Alexa confounding music

[mtbc]

Perhaps through our Amazon account, Alexa seems to have the ability to play us songs on request. However, I typically find the experience more frustrating than it is worth. Sometimes it will pick some strange new mix of a song, rather than the well-known original that I wanted. Today, when I tried, first I aimed for a choral work, where it found me the non-choral euphonium version. So, changing gear, I aimed instead for the Song of the Volga Boatmen, thus discovering that there are songs by some group called the Boatmen, then next try it offered the Glenn Miller treatment. Thinking that mainstream classical should be easy, then I tried for the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, which had Alexa talking to me about watching Queen of the Damned. So, I gave up and listened to the radio instead. The strategy of suggesting a likely artist for the title is differently frustrating because, on failure, Alexa launches into something else by that artist.

Comments

[fred_mouse]

That sounds like either amazingly bad coding, or really half-arsed AI implementation. Either way, entirely understandably frustrating!

[thewayne]

Wow. Such a useful device for listening to music!

[darkoshi]

I suspect there's a legal reason it won't play specific songs by specific artists. I guess YouTube can get away with it because the music owners can choose to allow or disallow it (along with monetization for them).