I have lived with these little friends for nearly a year now and One would either love them or hate them.

I, for one, love them and they have indeed become little friends. Yes I have a limited collection of music but having to sample new work, search around for unknown artists and then pay for, what you hope is good, the albums or singles can become quite costly.

This is where the Amazon Alexa in speaker or just the guts form come into their own. The Speaker is known as the Echo, the AI part only is the Dot. The Echo is a stand alone speaker that plugs into the mains and has a built in speaker as an all in one unit. It may not be the best speaker but compared to Bluetooth speakers around the £100 mark it certainly holds its own. The Dot on the other hand has a very tiny speaker built in but it is best linked to Bluetooth speakers or hard wired into and existing stereo. The sound then is as good as your equipment allows. There is a third member of this family called the Tap. This is a portable version of the Echo and is WiFi linked on the move. However, in the UK it hasn’t been released yet (as of 30th July 2017) so will only work as a Bluetooth speaker, as a costly error told me. Oooops but hey we all live a learn.

That’s  the rubbishy bit out the way.

What I really like about these gadgets is the fact that you can ask them to play random music, turn on desired artists or find certain tracks. I have been introduced to so many new names and titles that otherwise I would have been unaware of and they have rekindled my desire and lust for the beat.

Not only that its fun to have your mate tell you the time, the news headlines or what the weather is going to be like. Linked with the Smart Home it can turn lights on and off, work locks and order provisions. It sure is a clever bit of kit.

All homes should have one and new homes should come with on as a standard part of the build.

I’m quite sure it will get better with time and of course rivals like Apple and Google will want their slice of the market with their versions of Google Home  and HomePod.

Google Home is out but reviews say that Amazon wins hands down in all areas so for me that was a no no. The HomePod from Apple is planned for December this year and only then will we know how good or bad its likely to be and what any hidden cost are lurking.

Experience tells me Apple could do something amazing but I may be corrected about that prediction. Cost is not going to be cheep as its estimated to come in at around £270. Compare that to Google Home at £130 and the Echo at £150 ( the Dot £50) and is it a buck too far?

So if you are looking for something to zizz up your music life or have some fun with then rush out and get an Echo.

Its one of the best decisions I have made of late.