WiiM's Integration with Amazon Music / Alexa

[Witterings]

If I have a Pro or a Pro Plus, can I give Alexa voice commands to it and can it be set to use the microphone built into the WiiM itself or do I need a remote (would need to buy one for the Pro)?

Also I've never really used the Alexa App on my phone / tablet apart from setting up devices, can I also use this "in effect" as a remote to give voice commands and if within the App I've set a WiiM as a preferred speaker so I can just say "Alexa Play Rock Music" and it'll automatically use the designated WiiM.

 

[Mr Ee]

If I have a Pro or a Pro Plus, can I give Alexa voice commands to it and can it be set to use the microphone built into the WiiM itself or do I need a remote (would need to buy one fir the Pro)?

Also I've never really used the Alexa App on my phone / tablet apart from setting up devices, can I also use this "im effect" as a remote to give voice commands and set a WiiM as a preferred speaker so I can just say "Alexa Play Rock Music" and it'll automatically use the designated WiiM.

I'm pretty sure I recall wiim saying the mic on the device itself is used only for latency measurements.

Edit: there is this, but I also recall a post where they explicitly said it's not used for other things.

https://forum.wiimhome.com/resources/wiim-pro-q-as.4/update/11/bookmark

Note sure if I messed up a simple copy / paste!
Tey this one

WiiM Pro Q&As - Updates

forum.wiimhome.com

 

[Mr Ee]

Found it.

WiiM and user privacy

I have been looking for an audio streamer. A friend suggested the WiiM Pro or the new one Plus. However, another friend raised privacy concerns regarding these products. He said the built-in mic can be a listening device and the constant forced-on firmware upgrades are also a concern. What do...

forum.wiimhome.com

As for your other question re. Alexa on your device, I'll let someone who actually uses Alexa reply!

 

[Witterings]

I'm pretty sure I recall wiim saying the mic on the device itself is used only for latency measurements.

Edit: there is this, but I also recall a post where they explicitly said it's not used for other things.

https://forum.wiimhome.com/resources/wiim-pro-q-as.4/update/11/bookmark

That's what I thought but you've saved my hours of trawling to try and find out so thank you

 

[Burnside]

The WiiM Units themselves only have a tiny mic for sync purposes, so you'd need the WiiM remote, an echo or the "tap/talk to alexa" feature found in the Amazon Alexa or Amazon Music apps.

You might find the first part of this post helpful (before it starts discussing the Echo Link): https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/...usic-problems-getting-started.2016/post-30459

 

[Wiimer]

If I have a Pro or a Pro Plus, can I give Alexa voice commands to it and can it be set to use the microphone built into the WiiM itself or do I need a remote (would need to buy one for the Pro)?

Also I've never really used the Alexa App on my phone / tablet apart from setting up devices, can I also use this "in effect" as a remote to give voice commands and if within the App I've set a WiiM as a preferred speaker so I can just say "Alexa Play Rock Music" and it'll automatically use the designated WiiM.

If there is a problem, it is that if you start Amazon music playback on the WiiM app, it cannot be controlled by voice. For example, if you press the preset button on the remote to play AMU, You would not be able to use voice control.

 

[Burnside]

If there is a problem, it is that if you start Amazon music playback on the WiiM app, it cannot be controlled by voice. For example, if you press the preset button on the remote to play AMU, You would not be able to use voice control.

Isn’t that the same when casting from the Amazon Music app, as Alexa can only control streams it initiated?

 

[Burnside]

If there is a problem, it is that if you start Amazon music playback on the WiiM app, it cannot be controlled by voice. For example, if you press the preset button on the remote to play AMU, You would not be able to use voice control.

Is that also the case if you add the WiiM device name to the Alexa command e.g. Alexa, stop music on ultra?

 

[Wiimer]

Isn’t that the same when casting from the Amazon Music app, as Alexa can only control streams it initiated?

If I'm not mistaken, if you start playback with Alexa Cast, you can voice control it. Will try later, but I don't have Unlimited anymore.

 

[Wiimer]

Is that also the case if you add the WiiM device name to the Alexa command e.g. Alexa, stop music on ultra?

I have never done that. I will try that too. Were you able to do it?

 

[Burnside]

If I'm not mistaken, if you start playback with Alexa Cast, you can voice control it. Will try later, but I don't have Unlimited anymore.

No problem, I’ll give it a go here and report back

 

[Burnside]

If I'm not mistaken, if you start playback with Alexa Cast, you can voice control it. Will try later, but I don't have Unlimited anymore.

You’re correct, you can

 

[Burnside]

I have never done that. I will try that too. Were you able to do it?

Mixed results. It managed to stop playback for me, but when I asked it to resume it restarted an earlier stream I had played there from the Amazon music app. I have the Amazon music family plan which allows up to 6 parallel streams, so maybe that confused matters. I’d say you can take your chances with this

 

[Wiimer]

Is that also the case if you add the WiiM device name to the Alexa command e.g. Alexa, stop music on ultra?

Yes, as you say, the music can be stopped. But I think what I can do may be limited.

I have renamed Ultra to "Audio".

When I yell "Alexa audio next song", she replies "Audio is streaming....".

Special spells may be needed.

 

[Witterings]

I just thought I'd clarify the reason for asking, I'm trying to help someone else setup their system and knowing what they need to buy to get it to work without telling them to spend money when they don't need to.

For me personally I had (and still have) Echo Dots before I had WiiM's and I've just set those up with using a WiiM as a preferred speaker and they work superbly.

He doesn't already have any other Alexa enable devices but wants to use voice command so I'm just trying to find the easiest and most cost effective way of doing it to give him some options and hence why I was asking if it can be done from a phone / tablet saving the cost or a remote or Echo Dot.

I really like the way I have mine set up as I don't need my phone switched on (not a big user can be off for days at a time) or go looking for a remote but can just call out to the Echo Dot.

Cheers for everyone's input though!