Amazon has officially launched its Celebrity Voice Program for its Echo devices. The first entry into this program is Samuel L Jackson. How can you not automatically think of your favorite Pulp Fiction or Capital One commercial lines? Seriously, who else would be a better introduction to Amazon’s Celebrity Voice Program? I know you are going to shout “James Earl Jones”. I agree he would be an excellent addition to the program. Hopefully Mr Jones will be added in the future.

What is very interesting about this story is that, although Samuel L Jackson did read many lines for this initiative, he did not need to read every line that can be spoken on your Echo device. Amazon used their neural text-to-speech program to fill in the gaps and complete the vocabulary. And it works. Sam’s voice sounds very natural as if he is actually sitting in your device and talking to you.

SET-UP

Set up is very easy and took me about 2 minutes tops. Below are the instructions on how to enable the great Jules Winnfield (Sam’s character in Pulp Fiction).

• Say to your Echo device – “Alexa, introduce me to Samuel L Jackson”.
• A short introduction to Samuel L Jackson will begin playing.
• Alexa will ask for approval of the .99 cost
• Next Alexa will ask if you want the clean or explicit version
  • I chose explicit. Alexa did then assure me this setting could be changed later

That is all there is to it. Very simple, seamless and easy to do.

NOTE

Currently English is the only option. It will be really interesting if Amazon can translate Sam’s (or any celberity’s voice) actual voice into other languages in the future. I have not seen anywhere that this will happen. Simply curious.

It is also important to know that Sam Jackson’s voice does not completely replace Alexa’s. To activate a response from Sam Jackson you will have to say “Alexa, ask Sam….”. You can view a list of commands at Amazon

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have found adding Samuel L Jackson to my life has been a lot of fun. The cost of .99 is not prohibitive at all. I do not know if Amazon will charge .99 for each additional voice they add to their Celebrity Voice Program or if they will offer a pay once get all option. I am really looking forward to the future voices Amazon adds. Bring on Darth Vader, Christopher Walker, and Joe Pesci. Who would you like to see added?

**note: this is not a sponsored post. I purchased this product for my personal use and decided to review it. Tech Insite may however earn a commission when you click on an ad or affiliate link.**