Apple Music to Launch on Amazon's Echo Devices the Week of December 17

[falainber]

That's a cliche that keeps getting repeated and simply isn't true.

Apple launched iTunes before they launched the iPod. The iPod was just an excuse to sell music downloads. iTunes went on to become the number one music service in the world, selling more music than retail stores and Amazon were selling CDs.

Now that streaming music has surpassed downloads, Apple is making moves in the streaming space.

iTunes would die a quick death if it was not for iPod. There is absolutely nothing special about iTunes (as a music service). High(er) prices and average software.
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I would love to see the numbers on how this impacts Apple and Amazon subscriptions. How many people are using Amazon music simply because Apple music is not an option (unless you pair over bluetooth).

I think most people use Amazon music because of Amazon prime (and maybe a little bit because of Alexa) and Apple music because of iPhone. It's hard to predict what wins.

 

[dogslobber]

The day I allow Amazon hardware into my house is the day after I have sold it.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

Neat. So now I can buy a device that lets me listen to Apple Music and lets Jeff Bezos listen to me listening to Apple Music.

...and everything you might say while you're listening to Apple Music. There have been way too many reports of people getting ads on their phones/iPads/computers after commenting on something they said about that product either to Alexa or in the vicinity of Alexa. Just think about all the comments you make in the (former) privacy of your home that might get you fired, embarrass you, mortify your family, or worse, be linked to some illegal activity, e.g., "I had to drive 75 in a 60 in order to get here on time". Does anyone in the tech world have any doubt that Amazon or Alphabet would sell our information to increase profits?
I love my HomePods but am now conflicted after making sure I don't have any devices with Alexa on them in our home. That "was" the beauty of the Apple walled garden/ecosystem (sigh).

 

[posguy99]

Serious question, why does only a fool do that? Somewhat related, Amazon Music is so weird with songs you download being available for offline listening. That is a major reason I want to dump them.

Because enabling iCloud Music Library causes iTunes to try to upload your library to the cloud, applies Match to it, gets the Match wrong, and trashes the local library. Been there, done that, had to restore the local library twice. I'm well aware that Apple is incompetent when it comes to cloud services, don't need to demonstrate it to myself again.
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You can download music for offline playback on Apple Music.

*Only* if you are willing to enable iCloud Music Library. Why in the world Apple thinks the contents of your local library should be related to whether or not they let you download a track, only they know.

 

[decypher44]

Why would you listen to music offline from your alexa? Its always connected to the internet. If not, its a fancy paperweight.

Huh? I don’t. I’m talking about on my iPhone. I only listen to Amazon Music on my iPhone, Echo and home theater (through Amazon app on Roku).

 

[richpjr]

Personally, I do not care if it listens to my conversations. I am not doing anything illegal.

edit: Just to be clear I know people are concerned with privacy and not just doing "illegal" things. I just flat out do not care if it listens to my conversations. The same way I still use google services because I do not wear a tin hat.

Not that I think listening to a conversation without explicit approval should allowed, but if someone listened to the conversations in my house they'd be nodding off, bored out of their mind!

 

[CPTmom2wp]

No, I plan on keeping my private conversations private. It has nothing to do with legality of activity. That article demonstrates that with one of those in your home, nothing is private.

I do enjoy the irony of people registering on a public forum, with every IP they access from being logged into a database (along with other data, all associated to an email address) to tell the world how much they value their privacy and how stupid everyone else is for not doing so.

Many of us do, in fact, enjoy extensive privacy, despite sharing limited information that we choose on a public forum. While I am fully aware that complete anonymity is not possible for most of us to achieve, there are a lot of steps that can be taken to retain privacy:

-TOR
-VPN
-Stay off Facebook
-Do not use Google as a search engine or any Google products
-Use alternatives to Amazon, where possible, and avoid anything that has Amazon Alexa or Google preinstalled, e.g., thermostats, that will track movement and allow facial recognition within the home itself (see recent patent applications)
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7634662B2/en

My work involves a high bar for privacy of client's personal information. Staying within the Apple ecosystem has been another layer of privacy for me. If the information is "one-way", e.g., Apple Music to Amazon products or even copied and partitioned to separate the duplicated Apple products to Google or Amazon, then perhaps that privacy can be retained. It will be interesting to see how they will address privacy concerns. Without online security/privacy, many of us would have to return to paper records and locked cabinets.

 

[Glideslope]

Mate, no, it doesn’t, you can chose to turn its recording feature off, and it only uses it to help the AI learn what you want. How else do you think a proper AI will get better if it can’t actually learn what you like and do? If it doesn’t it just sits there like a dumb assistant like Siri is.
Alexa, despite popular myth, also ONLY listens to you or records you when you activate it. Otherwise it just sits there listening for the Alexa activation word or whatever you set it to.
Amazon don’t have underground bikers full of sergers recording what millions of people say 24/7, apparently that’s the NSA who do that...

Mercedes does with Ferrari though.

 

[PCMA]

Will I be able to stream Apple Music on my MegaBoom?

 

[0970373]

Will I be able to stream Apple Music on my MegaBoom?

Only as a regular BT speaker. https://www.engadget.com/2018/09/02/ue-boom-app-update-removes-alexa-on-android/

 

[Piggie]

Still amazes me that people are happy to have these 'smart' speakers in their homes. Who really trusts the likes of Amazon & particularly Google with your data & privacy? Not me.

Indeed, I'm guessing they must employ 100 million people in center's listing to everyone's Alexa's and Google homes 24 hours a day in the hope of one of these 100 million "spies" hearing something interesting.

 

[j-dubya]

And yet Siri still can't control Spotify.

