CasaTunes has integrated its whole-house audio solution with Amazon Alexa on the Echo, Tap, and Dot devices. Available on both CasaTunes and the DIY musicBox 6 music servers, homeowners can now control the volume, muting, turning rooms on and off, sharing music in the home, and playing music using voice commands. The CasaTunes Skill for Alexa includes support for all transport commands, including play, pause, next track, previous track, shuffle and repeat. Homeowners can ask Alexa what is playing in a room, and schedule an alarm, or fall asleep to music.
“At CasaTunes, we have been working on providing a robust voice control solution, based on the Alexa voice service, to existing and prospective CasaTunes and musicBox 6 homeowners,” said David Krinker, president, CasaTunes. “With the growing popularity of voice based control systems, homeowners are looking for products that include voice control. At less than $50, the Amazon Echo Dot is an excellent alternative to keypads in the home. We expect customers will deploy these devices throughout their home, and use these, along with the CasaTunes and musicBox 6 Apps to control their music.”
Commands are as easy as “Alexa, tell CasaTunes to turn on the Patio.” Alexa submits the request to CasaTunes and the music begins to play in the appropriate room or room group. Further, one or more Amazon Echo, Tap, and Dot devices located in different rooms throughout the same home can be used to control CasaTunes or musicBox 6 multiroom audio systems. CasaTunes’ design means that once a room is associated with an Amazon device, the room name no longer needs to be included with each command.
Voice control is a great companion control option as Alexa is perfect in areas where a tablet, smartphone, or keypad, isn’t ideal, for example, when cooking in the kitchen. Speaking a voice command to Alexa is faster and easier than finding the smartphone, unlocking it, opening the app, and executing a command.
The Alexa Skill for CasaTunes and the musicBox 6, is currently in Beta, and ships later this month. It is a free upgrade for all existing CasaTunes and musicBox 6 systems.
