Which to buy

[andyme]

should i buy google home mini or amazon echo dot 

[Slottr]

What kind of use do you want out of it?

[andyme]

 for a family member to listen to music etc 

[andyme]

looking for which is best for voice commands and best sound

[RAS_3885]

I've got two Google Home Minis.  Unless you're going to be linking it to a separate bluetooth speaker you'll likely be disappointed for just music.  The speaker is fine for speech, but not great for music.  It works, but is pretty meh...

 

Voice recognition, even over background noise, I've found to be quite good.

 

The other question is does your family member already have other devices from either ecosystem?  That might make the choice pretty easy.

[andyme]

no

[DMDetonator]

The question is do you care about youtube? The echo dot doesn't have youtube on it so don't expect to be able to hear podcasts or listen to music you can't find elsewhere

[andyme]

so no real point in either then?

[DMDetonator]

I have 5 echo dots and I only use them for spotify. Depends on you. Sound is great for me 

[Canada EH]

5 minutes ago, andyme said:

so no real point in either then?

Stay well away from Google. Just casual conversations they listen in on without the people around even knowing. Its really breaking the law, but the law lets them slide, some juristictions require knowledge of converstation recording. Search results have come up just from converstatiopns.

 

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/alexa-and-google-record-your-voice/

[DMDetonator]

1 minute ago, Canada EH said:

Stay well away from Google. Just casual conversations they listen in on without the people around even knowing. Its really breaking the law, but the law lets them slide.

If you honestly think you have any privacy left in the technological world then I am sorry to say you are wrong. Everything you use can listen to you

[RAS_3885]

18 minutes ago, andyme said:

so no real point in either then?

I like mine a lot, but also use them for control of Chromecast media on my TV, music to a bluetooth enabled speaker system, and light control.

 

For just music it wouldn't be of value for me, but that's more a personal preference so YMMV.

[Velcade]

If your primary goal is music neither mini device deliver stellar sound.  Look at the Google Max or the Sonos 1 for alexa.

[OdinSword]

in my experience I have found the Google home to be better in almost every way...but just barely, both work well