Audio Quest

All the competitors are out on the field. A fervent crowd is captivated by the build up and the excitement. Let the Audio Games begin!

The biggest brands in technology have all unveiled their latest smart speakers in recent weeks. New ones, redesigned ones, mini ones and all voice controlled ones. Speakers of all shapes and sizes are ready to command prime real estate in your kitchen, bedroom and living room. Multi-room music and whole home artificial intelligence is now the new normal and all the big brands are competing to serve you.

You’ll all go out and choose your favourite speaker when they hit the shelves and plenty other blogs, podcasts and videos will tell you about the technical merits of each speaker. What fascinates me is the relationship we are all going to have with audio. Audio holds a huge advantage over video, audio doesn’t steal your time. Video may have been the headline grabber over the years with high definition, on-demand TV and user generated content but watching video is hugely time consuming.

Catch up with a podcast and you can still type an important report, listen to music and you can still cook dinner, receive your flash news briefing and you can still apply your makeup. Try undertaking those three tasks whilst watching the latest episode of your favourite boxset or when watching a tennis or rugby match. Audio is convenient, you can do other things whilst listening. Audio doesn’t steal your time.

The latest wave of smart speakers aren’t just music and podcast streaming devices they are also your very own digital butlers too. Voice assistants are amazing savers of time. Amazon Alexa has paved the way for a lifestyle using voice commands and hands free interactions with technology. Online shopping, smart home control, homework questions and dinner suggestions are just a shout away. Instant messaging will soon move to your smart speaker, evening phone calls to mum will be made through your smart speaker and appointments with your doctor will one day be conducted through your table top assistant. Apple, Google, Amazon, Sonos and their counterparts are all in the market to be your faithful servant and are deeply committed to maximising your time.

I’d love to hear about how you are using voice control to manage your home. Drop me a message on social media to learn more about installing multi-room music and voice assistants in your home.