Alexa and LMS - new lease of life?

[castalla]

Alexa Echo and Dot will be available in the UK and Germany next month.

I notice that there has been one github project to control LMS which seems to have faltered ( https://github.com/lordpengwin/muzak ).

I wonder whether the wider availability of the Alexa devices might promote more interest in developing a skill to control LMS?

[castalla]

.. and could the release of Google Home offer further options for LMS voice control?

Sonos and Bose have annuunced voice integration for 2017.

[mherger]

A few questions:

- what kind of control would you want to see implemented in a voice
controlled setup?

- should the system be an always on, always listening system, or on
demand (eg. key press) only?

- would you like the system to interrupt playback to talk back to you in
case it didn't understand you?

- what would you expect it to do if you asked it to "play kiss".
Prince's track Kiss or Carly Rae Jepsen's album Kiss or the band Kiss'
most popular tracks? Or, I forgot your playlist of the same name :-)

Unfortunately(?) I don't have access to any of Amazon's offerings to
experience how it works there. And Siri only has about two albums to
chose from when I talk to here :-)

--

Michael

[castalla]

A few questions:

- what kind of control would you want to see implemented in a voice
controlled setup?

- should the system be an always on, always listening system, or on
demand (eg. key press) only?

- would you like the system to interrupt playback to talk back to you in
case it didn't understand you?

- what would you expect it to do if you asked it to "play kiss".
Prince's track Kiss or Carly Rae Jepsen's album Kiss or the band Kiss'
most popular tracks? Or, I forgot your playlist of the same name :-)

Unfortunately(?) I don't have access to any of Amazon's offerings to
experience how it works there. And Siri only has about two albums to
chose from when I talk to here :-)

--

Michael

Details of the forthcoming Alexa (and G Home?) controls are scant.

What I've seen suggests a fairly restricted set of commands, eg. select a player, play a Tunein station, volume control, mute, etc.

I imagine a system with voice control for radio, and limited music playback, would be a boon for visually-impaired users.

Details on Google Home are also few and far between, but it seems likely it will be based on the existing chromecast tech.. Alexa Echo/Dot only offers bluetooth functions.

[cdmackay]

A few questions:

- should the system be an always on, always listening system, or on
demand (eg. key press) only?

Amazon's offering is always-on/listening; whether that's a good thing or not, I can't decide…

[castalla]

Amazon's offering is always-on/listening; whether that's a good thing or not, I can't decide…

Given in our shack we speak 3 different languages in various dialects, I guess there isn't much to worry about ...

[digisam]

Amazon's offering is always-on/listening; whether that's a good thing or not, I can't decide…

True, but it is only listening locally for the trigger word (alexa, echo or amazon). It doesn't touch the network at all unless you activate it.

[castalla]

Amazon's offering is always-on/listening; whether that's a good thing or not, I can't decide…

You can play a Sonos favourite if you combine Alexa with Yonomi (which can control Sonos players). So, 'Turn On Sonos Favorite One' starts the Sonos playing the favourite.

Basic - but interesting. It has to get better ....

[Julf]

True, but it is only listening locally for the trigger word (alexa, echo or amazon). It doesn't touch the network at all unless you activate it.

That is how it is programmed to work by default. If we are lucky, there are no back doors (intended or unintended) to change that...

[earthbased]

I have an Amazon Echo V2 and have learned to really like voice control. You don't have to have a computing device nearby, just use your voice. This is the future.