Amazon's Echo Input offers Alexa for your existing speakers

The latest gadget Amazon is shoehorning Alexa into is an audio dongle called the Echo Input. The $34.99 media bridge has line inputs, Bluetooth and a far field mic. Think of it like a combo Chromecast Audio and Google Home Mini, but without the speaker and sold by Amazon versus Google and you've got the basic gist. Clearly, the company wants its digital assistant in more places, and has heard people griping about how poor the sound quality is on its Echo devices, or, those who use the line-out connection to connect them to their pre-existing, more powerful dumb speakers. It's available for pre-order right now, and will ship later this year.