Amazon Made a Kid-Friendly Echo Dot

Amazon wants everyone using Alexa, including kids. With that in mind, you can now pre-order an Echo Dot Kids Edition, which ships with a kid-friendly version of Alexa and free access to a range of content for an entire year.

The Echo Dot Kids Edition launches on May 9, but is available for pre-orer now for $79.99 in blue, green, or red. Amazon claims this version of the Dot includes up to $109 of savings when compared to the standard since it provides free access to Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited service for one year.

FreeTime Unlimited usually costs a minimum of $2.99 per month and unlocks access to thousands of kid-friendly books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games. For the Echo Dot Kids Edition, Amazon is making ad-free radio stations, over 300 Audible books, premium kids skills from the likes of Disney and Nickelodeon, and special character alarms free for the first year. There's also a two-year guarantee included; usually, the Echo Dot includes a 90-day limited warranty.

As to what makes this new Dot kid-friendly beyond the FreeTime Unlimited offer, Amazon has turned voice shopping off by default and Alexa automatically filters explicit songs with Amazon Music. There's also parental controls for FreeTime, allowing for a balance of education and entertainment to be easily set. These settings are available both through the Parent Dashboard and Alexa app.

As far as Amazon is concerned, this is just the start of what the Echo Dot Kids Edition will offer, so expect the feature set to grow in the coming months. As is always the case with products like this, the features are generous because Amazon wants kids to grow up and continue to pick Alexa gadgets to be their digital assistants.