Amazon Bows $79 Dot for Kids With Year of Subscription Content for Free

Amazon began taking pre-orders Wednesday for a $79 Echo Dot aimed at kids, along with a subscription service called FreeTime on Alexa. It will also roll out the $3-per-month subscription with parental controls and “family-focused” features including explicit song filtering, bedtime limits, educational Q&A, household communications, positive reinforcement for using the word "please” and disabled voice purchasing, it said. Teaching politeness in the age of smart speakers has been a topic on social media as the word “please” isn’t part of a command to voice assistants; and disabling voice purchasing and access to songs with explicit lyrics has been a concern among parents since voice control allows anyone in the household to access a smart speaker. The $79 Kids Edition Dot -- available in blue, green and red -- costs $30 more than the standard Echo Dot and includes a year of FreeTime Unlimited with access to entertaining and educational content; ad-free radio stations and playlists; 300 Audible books for kids; and a “growing list” of premium kids skills from Disney, National Geographic and Nickelodeon, said Amazon. Alexa will respond with jokes and other kid-appropriate content when a child says, "Alexa, I'm bored," said the company. FreeTime allows household announcements over the Dot, enabling parents to call kids to dinner, leave a message or use the Drop In feature to hear anything within range of the Dot from another Echo device in the home, it said. FreeTime on Alexa will roll out to existing Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Plus owners via a free, over-the-air software update starting May 9, also the shipping date for the kids’ Dot, it said.