Anyone have a Google Home, Alexa, Amazon Tap, Echo etc

[YoloinOhio]

Trying to determine if they are useful, and which is best ...

[USMCBillsFan]

I asked for advice about the Alexa in another thread. Thought my gf would be interested in it. I just flat out asked her and she said she wouldn't want one. I've thought about them, but they don't do anything that a simple google search on the phone or apple music and a Bluetooth speaker can't. But that's for me. Of course if I had a "smart home" and I could control lights and appliances with it, I might feel differently.

[Chilly]

I LOVE my Google Home and am about to purchase some more. I use it every morning to have it read out to me what my day is like, tell me my commute times and optimized route, play the news as I take a shower, etc. I also use it all the time after I get home from work, asking it questions, creating shopping lists, setting timers and doing unit conversions while cooking, etc.

 

Google Home, being new, doesn't have near the ecosystem of the Amazon Echo yet, but my life is completely integrated into Google products so it was the better choice for me. Google Home, like Echo, also supports IFTTT so you can do some integrations through it.

 

Google Home is better at search, integrates with Chromecast, better at natural voice, has better control across multiple Google Home devices and is a great choice if you use Google Play products. If you are looking for something that has a much broader range of support outside of just Google products (TONS of 3rd parties support Amazon, Google hasn't released their APIs yet), or you have a Prime account and want to be able to stream music through Prime, Amazon is the better choice. Both support Spotify and can play from there.

 

For most people I'd imagine the Echo is the way to go *right now* if you have a prime subscription or want something that integrates into a wide range of products, but if you love the Google Ecosystem the Google Home is fantastic.

 

If you end up going Amazon, I suggest getting the Echo to start. The Tap is a wireless device that needs charging in a dock, so it's a good add-on device, and the Dot isn't intended to be a real speaker so it's a poor choice unless you don't want to do things like play music. Alternatively, if you have an existing sound system you just want to hook an Echo up to, that's really the Dot's intended purpose.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Chilly

[YoloinOhio]

Awesome info - thank you. I admittedly find all these products confusing... I have mostly Apple products but I have a prime membership. For music I usually use iTunes and pandora. I stream a lot of radio stations too. I'm intrigued by Google home's features.

[The Poojer]

i am looking to modernize my stereo system, have an older reciever and just bookshelf speakers, wondering if i just need to add a wifi dongle to the receiver in order to wifi it up, or do i go the whole route of a new system, i have a small apartment so don't need anything too powerful, but would love to integrate this new echo, home etc technology

[BillsFanNC]

i am looking to modernize my stereo system, have an older reciever and just bookshelf speakers, wondering if i just need to add a wifi dongle to the receiver in order to wifi it up, or do i go the whole route of a new system, i have a small apartment so don't need anything too powerful, but would love to integrate this new echo, home etc technology

 

I use chromecast for audio on my older receivers in my garage and man cave.

[NoSaint]

Awesome info - thank you. I admittedly find all these products confusing... I have mostly Apple products but I have a prime membership. For music I usually use iTunes and pandora. I stream a lot of radio stations too. I'm intrigued by Google home's features.

my problem is a lack of standardization. if i committed to a system id probably be more apt to really fill out the offerings around a hub like this. but since i have stuff scattered about i dont even know the compatibility of it all.

[Augie]

I have no idea what you people are talking about, but I need to learn. I have an old receiver, CD player and bookshelf speakers run to two parts of the house. Pain in the neck, mostly. An Amazon box arrived at the front door today and inside, among other things, were two Echo boxes. I had no idea what they were and the wife simply said they are for the boys. OK, I thought. All I needed to know. Now I'm kind of hoping she's hiding one for me in plain sight! Now that I want it, I need to go figure out what it does. I never said I didn't operate bass-ackward.