure genres and artists like Yodeling, Brave Combo and Lobo.

Weather: Although, here in New England it’s likely raining or going to rain.

Controlling Home Automation: As long as there aren’t so many devices you can’t remember what you called them.

Shopping List: “Alexa, add bell peppers.” Auto-magically, there it is on my shopping list

The Weakest Link

Meanwhile, for Amazon’s +75% market share, it cannot create a decent UX for an App – even if Alexa’s life depended on it. And ultimately, it does.

Do you experience Alexa Angst?

What are your favorite Echo functions?