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Apple Confirms HomePod's Supported Audio Sources in Tech Specs
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Why would you connect an AppleTV to an HomePod? It'd be best to spend a bit more and get a decent Home Theatre system. Most likely, you'd get more use out of the HomeTheatre.
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Looking further into the use of different Apple ID's, I found this on another page of the site linked:
"Multi-user support
It doesn't exist. You can change Apple Music accounts fairly easily from the Home app (any person who has access to your HomeKit home can do so), but as I understand it, personal requests are limited to the device you used to set up HomeKit."
I may have misunderstood, but my take from that is that there will be a main Apple ID which owns the HomePod and therefore has the ability to interact with Siri for personal items, but the Apple Music account will be separate from that, and therefore anyone with access to Homekit can fairly easily change to their library. That will be useful in houses (such as mine) where everyone has their own Apple Music library and we would like access to our own playlists, for example.
But, as I say, I may have misunderstood.
That article also suggests that there are signs that HomePod may be able to sync to different accounts based on proximity in the future. It looks like speculation to me, but is encouraging.
"Multi-user support
It doesn't exist. You can change Apple Music accounts fairly easily from the Home app (any person who has access to your HomeKit home can do so), but as I understand it, personal requests are limited to the device you used to set up HomeKit."
I may have misunderstood, but my take from that is that there will be a main Apple ID which owns the HomePod and therefore has the ability to interact with Siri for personal items, but the Apple Music account will be separate from that, and therefore anyone with access to Homekit can fairly easily change to their library. That will be useful in houses (such as mine) where everyone has their own Apple Music library and we would like access to our own playlists, for example.
But, as I say, I may have misunderstood.
That article also suggests that there are signs that HomePod may be able to sync to different accounts based on proximity in the future. It looks like speculation to me, but is encouraging.
This latest update contradicts what I was told last Friday when they first were available for pre-ordering.
But, in a good way. At least it allows everything in my iTunes folder to be played since I have the Match subscription as well, the HomePod is a more attractive item than I thought. Hmmmmm, yes this might be worth hearing/trying after all.
But, in a good way. At least it allows everything in my iTunes folder to be played since I have the Match subscription as well, the HomePod is a more attractive item than I thought. Hmmmmm, yes this might be worth hearing/trying after all.
So lets talk about how bad Sonos really is. I can not cast to it from anything period but the Sonos App. People here are like super defenders of them. They are no different from apple in fact they are worse. If you could chrome cast to a Sonos and airplay then I could see the defense of the omi speaker system. The problem is Sonos has no interest in supporting chrome casting right now. They are probably going to support Air play 2 at some point in the future. So lets compare this Homepod to what it is a very nice version of the Bowers Zepplin for half the cost. The fact Siri is hanging around is just a bonus. This is not a Sonos / Alexa competitor. This is a Bowers and Wilkins competitor.
I know I am going to get flak for this but lets face it there is no perfect speaker that is bluetooth and wifi and chrome casting and airplay 2.
the day that speaker is made people will flock to it. I think Sonos is trying to decide if they want to build that speaker and let people out of the app echo system they created. Sonos could be the white knight but I have to say I am returning all of mine this weekend cause I can not cast anything to them. I use my speaker for more than just music and podcast. I use it to play audio from the iPad in the kitchen for the news while I cook. Sonos can not do that task from android or ios. This is a huge limiting factor for them
So I am buying a home pod why cause I will more than likely never own said device IE android so what am I losing nothing.
My friends are almost all ios.
If this supported bluetooth audio then down the road that would be nice when they came over with the 2 droids I know.
That still does not make Sonos better.
I know I am going to get flak for this but lets face it there is no perfect speaker that is bluetooth and wifi and chrome casting and airplay 2.
the day that speaker is made people will flock to it. I think Sonos is trying to decide if they want to build that speaker and let people out of the app echo system they created. Sonos could be the white knight but I have to say I am returning all of mine this weekend cause I can not cast anything to them. I use my speaker for more than just music and podcast. I use it to play audio from the iPad in the kitchen for the news while I cook. Sonos can not do that task from android or ios. This is a huge limiting factor for them
So I am buying a home pod why cause I will more than likely never own said device IE android so what am I losing nothing.
