Amazon's New Gadget Turns Your Speaker System Into An Echo

The good: Amazon's Alexa voice assistant comes to the speakers you already own Who should buy it: Audiophiles who want the Echo's smarts in their existing sound setups The Amazon Echo, an Internet-connected smart speaker that can answer owners' verbal questions and requests, has quietly become one of the hottest gadgets of the past few months. And with the arrival of the new Tap and Dot, Amazon is taking the Echo's smarts, powered by a Siri-like software called "Alexa," and packing them into two new form factors. The Tap is a smaller, mobile version of the Echo, whose power cord keeps it stuck indoors. The Dot is meant to connect to your existing sound system, bringing Echo's smarts to the speakers you already own. Both devices function almost identically to the Echo.