How can we safely say that? There's no data about how many were sold, how many were returned, etc.
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2023 HomePod Coming Soon to Apple's Refurbished Store for $249
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A bunch of negative nancies!
This is a good price as these do sound great even as a single speaker.
This is a good price as these do sound great even as a single speaker.
Now add surround sound functionality when paired with Apple TV, and I'll buy a pair, otherwise I'm perfectly happy with my OG HomePods.
Hint: they can’t afford it.based on…what, exactly?
the M2 MBPs were introduced a month before 2nd-gen HomePods and are also available refurb as of less than two weeks ago
Apple Begins Selling Refurbished 2023 MacBook Pro Models
Apple today started selling refurbished 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips for the first time in the United States....www.macrumors.com
I literally do not understand the dogpiling on this product around MR—haven’t since first-gen and still don’t
I use a single gen-one HomePod with my Apple TV. All of a sudden, I’m starting to hear a staticy noise from it. A couple reboots of both it and the ATV, I’m confident that it’s starting to die, I guess it’s the perfect time to invest in a stereo pair of the new ones. Wasn’t even thinking they’d hit the refurbished store anytime soon.
I couldn't agree more! Adding surround sound functionality to the new HomePods when paired with Apple TV would be so amazing. I'm happy with my OG HomePods too, but this would be a dream come true. I think that the original HomePods are still fantastic speakers and provide great sound quality, but the surround sound functionality would give a whole new level of immersion. Hopefully, Apple will continue to innovate and provide more ways for us to enjoy our media with top-tier sound quality.
Good discount on refurbished model. But might be able to get new one with discount during some sale event.
If it doesn’t have a screen, then I’m not buying it. I have the HomePod mini, got it for $99, I wish it had a screen displaying the name of the song, and you have a clock to see the time all the time.
Selling a refurbished with only $50 off, that’s a rip off.
Selling a refurbished with only $50 off, that’s a rip off.
I live in the Apple ecosystem so I don’t care about the lack of a 3.5 mm port, etc. but having owned an OG HomePood and 4 HomePod Minis $249 is just starting to hit the sweet spot. At $199 for a new or refurbished speaker I’d be sold enough to add a pair of regular HomePods to my Apple TV on the main floor and another pair to my Apple TV in the basement. Right now the HomePods exist as one off speakers in their own rooms in the home with the exception of two minis in a stereo pair in the basement.
Rubbish. The Era 300 (which you’re referring to) costs £449 compared to the £299 HomePod.
Furthermore what extra features are you alluding to? Like Siri or not, at least the Homepod works with HomeKit.
Apple could not get rid of these things at the $199 clearance prices when retailers slashed the price of the original HomePod turd.
Hilarious reading the comments from people trying to defend it. The products in the refurb store are customer returned items or products that failed quality check and could not be sold as new. The fact that they appeared so quickly in the refurb store indicates many customer returns. HomePod is still overpriced, and has all the same limitations as the first model. Steve Jobs said it best when he discontinued the iPod HiFi after one year - Other people do speakers better, and do it for less. The same still holds true today. The first HomePod could not even do stereo sound for 6 months.
Hilarious reading the comments from people trying to defend it. The products in the refurb store are customer returned items or products that failed quality check and could not be sold as new. The fact that they appeared so quickly in the refurb store indicates many customer returns. HomePod is still overpriced, and has all the same limitations as the first model. Steve Jobs said it best when he discontinued the iPod HiFi after one year - Other people do speakers better, and do it for less. The same still holds true today. The first HomePod could not even do stereo sound for 6 months.
Incredibly, your Apple HomePod may now be worth more than its $299 MSRP
Hello eBay?
www.theverge.com
Yeah cause it's totally abnormal for products to be in the refurbished store at a discount. This has never happened before.
Alexa heard that and says thanks.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
A speaker is a bit of tech that can easily last 10+ years. Many people could chime in saying their good speakers are 20+ years old. 10 to 20 is "normal" life for good speakers.
Apple is basically jamming iDevice strategy into this "smart" speaker, which will, inevitably, obsolete them much sooner than the speaker parts themselves have gone bad. I expect the same with the ASD- which is also leaning on iDevice tech too. There are plenty of Apple people here still using Apple's previous generation of monitors 10+ years after they were discontinued. A good monitor should also last about 10+ years.