My friends are almost all ios.
If this supported bluetooth audio then down the road that would be nice when they came over with the 2 droids I know.
That still does not make Sonos better.
Their strategy is to sell as many homepods to iphone users as possible.
Interesting distinction.
I don't understand the technical reason that I can play to multiple speakers through iTunes on a Mac but not Music on my iPhone. I really like the Mac feature to play music to the TV upstairs and downstairs when I'm working around the house.
Let me scratch my head a bit on that...
How about if you already own a HomePod because it works well with your iDevices and Mac, are really impressed with the sound it produces, and would also like to have your AppleTV's audio played through it?
i dont get it. Apple website says it supports bluetooth 5.0, but no mention of streaming through bluetooth.
As much as i wanted this ill pass on this for now
I don’t think we needed an official confirmation to know you can Airplay to the HomePod using any Apple device that can Airplay.
Bluetooth was left out for the obvious reason, it being lesser audio quality than what can be streamed over WiFi. It’s about maintaining a certain level of quality. Apple would love nothing more than to sell as many HomePods as possible.
Files being available in Apple Match is irrelevant to Airplay. If it is in your iTunes library then you will be able to Airplay it to the HomePod. If you have Apple Music then you should be able to play the uploaded songs directly from the HomePod using Siri.
As for the Apple TV, If the file plays on the Apple TV then I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to Airplay the audio to a HomePod. I can't see why it would make any difference what the source is.
At this point in time, the people who own a HomePod, but not the AppleTV is next to zero. So your point is moot.
Actually, yes. Don't think of any Apple product in isolation. Each product is part of a greater strategy to get people into the Apple ecosystem. This way they can sell iPhones, iPads, Macs, apps, Apple Music subscriptions, iCloud storage, etc.
I have a question: when multiroom comes out with AirPlay 2 and I have multiple Homepods will for example I be able to listen to a particular song in the home office, while another person in my house/family listens to a different song downstairs in the kitchen?
I plan on buying multipul HomePod’s for around the house and is the above is possible then that would make it even better.
I plan on buying multipul HomePod’s for around the house and is the above is possible then that would make it even better.
Well, it was never needed to be "confirmed" because Apple TV can output to any AirPlay speaker just like iOS can.
What remains to be seen is whether or not it is a reliable output device. AirPlay from iOS is an occasional output - never a permanent audio source.
With Apple TV, I would want it to be able to permanently output to Home Pod without having to reconfigure it every day. I have no confidence that it would work this smoothly, as I don't think it is designed to work this way.
Truth is - I think the product that I want is a HomePod with an AppleTV inside of it, and an HDMI connection for the TV.
Apple TV is the media center of my house. Everything starts from there. But I do want Hey Siri controls for it, which currently don't exist.
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That's not what multi-room audio is. Multi-room audio is playing the same thing in multiple rooms at the same time. What you describe is just using 2 separate HomePods normally...
Yea, the Sonos app is really bad, but for some reason it doesn’t ruin my experience. I really love my Sonos One.
Also, Sonos is letting people out of their app slowly but surely. They said they plan to have all music sources independent of their app and they have already said they’ll support AirPlay 2. They are also going to add Google Assistant to Sonos One. So for me, Sonos is the better option.
It's a speaker, so of course. There are several A/V receivers out there with AirPlay capability. Hook up the A/V receiver to your TV. Set receiver to Airplay. Done.
If Apple wants to use Airplay exclusively, and they're more than welcome to, they're going to have to push harder in the market to ja--convince enough companies to include Airplay in their systems.
Sometimes the chicken comes before the egg, but I don't think Airplay is one of these magic hens.
Sometimes the chicken comes before the egg, but I don't think Airplay is one of these magic hens.
Useful when you are sleeping with your SO and you want to watch TV. With the Airpods you can prevent waking them up by not having sound coming from the TV.