Other products for streaming radio?

[TC]

Someone gave me an Echo Dot for Christmas. I've spent the past two weeks experimenting with it. I've found that I like using it as a voice-activated radio player. Before getting the Echo Dot, I used to stream various news stations over my computer as I work; now, I use the Echo Dot for that purpose, and it works well.

However, I don't like the Echo Dot enough to accept Amazon's terms of service and privacy policy. Therefore, I plan to give it back and return to my old practice of streaming radio over my computer.

This experience makes me wonder if there are other streaming radio products competing with the Echo Dot that don't cost as much in terms of consumer rights and privacy. I did a web search and didn't find anything, but I figured I'd ask here to see if I missed anything. (I'm very out-of-touch with modern consumer electronics, so if there were some big well-known alternative to Echo Dot, I wouldn't necessarily know about it.)

Thanks.
-TC

[DParker]

However, I don't like the Echo Dot enough to accept Amazon's terms of service and privacy policy.

What is it, specifically, about Amazon's TOS and privacy policy that scared you off?  Because if those are enough to stop you then you might as well give up on this.  The only other serious competitor in the voice-based interface to cloud services market is Google Home, and if Amazon's terms are a non-starter for you, Google's practices should give you an aneurysm.  And by their very nature, pretty much any similar service is going to have similar privacy and TOS issues.

[renegade600]

and you think you have privacy when you stream over the computer? most likely you got less. 

[TC]

...if those are enough to stop you then you might as well give up on this... by their very nature, pretty much any similar service is going to have similar privacy and TOS issues.

Thanks for the feedback. I would argue that it is a business decision, and not the nature of the service, which dictates Amazon's policies. However, the point is moot because, ultimately, I think you're right: all "cloud services" I've seen so far seem quite similar, in terms of their posture toward the consumer. Yes, I think I will be giving up on this.

-TC

[mike27oct]

TC,

Before you go, some of us wish you would tell us what concerns you most about Amazon's terms of use policies, privacy issues.

If you think you have better terms of use or more privacy using a computer, it is no different than using a Dot; maybe even much "worse".  It is amazing how many cookies from data gathering firms are put on our computers each day.  It's so bad my laptop sometimes heats up even more at certain sites when I am there too long.

[coyote]

Yep. Your phone has a mic and cameras in it, your tablet likewise. You carry that phone with you all the time.
All your internet data is analyzed. All your financial transactions are tracked, your purchases and returns scrutinized, your emails filtered.....
To get all paranoid over what is merely the latest "listening device" is kinda silly.

But I'm no evangelist. So by all means, do what you believe works for you.

[DParker]

I would argue that it is a business decision, and not the nature of the service, which dictates Amazon's policies.

That's a false dichotomy.  Of course policies are business decisions.  But those decisions are largely, if not entirely driven by the nature of what it is the policies are applied to.

However, the point is moot because, ultimately, I think you're right: all "cloud services" I've seen so far seem quite similar, in terms of their posture toward the consumer.

And that they've all arrived at similar policy decisions should tell you something about the underlying nature of such services.

Yes, I think I will be giving up on this.

That's a pity.  But it is, of course, your decision to make.