[mrs bouquet]

As most of you will know, I am a bit (very) technophobic.   Robert Dyas are advertising this mini speaker, which is supposed to be all singing, all dancing.   I have read all about it, but cannot understand where I plug it into my laptop and the ramifications of that.    Also, why are they selling it with two light bulbs, what has that got to do with it ?   given how deaf I am, would I be able to hear it anyway ?  thanks  Mrs Bouquet

[DanielCoffey]

The Mini speaker is what they call a "Smart" speaker in that it actually listens to you all the time. It has a wake up command and then it uses your internet connection to work out what you just said. It is like the Amazon Alexa or Apple Homepod speaker.

You can tell it to play music from a connected computer or from any online subscription service you may have, ask it to turn "smart" lights or gadgets on or off (rather than walking over to the switch) or ask general questions. Broadly speaking anything you could type into Google can be spoken to the speaker instead.

The Amazon speaker can be used to order stuff from the Amazon store such as "Alexa, order more toothpaste". A family with a parrot did wonder why they kept finding raspberries in their shopping list and it turned out to be the parrot saying things like "Alexa raspberries" and it just kept adding more and more! I am not making this up!

The accuracy is pretty good these days although I do find our Apple speaker does sometimes wake up when you speak something close to its wake up prompt.

As for playing music back, the Google Mini speaker is a bit basic, especially given the price. If you really just wanted a laptop speaker for playing music there are cheaper or better ones out there that are simply speakers.

[mrs bouquet]

Thanks for that reply.  Reading what you have said, I think I have something similar on my ipad.  Could she be called Cortana ?  Maybe not for me, I shall have to stick to my pen and paper for my list and listen to my CD's.  I find it a bit scary that technology (or big brother) can be listening to my natter (and swearing, when alone).  It is just too clever for an old dinosaur like me  .     I think that's really funny about the parrot and the raspberries.  A friend of mine, ordered 2 sacks of potatoes in her on-line shop and made a mistake, and got 20 !!!!  Thanks again,  Mrs Bouquet

[wapello]

Mrs b, go on you tube  there is all the tunes you will ever want to hear from all the decades, plus you can do as i have done is to down load a free app "youtube  down loader" and use it to put all your fav's on to cd's
iv'e done it about 18 times now got them in a box in my van, also you can down load a whole  L P,in about
30 seconds,

[DanielCoffey]

I would advise against doing that, folks.

Google has some pretty clear Terms of Service when you use YouTube (which they own). They prohibit the use of third-party downloaders to access their content for offline use, even if it is personal...

"You are permitted to view YouTube video only through Google's own website and apps. You are not permitted to view YouTube video offline on your iPad, iPhone or Android device, PC or laptop through a third-party app."

Taking content off YouTube for later listening is technically stealing. While it is unlikely to land you in any actual legal trouble (how will they know you have done it), by visiting their site you have already promised not to do it.

[hasbeans]

Mrs B.,
Do you need it to be portable?  ie do you move your laptop around or do you use it in the same place?  Portable speakers will run on rechargable batteries if also amplified.  I would always choose amplified speakers as the ones that aren't can sound a bit naff and quiet. If your home stereo or radio has a microphone socket you can simply buy a 'male to male' headphone cable and connect laptop to stereo/radio.
Do you want 'stereo'? you need two speakers for stereo, some speakers have two built into 1 box others are two boxes.
Speakers will be wireless using 'bluetooth' or wired using 'usb' and/or a headphone plug.
Portable speakers start at a tenner and can go up to hundreds of quids, probably best to spend at least £30.  If you want it to sound anything like a home stereo quality you might have to spend £100.

I say all this without owning a laptop speaker, but I do like speakers!

[mrs bouquet]

Thanks folk for all that interesting info.  regards  Mrs Bouquet