It appears that I’m all in on Google Home. A year ago I got one for Christmas. I immediately got a “Mini” for the bedroom and two smart outlets. Ever since I’ve been having Google Assistant turn my living room lights on and off instead of doing it myself like a savage. I also have the Mini play NPR for me when it’s time to get up out of bed. I’ve even hooked Google up to my smart TV so I never have to click around to find what I want – I just ask Google to find it for me.
So it’s pretty good. Maybe the best new thing it’s learned to do is keep listening to me for a few seconds after it executes a command. The upshot of this is that I can say “thank you” and it will respond, making the whole conversation much more natural.
But then I doubled down. A few days ago I canceled my Apple Music subscription and got Google Play Music. Same kajillion song library, same $10 price, but it works with my speakers now.
And now I’ve tippled down, I guess, because I just ordered a Google Home Hub, the unit with the screen on it, for $99. (Hey, all those gift cards gotta get spent on something!) I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with it, but perhaps that’ll become clear once I turn it on and see what it can do.
One annoyance. I cannot find a Google Play Music app for either Roku or Apple TV. Maybe this will get sorted out once Google has transitioned from their Play Music service to the newer Youtube music service? I sincerely hope so.