I was one of the first people to get an Echo when they were offered to prime members at $99 in November 2014. It has quickly become a great device for our fami

I was one of the first people to get an Echo when they were offered to prime members at $99 in November 2014. It has quickly become a great device for our family. Some of our thoughts: * The integration with third party services has put it into a new realm of usefulness. * I am still disappointed I cannot tell it to read me a book from anything but Audible. I would love to say, "Read Hamlet from Guttenberg." * The connection between Echo and Prime Music is sensational. If you like genres of music over specific artists, it really shines. * If you have kids, the Echo is a blast for them to interact with. Endless questions from your kids is great to hear. * It would be awesome if they opened it up more. I could see it being a game master for family games of trivia or spelling contests. * I'd say we use the Echo for 3-4 hours a day with a majority of the time used to stream music. "Amazon, play Kidz Bop 28" is a common refrain. * When playing scrabble we use it as a timer. * We've never used it to order anything from Amazon. * We do use it to compile shopping lists. I was surprised how quickly this became an essential part of our household. So easy to say, "Amazon, add olive oil to shopping list." * You can choose between Alexa and Amazon as they wake word. We use Amazon since it is easier for the kids to register with the Echo. * You cannot change the wake word from those two. * We use the Android app for non voice control and it has gotten much better recently. * The news function could use a ton of work. I don't want to hear things I am not interested in from NPR. * It listens to everything. If you happen to mention Amazon in conversation it'll pick it up, even if you are 2 rooms away. * At $99 it is a device I'd recommend to almost any family. At $179 I couldn't justify buying one. Anyway, they have a winner for families if the price point was lower. I am very glad we got ours for $99.