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

Mike ConnellyConnected Home, Music

Sonos speakers support Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri simultaneously, letting users mix and match voice assistants independent of their music source or smart home platform. Here, we explain how that flexibility works in practice and what it means for households split across competing ecosystems. A Sonos owner can run an iTunes library, a YouTube Music subscription, and Apple HomeKit controls from a single speaker while still asking Google a question. Continue reading Sonos One & Sonos Beam (Part 2): Review of Voice Services Including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant & Apple Airplay 2

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

Mike ConnellyConnected Home, Music

Amazon Echo and Google Home are designed primarily to deepen their makers’ advertising and data businesses, while Apple’s HomePod functions as a local iPhone extension. This article examines what each major smart speaker is actually optimized for, and why that distinction matters when choosing one. The Sonos One costs nearly twice as much as an Echo but delivers meaningfully better sound for listeners who prioritize audio quality. Continue reading Sonos One & Sonos Beam (Part 1): The State of Smart Speakers

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

Mike ConnellyConnected Home, Motorcycles, Music

Streaming music over back-country roads is impractical when cell service is unreliable. This article explains how to move an iTunes library onto an Android phone’s SD card for fully offline playback while motorcycling, covering the Google Play import option and a more reliable SCP-based transfer method. Continue reading How To: Listening to Your iTunes Music Collection on Your Android Phone While Motorcycling

Google Chromecast Audio with Multi-room Support Review

Mike ConnellyConnected Home

Google’s multi-room audio distribution technology is based on the success of their video casting platform, Chromecast. This article examines how it compares to the AirPort Express, focussing on signal stability, multiroom grouping, and support for both optical and analog output. The upgrade from older wireless standards enables a measurably more reliable connection under real listening conditions.
Continue reading Google Chromecast Audio with Multi-room Support Review