Come on Apple.

 

[Mayostudent]

Yay, more ways for crap streaming. Pass.

 

[mattopotamus]

What was “weird” with your experience? I download albums from Amazon Unlimited all the time with no issues. Genuinely curious what you mean.

I seem to consistently switch to "offline music" and a lot of things I have downloaded are not showing up. My wife experiences the same thing.

 

[cmaier]

...and everything you might say while you're listening to Apple Music. There have been way too many reports of people getting ads on their phones/iPads/computers after commenting on something they said about that product either to Alexa or in the vicinity of Alexa. Just think about all the comments you make in the (former) privacy of your home that might get you fired, embarrass you, mortify your family, or worse, be linked to some illegal activity, e.g., "I had to drive 75 in a 60 in order to get here on time". Does anyone in the tech world have any doubt that Amazon or Alphabet would sell our information to increase profits?
I love my HomePods but am now conflicted after making sure I don't have any devices with Alexa on them in our home. That "was" the beauty of the Apple walled garden/ecosystem (sigh).

Yeah, that was my point

 

[Alexlfm]

Still amazes me that people are happy to have these 'smart' speakers in their homes. Who really trusts the likes of Amazon & particularly Google with your data & privacy? Not me.

I mostly trust Amazon. Not that they won't gather or use data about me (I know to some extent they do) but as a services and goods provider themselves they have 0 incentive to sell or share the information to others or advertisers, unlike Google, since it gives them a competitive advantage. Amazon may not be as good as Apple when it comes to privacy, but they are miles better then Facebook or Google, and the speaker isn't $350. Besides, the data that comes from a smart speaker is nothing compared to the gold mine that is Facebook.

 

[robjulo]

Must be awful to live in paranoia that the boogeyman is going to get you.

So someone easdropping on your personal life in general is ok with you? There are far more implications with the device than one being concerned with criminal behavior being revealed.

 

[Glideslope]

Must be awful to live in paranoia that the boogeyman is going to get you.

I appreciate your concern. It’s nice to see the Holiday Spirit alive and well. Rest easy however. I’m good.

 

[curtvaughan]

I'm not an audiophile, or I would have spend a lot more than I did on HomePod.

I bet the average person who finds Echo quality "good enough" on its own, probably wouldn't subscribe to Apple Music and only has Prime music for the free shipping.
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I was just pulling their chain for correcting me on calling Dot by another woman's name...

I subscribe to Amazon Music Prime for its wide variety of available music for streaming online to my various devices - smart phones and computers connected to various headphone/speaker systems, as well as my Echo. Amazon Music really has quite a wide selection of various genres of music, at least enough to mostly please me. I rarely anymore purchase CD's, so am not concerned with shipping.
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Alas no....the echo speakers don’t touch homepod....this is for the j c penney crowd (aren’t they a bit more affluent than the walmart crew?). They might spring for the apple music subscription but will pay $50 for the speakers. Homepods for the yacht, echos for the trailer. LOL

Interesting that a company so concerned over sound quality has removed headphone/speaker jacks from their iOS devices. Bluetooth is decidedly inferior to wired technology and associated DAC's for audiophile worthy sound. I will retain my last jacked iPhone (6s+) and iPad Pro (2017 model), but now defer to LG V-series smart phones for audio superiority. Apple's neglect of the audiophile on its iOS devices is horrid. But yes, nice that they give you a decent bluetooth smart speaker as a consolation prize. I don't expect truly prize sound from any current bluetooth sound devices, though some are clearly better than others.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I would like to refer to both Alexa and Siri in my Amazon Echo. Siri can handle my text messages, phone calls, and calendar that Alexa doesn't have access to retrieve. Heck, I want Google, Cortana to join in too.

"Siri, tell Alexa a Knock Knock joke."
"Hey Google, is their any traffic?"
"Cortana, what is the weather like outside?"
"Everyone, I want you all to sing Happy Birthday together."

 

[teknikal90]

returning my google home and gettng an echo!

 

[cardfan]

I don't think this is desperation, but smart business.

Apple keeping all it's service exclusive to Apple only devices is a bad move if they're trying to expand into being considered a "service" company.

Tying services directly to your hardware means that if you have a dip in hardware sales, you potentially lose service customers too.

going platform agnostic means service revenues can continue to grow even if you lose hardware sales.


Its a smart move that Apple should have been doing earlier.

Repeat after me. Apple makes money selling hardware. This won’t help them do that. Apple will not be considered a service company. If this is their hope they need to rethink things. How bout some new hardware instead? I could make a long list of hardware they could make a killing on and that expands their iOS universe and enhances their less than stellar services.

But nope. Let’s make tv shows instead. Lol. Or hope a few Alexa owners buys Apple Music that isn’t exactly a huge profit center.

 

[coolfactor]

If you can’t better them, join them. Sad.

What is truly sad is that people complain about Apple being a closed ecosystem, but when they start working more openly with the competition, then it's suddenly a "sad" situation.

 

[jcshas]

Best Christmas gift ever. Thanks Apple!

 

[Shanghaichica]

Repeat after me. Apple makes money selling hardware. This won’t help them do that. Apple will not be considered a service company. If this is their hope they need to rethink things. How bout some new hardware instead? I could make a long list of hardware they could make a killing on and that expands their iOS universe and enhances their less than stellar services.

But nope. Let’s make tv shows instead. Lol. Or hope a few Alexa owners buys Apple Music that isn’t exactly a huge profit center.

Surely this would help them attract more android users to Apple Music. At the moment they can subscribe to Apple Music but are locked out of the HomePod unless they buy an iOS device.