Reading A Christmas Carol, an oft-lauded Christmas and ghost hyphenate tale penned by Charles Dickens, can be the perfect way to celebrate the holidays, possibly beside a crackling fireplace, with earnest listeners swathed in warm blankets. For Amazon Echo owners, as it turns out, this can actually be possible, with the aforementioned tale narrated by none other than Tim Curry.
Let Tim Curry Read A Christmas Carol For You
Users can now ask Alexa to read the Dickens classic to them, exquisitely narrated by Curry, whose sotto voce performance perfectly ties in with the holiday season. Some would be surprised to find out that this is actually not Curry's first involvement with the famous tale, having portrayed Scrooge in the 1997 animated adaptation.
From now until Jan. 3, 2017, Alexa customers can listen to a holiday classic for free. #JustAsk "Alexa, read A Christmas Carol from Audible" pic.twitter.com/fSIu6V1Xsv
— Amazon Echo (@amazonecho) December 23, 2016
Those who have Alexa-enabled devices in their household, such as an Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Dot, or similar devices, can bark "Alexa, read A Christmas Carol from audible," and the audiobook immediately begins.
It's Also On YouTube
But how about after Christmas? Well, Amazon is extending the holiday season up to Jan. 3, 2017, so users can still command Alexa up to a few days after the new year. Even better, the Audible version of the tale in question has been made available on YouTube, so those without Alexa-enabled devices should still be treated to a Curry-narrated A Christmas Carol, though there's no assurance as to how long it'll stay on YouTube.
The audiobook version of A Christmas Carol clocks in around three and a half hours, so be sure to clear up schedules beforehand.
Alexa is Amazon's proprietary voice-enabled virtual assistant, loaded with what Amazon calls "skills" that lets it perform commands integrated into Alexa-enabled devices and apps. Alexa comes built-in with Amazon smart speaker devices, such as the aforementioned Echo, Echo Dot, and a variety of third-party gear.
Google has an answer to Amazon's smart speaker, called Home, but it's still a fairly incipient effort, and it would likely need a lot more support from third-party apps to get enough traction that'll make it a worthy Alexa competitor.
Those who have managed to snag Amazon Alexa devices this Christmas should try this feature out before it's pulled. This, however, is possibly not the last Alexa and Audible collaboration, and users would most likely see another season-appropriate stories available in the long run. Perhaps The Graveyard Book for next Halloween?
Have you tried this with Alexa? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
