(just so everyone knows, i fixed it with a stealth edit)
We listen to a lot of music on it. We don’t have any issues with it being unable to identify a song, except when it’s a song title multiple artists have used.
Interesting conversation. I haven’t been able to use my dots to play music since I moved out of the house I shared with my ex … despite the fact we thought things were set up properly after my move, as far as I could tell saying “Alexa, play HPR” resulted in silence.
It turned out that I was turning music off and on at the old house, perplexing my ex to no end 
since he could not figure out why his speakers would randomly play stuff. We got that part sorted but now Alexa does not like me well enough to play music for me … she just says “sorry, that device is off line” no matter what I ask for. Oh well. That’s why god made us slaves to multiple digital devices - I just listen through my computer or phone instead.
As to what Alexa IS good for, probably the single most frequent use I have is to ask for help changing amounts/units of measure when I’m cooking - “Alexa, how much does 1/3 cup of butter weigh in grams?” and that sort of thing.
I also often ask when sunrise and sunset are, so that I can figure out whether I have time to go for a run in the evening before it gets too dark, or if I’m awake early in the morning and I’m impatient, I know how long I’ll have to wait before it gets light enough to run.
What is your music source? If you have Spotify and connect it to the echo the selection is pretty good. Also good if you have Amazon Prime, which includes a lot of music, or Amazon Music which includes a lot more. Also any music that you purchased through Amazon is there.
I also use it to control some Phillips Hue lights, and a smart switch for my ceiling fan. I use it as a hands-free kitchen timer (Alexa set a timer for 7 minutes). I set reminders (Alexa set a reminder for 3:00 to give the cat her pill).
I use it for the grocery list. If I use something up I don’t have to look for a pen and write it down. And you can create any list you want. I have a Home Depot list.
It’s not life changing but a lot of use for the low cost.
My music is on iTunes. But mostly I want to listen to NPR.
I do the grocery list to. But I just add it manually to the Alexa app on my phone.
You can use it to listen to your local NPR station, or listen to NPR podcasts.
I’ve used mine to listen to local NPR stations, which is great since reception here in the boonies is awful. Most recently, I’ve used it to set reminders. Instead of just setting a timer, I may say “Remind me to start supper in 90 minutes” or “Remind me to pick up Sally at 3:30” I even have a recurring reminder to feed the dog at 5 - there have been times when I’d get busy and poor Higgs wasted away! 
My inlaws use theirs to ask what the date is and what time it is. Also “When did < celebrity > die?” I know this because their device is tied to my account and I can review interactions on my tablet. We’re a bit concerned about dementia in both of them, so this is an easy way to do a little monitoring. If their interactions with Alexa get too weird, we’ll have some warning.
No I can’t. There is something wrong with the set-up, and nothing my ex or my son have tried (they’re both pretty tech savvy) can fix it. No matter what I tell it to play (call letters, HPR, NPR, songs or playlists by name) it says, “sorry, that device is off line.”
I recognize that the set-up should work - it’s theoretically possible, but there is a glitch somewhere and no one can figure it out.
In addition to the things mentioned above, I sometimes use mine for “Rain Sounds” for white noise while sleeping.
Yeah, that’s a good question. It works on mine. I sometimes use it while I’m cooking and just say “Alexa, play the latest episode of Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” and it’ll find it and serve right up. Similarly, I can say “play WBEZ” (local NPR affiliate) and it will do so. But it plays it through iHeart Radio. I know some stations it plays through TuneIn Radio. I have both those apps on my phone, so I assume somehow it’s linked to that phone (the Alexa app is linked to that phone, too)? It’s been so long since I set it up that I don’t remember what happened, but I don’t remember having to do anything explicit to set it up – I just always had those apps on my devices. (Or are they not linked at all and all Echo owners are supposed to have access to stations from those apps? If they are linked, how do I know which apps can be used with the Echo?)
Now I listen to NPR through it. It took me 6 months to finally pair her up with my sound system. I’m usually not too specific about particular songs, I’ll just say: “play (artist)”. It is cool, though, to ask for whatever song or artist I never heard of who’s being discussed somewhere.
In addition to the music, timers, cooking measurement conversions, light switches, shopping lists, and NPR listening referenced above, I will also use it to tune into MLB radio during the baseball season. I have, once or twice, used it as an intercom system, as well. But my wife has not been terribly pleased or amused when I have done so.
I do the grocery list thing but sync it to my AnyList app since that’s what I use for shopping (and packing, etc) lists. I like that I can make a meal plan and then pull items directly from my recipes into my grocery list. I also like that I can organize the list categories to match the layout of my store so things are listed in the order I encounter them (or at least by the correct aisle).
So really I guess that’s more of a plug for AnyList with an aside that I use the Echo devices to add items to the grocery list.
Other than that, it’s mainly for timers and music. For the music it helps that I have various playlists in Amazon Music that I can call up, so it normally plays what I want.
Oh, and mine is a Echo Show so I can use it to show my family pictures from this day as the default background, so since I use Amazon Photos as my photo backup/organization service that is a nice little feature too - sort of a digital photo frame add-on.
It’s possible. I might try playing around with it. It doesn’t seem to have problems with other (non-music) requests, and I agree that asking for artists or albums works better than songs.
Spotify. I’ve linked it, and I often just control what’s playing on the Echo via Spotify on my phone. That works fine, but it would be nice if the voice control was reliable.
I despise this too. If anyone knows the secret to turn this off, please do share!
I want to do this. I use todoist for the grocery list, and I’ve installed the todoist skill. According to everything I’ve read, when I add things to ‘grocery’ list, it should add them to the todoist list. But, alas, they always go the the default Alexa list instead. And should I specify ‘with todoist’ in the command, Alexa inevitably thinks I wanted it added to the ‘to-do list.’
The dog’s still dead. Sorry.
On its own the Echo will tell you the status of an amazon order. When you see the yellow ring circling the top, ask, “Alexa, what is my notification?” and she’ll tell you when a delivery is expected.
It should work. You have to turn on some permissions for the Todoist skill within the Alexa management stuff.
I know it works for Anylist, which appears to be a bit more flexible. I think with Todoist you only get “Alexa Shopping List” and “Alexa To-do List” as possible destinations for your new item/task.
More info here: Use Amazon Alexa with Todoist
It doesn’t, though. Just for starters, the Todoist help page you link to says:
As soon as the skill is enabled and your Todoist account is linked, you’ll see two new projects, Alexa Shopping List and Alexa To-do List in Todoist.
This did not happen. I can create projects with those names manually. Nothing syncs to them. I’d be curious if anyone is successfully using the Todoist skill, but I’m not really looking for debugging help in this thread. It’s just not a huge deal to me.
Oh yeah, that too…”now playing Rain Sounds, by Sleep Jar”.