Alexa-Plus has been pushed out. I despise the new default voice. It's a combination of vocal fry 🍳 and nasal 👃

[QueerDuck]

I will miss the smoky digital warmth of the old Alexa voice. --- Fortunately, there are four feminine voices to choose from, and we've chosen "Feminine Voice #2" as being the least annoying. I hope we get used to it.

I'm not thrilled with the four male voices either. The start off bad and get slightly better. --- Someday soon, I hope they offer a proper RP British male voice again.

[Ocelot II]

1. The new voice is awful - a perky Valley Girl teenage voice. Why did they think people would like that?

You can change it, though, by telling it "Alexa, change your voice." The default voice is called "Feminine 1, upbeat - steady and energetic," although it should be called "juvenile and annoying." I changed the voice to "Masculine 4, calm - centered and peaceful." It's bland and unobtrusive, a definite improvement over Squeaky Middle Schooler.

[Gaugamela]

2. You can revert to the old voice. Just say "Alexa, switch back to old voice."

I agree about the new voice. My assumption is that it’s meant to appeal to a younger crowd.

[QueerDuck]

3. I knew that was a possibility when it was in "beta" or trial mode...

... people could check it out and then switch back. But since this has been forced on us, I believe this is the new normal.

The trade-off is that the new Alexa is supposed to be slightly smarter and more intuitive and that Alexa Routines can be created verbally rather than the clunky pick-poke-type in the Alexa app.

I'd also heard that the new Alexa will break some complex routines that had been scripted the old way... so it remains to be seen what happens tonight for our "goodnight" routine that dims some lights, turns off other lights, turns on security lights, turns on the Ring alarm and activates our indoor security cameras (which are normally off unless the alarm is set.)