I’m not saying they are competing against amazon echo devices. People still want a high quality speaker with Alexa integration but they look at sonos instead of the home pod because of that.
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Amazon Continues to Dominate U.S. Smart Speaker Market
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I could disagree that the earth is round, does not make it true. Whether or not Germany was oppressed by the Russians or the Nazis has no bearing on whether there is privacy in modern times. Your information and identity are not private and you can be tracked pretty easily, best to accept it, not going to change. By the way there are degrees of things, my neighbor may not like jews for example but that does not put him on level of Hitler. Germany may be unified but that does not mean they are not vulnerable to identity theft or Alexa or Siri listenting to private conversations.
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You act as if we have a choice or not to surrender some of our privacy. I guess you could live like the Amish but even then you would not have total privacy. You keep using extremes, there is a difference between someone using my information for their personal gain and Amazon recomending a good antacid because Alexa heard me talk about going to taco bell.
FWIW, my house came with 3 pair of ceiling speakers on the main floor and a 4th pair in the back yard; I looked into the Sonos amp to drive them (before buying a Denon receiver which gives me wireless streaming driving the ceiling speakers off Zone 2 and my 5.2 set-up off Zone 1), and learned a lot about Sonos. I think my setup is less expensive than Sonos, even including having the speakers wired.
Given Sonos current willingness to kill the usefulness of older models, my way is going to be a lot cheaper long term.
Do you know when Alexa is listening? Can you be absolutely sure that your private conversations have not been stored on a server somewhere?
The total loss of privacy need not be a slippery slope. One thing you can to do to arrest your descent is to carve some decent steps at appropriate intervals. A good placement of that step is to decide not to deliberately introduce a bugging device into ones home.
Should I not by a smart TV because someone may be watching, what about talking on the phone, how do I know that is not being listened to. No more emails? They could be intercepted. Where does it end ? The loss of some privacy is a consequence of living in a modern society, you don't have much choice, accept it, you feel better about things.
I trust (as much as one can trust a conglomerate) apple with my PII.
The echo has a high quality speaker -The studio and even has an option to add a subwoofer. I think people just associate google and amazon with the cheap speakers and forget that they also have high end offerings.
One can look at it this way.
If you already have Apple devices in the house, Apple is already listening in anyways via Hey Siri.
In this context, it makes sense to stick with the HomePod (which also uses Siri), rather than introduce yet another listening device (via Echo’s Alexa, and / or a third via Google Now).
So at least I limit the fallout of my data leakage to only Apple, rather than Apple, Amazon and / or google.
If I use android devices, then go with the google home (since they all use the same smart assistant).
Since amazon has no smartphones, one can argue that the amazon echo actually makes for the poorest value proposition.
If you already had the speakers wired then that would be a different proposition. Adding them post construction would add a lot of cost.
You also could have used the Connect to drive your own amp.
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But Amazon doesn’t need a smartphone for streaming 3rd party audio, unlike the HomePod.
Once the skill is enabled, yes. That’s the whole point - you can say “Alexa, play xxxx on SiriusXM” as opposed to having to Airplay it. It’s the single reason why I wouldnt buy a HomePod.
Stream with Amazon Alexa & Fire TV on SiriusXM
Stream SiriusXM on devices with Amazon Alexa & Fire TV devices! Subscription sold separately. Enable the SiriusXM skill and get started today.
Ah, so one has to give their Sirius credentials to amazon? i don’t know because even though we have prime and presumably amazon music, we don’t use the echo dot or amazon music.Once the skill is enabled, yes. That’s the whole point - you can say “Alexa, play xxxx on SiriusXM” as opposed to having to Airplay it. It’s the single reason why I wouldnt buy a HomePod.
Stream with Amazon Alexa & Fire TV on SiriusXM
Stream SiriusXM on devices with Amazon Alexa & Fire TV devices! Subscription sold separately. Enable the SiriusXM skill and get started today.www.siriusxm.com
There’s a method of authenticating, ostensibly via an api. I don’t think Amazon stores the login and password.
I don’t see how amazon could get into your Sirius Xm account without using your phone to initiate the action or without storing your credentials on amazons servers.
edit: it can’t I just checked. Need your Sirius credentials, which of course makes sense.
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I factored in that I had my speakers pre-construction. I did have PoE security cameras installed, 6 1080p cameras including having the ethernet cabling brought from all over the house to my breaker panel was $2000 (Canadian). 4 rooms worth of Sonos speakers would have cost me more than that, and running speaker wiring to the 8 speakers in 4 rooms would have been cheaper, and in-ceiling is just plain nicer than any solution involving boxy speakers around your home. Not to mention one of my pairs is outside in my backyard -- does Sonos even do weatherproof?
Add to that the fact that had I bought any Sonos hardware it would already have been rendered obsolete, no longer updated, and no longer compatible with new hardware just emphasizes how expensive a Sonos solution really is long term.
Considering my 7.2 Denon receiver which drives all my ceiling speakers as well as my home theatre was half the price of a Sonos connect and already has Airplay 2, Bluetooth, and will play major services like Spotify and Sirius directly over WiFi with control from my iPhone, I really didn't and don't understand what Sonos connect actually does for me except wasting an insane amount of money.
Amazon continues to dominate because their 2019 updates to the Echo and Echo Plus and the introduction of the Echo Studio solidifies their place in the smart speaker market. The Echo Studio could effectively take away a lot of sales from the HomePod due to the Echo Studio's much-improved sound quality.
And I think the authentication is via SiriusXM, with an authorization token passed back to Amazon to store. Probably similar to when you use a credit card at a point of sale terminal in a store. The store doesn’t see or store your number.
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No general argument, but if I had to run speakers and wiring post-construction that would be more expensive than during construction.
In my current home there were outdoor speakers already installed, so a Sonos Connect Amp covered that.
What Connect + various speakers do for me is to accomplish what you have done. But as I’ve moved twice in the past 5 years 90% of my investment is still good (I have one Play:5 that I bought on eBay in 2015 that won’t be supported as well as the Sonos Bridge which I no longer use). So my Sonos investment in my current home is a lot less than the cost to put in speakers, buy an amp, etc.
Does the Denon stream directly or does it need the iPhone and Airplay? If it streams directly then it’s a true competitor to Sonos.
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You credentials have to be entered and validated at least once and my guess, is entered again, if the password and/or user id changes.
Some of the latest Denon receivers (and I have one) are fully internet enabled with airplay 2 and can stream from all music sources through Heos without a phone. Of course, usb, bluetooth (and airplay 2) are also accepted. It can be setup to fully shut off or shut down on standby so that it's always connected waiting for airplay 2 requests.
Apparently so.
- You reset your SiriusXM Streaming username or password via the Online Account Center or from within the app or Web Player: You'll need to (1) Go to the SiriusXM skill in the Alexa app. (2) Disable the SiriusXM Alexa skill. (3) Re-enable the skill. (4) Enter in the current SiriusXM streaming login credentials.
- Please note that you will need to repeat this process each time you update your username and/or password.
We are now in a world where someone who can afford the HomePod actually prefers proper voice assistant devices. It’s 2020?...voice assistant devices are pretty much the norm now and they should be capable of doing more than what Siri is (i.e. Google Assistant and Alexa) is capable of. So, I think it’s pretty cool that you’re so nostalgic I’m not preferring a device with a better assistant. It’s admirable. LOL
Basically, to each their own as to what tech devices suits an individual. I actually don’t need Siri to do more than what is already in place, and if you look at some of the latest findings Siri is better and more capable at certain things than Alexa or google.