Consider that your AppleTV will work great with ANY speaker and perhaps think in terms of shifting the "smarts" to your iDevice or computers (where it already exists) and adding a "dumb" speaker(s) or two as your entertainment system's main speakers. Do the "smarts" stuff in the smarts you already own (and will be replacing every few years) and buy yourself a new speaker(s) in 2023 that can still sound just as good in 2033 and maybe 2043.
Unless mistreated, no speaker should fail in only a couple of years. However, where the motivation is to drive re-purchases over and over, it's no surprise at all that what it typically a buy once, use for a decade+ technology is appearing to be on an "every 4-5 years" cycle of "buy again."
Consider NOT rewarding that kind of strategy and shop around. There are hundreds of alternative choices.
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Hundreds of alternative HomePod choices? Really?
I have 7 HomePods distributed around my home in different rooms. I can say something like: "Hey Siri, play blues." And within a couple seconds I will be listening to blues music for the rest of the day, until I say "Hey Siri, stop."
I don't have to turn anything on, boot up a computer, etc. They just sit there waiting for verbal commands.
Can you recommend maybe a dozen alternative HomePod choices out of the "hundreds of alternative choices" you mentioned above?
Thanks!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Hundreds of alternative speaker choices.
Our iDevices or AppleTV can handle all of the "smarts" stuff within HPs, whether near the speakers or far from them.
All Sonos speakers will allow a person to command their iDevice to play their music on them. There's a dozen speakers from that one source. I'm not telling the Sonos speakers to play something (though I could as they can work with their own voice command, Alexa and Google too), I'm telling my iDevice (or Mac) Siri and it does it just like it works with HPs. I do this all the time for the speakers I own I consider most like HomePod. They can also work just as well with countless other sources of audio because they are much more open.
However, in my main entertainment area, I have (not Sonos) dumb speakers- no smarts at all (and thus no smarts to be made obsolete in a few years). Once again, I can tell my iDevices or Mac to play anything I want on them and it will wake the Receiver that powers those (in seconds too) and play ANYTHING- be that Apple Music, my own CD collection ripped into the Apple Music app on my Mac, my own custom playlists, anything I want to stream (FROM ANY SOURCE), etc. It's as easy as HPs. The action is the same EXCEPT I'm using the "Hey Siri" smarts(?) always with me.
My best speakers and the Sonos line up are also Airplay 2 compatible, so anything I want to Airplay to HPs, I can airplay to those too. No difference.
My entertainment system is full surround- real surround- not limited to stereo. I'm not waiting & hoping Apple will someday develop some support for surround sound, I already have it and have since roughly 199X because that capability has been around for well over 20+ years. Unfortunately HPs just don't support it... nor are there ANY rumors that Apple might be working towards that. Instead of stereo MAX, I have a dedicated center channel speaker for much clearer voices of whatever I'm watching. Instead of HPs impressive bass, I have a dedicated Subwoofer which can- if desired- rattle the walls and windows should I desire "more bass" than HPs can generate. If the movie I'm watching wants to cast the illusion of sounds behind me, sounds are actually coming from BEHIND me. And this speaker setup NEVER spontaneously disconnects from my AppleTV.
Because the receiver can take inputs from anything, I'm not limited to only Apple "walled garden" options, so I can also use the same system with cable/satt, blu ray, game boxes, free over the air television, camcorder video, etc. If someone comes over with video they've shot on something that can't Airplay and they want to "hook in" and show it to me, it hooks in and we can watch AND listen to whatever they've shot IMMEDIATELY... as opposed to simply NOT being able to watch & listen because HPs offer no way unless a link can be made in narrow, Apple-chosen ways. These speakers will play ANYTHING vs. only what I'm able to feed it with AppleTV, iDevice or Mac and/or airplay. No walled garden at all, though everything inside the Wall plays just fine on them too.
All that offered, I think HPs sound fantastic and if one can:
For me though (a generally Apple-everything guy) they are much too locked down, much too limited in speaker application and I want more value for my money than say- buying gen 1 and not even being able to stereo sync it with gen 2 barely 4 or so years later. No AUX in locks out all kinds of speaker uses should the smarts be made obsolete.
OP says his gen 1 is crackling after only a few years. I expect my speakers to still sound as good as they do now for at least 10 and probably 20 years- no recurring, replacement purchases required. The other Apple tech I already replace regularly will bring every bit of the same "smarts" as that advances.
