Say goodbye to that celebrity voice on your Alexa.
We have bad news if you paid for some of those optional celebrity voices on your Amazon Alexa speaker over the years. Not only are those voices no longer available, but Amazon will be removing them from Alexa devices, even if you paid for one.
In 2019, Amazon partnered with the iconic actor Samuel L. Jackson to add a bit of spunk to its speaker lineup. It started as a fun $0.99 add-on where you could ask Samuel to tell a story, roast you, or even swear and yell, with his explicit attitude being an option. Eventually, Samuel’s voice went up to $4.99.
Over the last several years, Amazon Alexa owners have enjoyed fun celebrity voices like Shaquille O’Neal, Melisssa McCarthy, and others. However, as noted by The Verge, if you go to the Samuel L. Jackson voice page, there’s no option to buy it, with a note saying, “his voice is no longer available to purchase.” It was discontinued in April of 2023 and no longer works.
While this isn’t the biggest loss in the world, the fact that customers paid for a feature, which is now being stripped away, isn’t the best look. We saw a similar move with Google Assistant and voices like John Legend.
For now, you’ll still be able to enjoy Shaquille O’Neal or the quirky Melisssa McCarthy, but both of those voices are also getting discontinued later this year. According to product listing pages for the other voice options, Alexa devices will continue to support them until September 30th, 2023.
This is an interesting move and one that’ll have customers a bit upset if they paid for a voice. But hey, you can still add Santa Claus to your Alexa during the holidays.
via The Verge
