It used to be easy to play music in your house - you put on a record, popped in a cassette or CD and listened to music on all your speakers with the volume cranked up. Nowadays, all your music is probably on you smartphone. In fact, you might not even own the music. You might be using Spotify or Pandora.
Smartphone speakers don't exactly offer perfect audio and Bluetooth speakers always seem to be losing your smartphone's signal. Enter Beep, a home audio device that acts like a connector between all of your home speakers and your music streaming service. Former Google employees Daniel Conrad and Shawn Lewis spearhead the project and are promoting Beep before its release alter this year.
"There's no good way today to play the Pandoras and Spotifys of the world on your home speakers," Conrad told the Los Angeles Times. "You've got it on your phone, you've got it on your laptop, but you don't have it on your home speakers."
Beep connects directly to your Spotify or Pandora account via Wi-Fi and sends the music to be played on all of your home speakers, that way your phone isn't chained to your speakers. All you have to do is connect the tiny copper gadget to your speakers with an auxiliary or optical cable, install the Beep app and connect your device. From that point on, you can play all the music you want, straight from Pandora to Beep and your speakers.
"Once you've experienced it -- this music synchronized through your whole house -- it's something you're going to want," Conrad said.
The Beep app is available for iOS and Android. It will also allow you to play music that you have downloaded on your smartphone. Right now Beep is only partnered with Pandora, but hopes to connect with other music streaming services along the way.
CNet got its hands on Beep and wrote a review of the new audio system. CNet commended Beep for its cool design aesthetic and high quality Wi-Fi connection, which allows for better music quality than you'd get with Bluetooth speakers. Nonetheless, CNet considers Beep limited in its application. However, since Beep is one of the only devices out there offering music streaming directly from music services like Pandora to your speakers, CNet thinks it will do well.
Beep is available for pre-order from the company website for $99. When it goes on sale in stores, Beep will cost around $149.