Our iDevices or AppleTV can handle all of the "smarts" stuff within HPs, whether near the speakers or far from them.
All Sonos speakers will allow a person to command their iDevice to play their music on them. There's a dozen speakers from that one source. I'm not telling the Sonos speakers to play something (though I could as they can work with their own voice command, Alexa and Google too), I'm telling my iDevice (or Mac) Siri and it does it just like it works with HPs. I do this all the time for the speakers I own I consider most like HomePod. They can also work just as well with countless other sources of audio because they are much more open.
However, in my main entertainment area, I have (not Sonos) dumb speakers- no smarts at all (and thus no smarts to be made obsolete in a few years). Once again, I can tell my iDevices or Mac to play anything I want on them and it will wake the Receiver that powers those (in seconds too) and play ANYTHING- be that Apple Music, my own CD collection ripped into the Apple Music app on my Mac, my own custom playlists, anything I want to stream (FROM ANY SOURCE), etc. It's as easy as HPs. The action is the same EXCEPT I'm using the "Hey Siri" smarts(?) always with me.
My best speakers and the Sonos line up are also Airplay 2 compatible, so anything I want to Airplay to HPs, I can airplay to those too. No difference.
My entertainment system is full surround- real surround- not limited to stereo. I'm not waiting & hoping Apple will someday develop some support for surround sound, I already have it and have since roughly 199X because that capability has been around for well over 20+ years. Unfortunately HPs just don't support it... nor are there ANY rumors that Apple might be working towards that. Instead of stereo MAX, I have a dedicated center channel speaker for much clearer voices of whatever I'm watching. Instead of HPs impressive bass, I have a dedicated Subwoofer which can- if desired- rattle the walls and windows should I desire "more bass" than HPs can generate. If the movie I'm watching wants to cast the illusion of sounds behind me, sounds are actually coming from BEHIND me. And this speaker setup NEVER spontaneously disconnects from my AppleTV.
Because the receiver can take inputs from anything, I'm not limited to only Apple "walled garden" options, so I can also use the same system with cable/satt, blu ray, game boxes, free over the air television, camcorder video, etc. If someone comes over with video they've shot on something that can't Airplay and they want to "hook in" and show it to me, it hooks in and we can watch AND listen to whatever they've shot IMMEDIATELY... as opposed to simply NOT being able to watch & listen because HPs offer no way unless a link can be made in narrow, Apple-chosen ways. These speakers will play ANYTHING vs. only what I'm able to feed it with AppleTV, iDevice or Mac and/or airplay. No walled garden at all, though everything inside the Wall plays just fine on them too.
All that offered, I think HPs sound fantastic and if one can:
- happily live within the very tight constraints of walled garden and
- rationalize replacing them more often than the 10-20+ years good speakers should last and
- be satisfied with the maximum of stereo-only audio playback even for visual entertainment...
For me though (a generally Apple-everything guy) they are much too locked down, much too limited in speaker application and I want more value for my money than say- buying gen 1 and not even being able to stereo sync it with gen 2 barely 4 or so years later. No AUX in locks out all kinds of speaker uses should the smarts be made obsolete.
OP says his gen 1 is crackling after only a few years. I expect my speakers to still sound as good as they do now for at least 10 and probably 20 years- no recurring, replacement purchases required. The other Apple tech I already replace regularly will bring every bit of the same "smarts" as that advances.
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But HomePods are not designed or meant to compete with regular speakers and sound *systems*. Or for people with special speaker "applications." They're a different category not needing an amplifier/CD/turntable/cables/etc. It's not a speaker "audiophiles" will embrace. Again a different category, not meant to compete with standalone speakers. Similar to there being different kinds of cars and trucks for different uses.
It's a compact standalone device with decent sound, that can be quickly placed in any room and play a pretty much unlimited amount of music in any genre via voice command. For hours and hours on end. Or taken on a vacation with an internet connection, and just work.
My first (of 7) HomePods purchased on release day works as perfectly as my other six purchased over the years, used every day of the year without fail. Though a nice piece of chum to throw in the water to get people on forums frothed up, HomePod failures are overblown.
Not so sure that this is a “safe” conclusion at all. Many Apple returns are as simple as “I bought the white one and changed my mind and got the black one as a replacement” so let’s not jump to conclusions.