To me it's the fact that Amazon / Google is already making more than the cost of these things in the data they extract from every sound in every house they're in. They should be paying people to use them, not the other way around. I'd be interested in a free alternative even if it's just to say "what time is it" when I wake up and "weather" before I leave every morning and not have to press anything. The technology itself seems very easy to integrate into life. I'm just not trying to pay someone to eavesdrop on me just so they can be there to say it's raining outside.