This feels like one of those things where if they had just charged more per device and tried to make it as useful/unobtrusive as possible it would have been bet

This feels like one of those things where if they had just charged more per device and tried to make it as useful/unobtrusive as possible it would have been better than trying to use it as an ad/purchase machine and subsidize the hardware. I like my Echo and would have paid more for it, especially if it wasn't always trying to sell me things via Amazon Shopping and I trusted it to not record me for advertising.