From my limited convo with Sonos Support, they wouldn't confirm "It's Coming" but indicated to "Stay Tuned" so it might be available in the near future I am hoping.
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Apple Music Now Playable on Amazon Echo Speakers via Alexa in United States
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Remember when Apple discontinued the iPhone when they ported Amazon Music to Android? How about when Apple killed the Mac after releasing iTunes for Windows?
This is probably more about Amazon Prime Video finally appearing on the Apple TV than anything involving HomePod.
Sonos completely dominates that market. HomePod sales aren’t even close.
I'm at work so I haven't been able to test this, but it appears that you need to use "On Apple Music" to command Alexa.
This is from the support site:
Ask Alexa to play your music
You can ask Alexa to play songs, artists, albums, or genres from Apple Music. You can also play Beats 1 radio, playlists from Apple Music's editors, or playlists in your iCloud Music Library. Say something like “Alexa, play Pure Pop on Apple Music,” or "Alexa, play Bebe Rexha on Apple Music."
If anyone has tried this out, I'd love to know if I can just say "Play my Metal Playlist" or if I have to add "on Apple Music."
This is from the support site:
Ask Alexa to play your music
You can ask Alexa to play songs, artists, albums, or genres from Apple Music. You can also play Beats 1 radio, playlists from Apple Music's editors, or playlists in your iCloud Music Library. Say something like “Alexa, play Pure Pop on Apple Music,” or "Alexa, play Bebe Rexha on Apple Music."
If anyone has tried this out, I'd love to know if I can just say "Play my Metal Playlist" or if I have to add "on Apple Music."
How annoying! My free Echo Dot doesn’t arrive until January and I was so excited about this. Hopefully they’ll fix it soon.
I know there's not a fat chance in frozen hell, but it would be really nice to get Google Music on the Echo just so I could have one subscription for music and youtube. Or google should just let you ditch youtube ads for $5/mo., then I'd probably just sign up for Apple Music, since that randomly comes on 4th or 5th time I get in my car.
No. You can set Apple Music as your default and don't have to specify.
Can anyone confirm if you have an Apple Music family account, if you are able to play multiple streams on different echos at the same time? For instance, the kids have echos in their room, and parents have one in the kitchen. Can we all listen to different Apple Music streams at the same time? Amazon Unlimited Family allows up to 6 simultaneous streams.
It def works not well tho.. and no airplay yet. It works the best with my Pandora unlimited and amazon music subscription.. No airplay yet with Apple Music but Alexa def plays from Apple Music now.. not well tho...
[doublepost=1544816246][/doublepost]Now to decide whether i get HomePod alongside my Alexa speakers and Sonos Beam for TV.. decisions....
[doublepost=1544816246][/doublepost]Now to decide whether i get HomePod alongside my Alexa speakers and Sonos Beam for TV.. decisions....
This isn’t a bad home filler for places where sound quality isn’t important. I’d get a few Echos to put in the bathroom and kitchen while HomePods are in the living room and bedrooms.
Since I already have good Bluetooth speakers at home, I can now pipe Apple Music through them from the Dot instead of spending a lot of money on a HomePod. And since Alexa is a more capable assistant anyway, this is a very good addition to the Echo line.
I just plaved two things (from separate Echos) and of course they are from the same (family shared) account, since only one named account is linked to the Alexa account.
So, cool!
So just as Google pay lots of $$$'s to Apple to be the search engine, presumably Apple are paying Amazon for this? It's not like Amazon needed Apple music in order to sell more units and indeed it's addition is against their own interests with thier service.
Sonos has a decade lead on HomePod so that makes sense but Spotify also had a giant lead on Apple Music but not anymore. I think Sonos will die or more likely be acquired by a big tech company in a few years.
The iPhone does much more than play music. The Mac runs many more apps than just iTunes.
Besides voice-controlled Apple Music playback, what good is a HomePod for? And is that additional functionality worth $350 to enough people? Given the aggressive holiday discounts from multiple retailers, I doubt it. Future HomePod sales performance will be more telling.
Without Apple Music exclusivity, I don’t think Siri can keep up with Alexa in the smart speaker market.
Sonos is just too successful. Maybe in a decade things might change for the near future they’re not going anywhere. The HomePod could turn out to be such a flop Apple end up quitting the market
I just linked Apple Music through the Alexa app (Settings, Music, Link New Service) to play through my speaker group and both times I tried it the music started, then stopped and Alexa said there was a problem. Seems a bit buggy at launch...
Sound quality.
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Alexa doesn't do any of the things I need, and Siri does.