music

Connected Home, Music

How To: Advanced Sonos Wireless Network Configuration Using Sonos BOOST Updated

Even if you have a Wave 2 Wireless AC WiFi network, I recommend connecting your Sonos speakers as follows: Ethernet, else SonosNet 2.0 (“BOOST” mode), else your existing WiFi network (“Standard” mode). This will reduce the likelihood of audio drop outs, particularly as you connect more Sonos speakers and/or run them in pairs. This article describes Boost mode and how to configure up to three Boost hardware devices. Continue reading How To: Advanced Sonos Wireless Network Configuration Using Sonos BOOST Updated

Mike Connelly
Connected Home, Music

Sonos One & Sonos Beam (Part 2): Review of Voice Services Including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant & Apple Airplay 2 Updated

Sonos speakers will be able to bridge the gaps between Amazon, Apple, and Google’s smart home ecosystems. Sonos owners will be in the unique position of choosing their preferred voice assistant for a task, independent from the music source, method of streaming, or smart home control. For example, a Sonos owner could maintain their music library in iTunes, their music subscription service on YouTube or Amazon, their home control on Apple HomeKit, and ask general knowledge questions to Google Assistant or Alexa. Similarly, Sonos consumers could control Nest and HomeKit devices from a single smart speaker. Continue reading Sonos One & Sonos Beam (Part 2): Review of Voice Services Including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant & Apple Airplay 2 Updated

Mike Connelly
Connected Home, Music

Sonos One & Sonos Beam (Part 1): The State of Smart Speakers Updated

Amazon Echo’s primary function appears to be extending Amazon’s ecosystem including e-commerce and advertising. Like Amazon, Google Home’s primary goal appears to be lowering the price of its devices so that users will install multiple devices in their homes, generating more user data for Google’s advertising business. Apple’s product design treats smart speakers as a relatively dumb and local extension of the iPhone. The Sonos One hits the price-performance sweet spot: although it costs nearly twice what an Echo or Home does, it provides significantly better sound. Continue reading Sonos One & Sonos Beam (Part 1): The State of Smart Speakers Updated

Mike Connelly
Autos, Connected Home, Music

How To: Listening to your iTunes Music Collection in Lossless Format in Your Car Updated

Export for iTunes does a great job of exporting your iTunes collection to a USB stick but it assumes either (1) that you wish to transcode your music collection to a lossy format like MP3 or AAC, or (2) that your music player can play Apple Lossless format. Continue reading How To: Listening to your iTunes Music Collection in Lossless Format in Your Car Updated

Mike Connelly
Connected Home, Motorcycles, Music

How To: Listening to Your iTunes Music Collection on Your Android Phone While Motorcycling

Yes, it’s possible to import all your iTunes collection into Google Play and then stream those songs on your Android phone. But since I use my motorcycle on back country roads and 128GB SD cards are ridiculously cheap, I just copied my entire collection to the local SD card. Continue reading How To: Listening to Your iTunes Music Collection on Your Android Phone While Motorcycling

Mike Connelly
Connected Home

Google Chromecast Audio with Multi-room Support Review Updated

Google’s multi-room audio distribution technology is based on the success of their video casting platform, Chromecast. In its second iteration, Google upgraded the video version of Chromecast to include Wireless-AC technology. Additionally, it released a new, audio-specific Chromecast device. Like the Airport Express, it supports both optical and analog audio out. Unlike the Airport Express, it is based on Wireless-AC audio and is much more error-resilient. And, it costs as little as $25 on sale, a quarter of the price of the AE.
Continue reading Google Chromecast Audio with Multi-room Support Review Updated

Mike Connelly