A main reason Amazon Alexa gains traction in the market is that manufacturers are adopting the platform at a fast pace. Home audio device maker Yamaha also announced recently that more than its 40 products will become Alexa-enabled.
Starting this fall, the company’s MusicCast wireless multi-room audio products, such as wireless speakers, sound bars, amplifiers and A/V receivers, will be controllable via voice commands using the Amazon Echo series products.
Existing models will be Alexa-enabled after a firmware update; and an Alexa skill to command MusicCast products will be added.
When the skill is launched in the market, users can tell Alexa to play music on Yamaha’s MusicCast products. Other functions such as music playback can also be controlled by talking to Alexa.
Yamaha’s MusicCast products already can be connected to Amazon Echo Dot, which can enable multi-room playback via Bluetooth. Although voice command is not enabled yet, Echo Dot can play music from Yamaha devices or vice versa. Echo Dot’s Bluetooth output can be paired with MusicCast wireless speaker, sound bar or A/V receiver.
Launched back in 2015, Yamaha’s MusicCast technology lets users play wireless multi-room audio via a mobile app. Users can choose which device to play which songs and add more devices to the system from the app. All MusicCast-supported devices have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and AirPlay connectivity.
Besides allowing Alexa to command home audio devices, some speaker manufacturers are starting to integrate Alexa into their products, making them function like an Amazon Echo. Examples include Lenovo’s Smart Assistant Speaker and Omaker Wow Speaker.
Yamaha does not have further details on similar development effort, nor specific information on the Alexa skill launch scheduled for this fall.