HomePod Coming from Amazon Echo/Alexa - questions...

[G.McGilli]

Hi! Thanks in advance...

I'd like to run down how Amazon Echo/Alexa is integrated into my home - and see if Homepod can do the same. That's all I'm hoping for - and then the added integration with all my Apple products will be a bonus (We are a iPad, iPhone, iMac, MBP, Apple watch hone)

In my home:

I have an Echo in my Living room. To activate it I just say "Alexa..."
My daughter has an Echo in her room. To activate it she says "Hey Echo..."

This way while both devices are on my Amazon account - we are able to use each device independently and not interfere with the other. Eg. My daughter has all her alarms set on hers, I have mine...

As an Amazon Prime member, we can walk into any room and say to our device "Alexa/Echo - Play popular music in the Netherlands right now" for example, and it will start playing music on that one device. Or "Play some Jazz" etc. And, we can both be in different rooms, each of us listening to our own music style. I am NOT paying for the Amazon Unlimited music - just the free millions of songs that are included in Prime. I don't subscribe to any music services, nor do I wish to.

We are able to use multiple Echo devices as an intercom to communicate throughout the house.

Question: So - with Dual Homepods - is it easy to have them in multiple rooms, and each has its own things it has to do independent of the other?

Question: Can you as Siri, again in multiple rooms, to just play songs or a style from a pool of free music without having to subscribe to any services or other apps?

Question: Can Homepos be used as an intercom between multiple rooms?

 

[inkahauts]

Just to be clear your daughters voice is the difference. The hey doesn’t do anything with amazon devices... so you should be able to walk into her room and use your voice on her echo and she can do the same with your echo in the main room. It’s the voice.

The “hey” is a Siri only thing.

The only wake words an Alexa can use is
Alexa
Amazon
Computer
Echo

And using different words only changes what wakes it so other devices don’t also respond. It will not change preferences and such based on the wake word. That’s only based on the voice of the person speaking.

With that said you can teach HomePod everyone’s voices just as you can Alexa.

 

[G.McGilli]

With that said you can teach HomePod everyone’s voices just as you can Alexa.

Thanks have been reading up on this more...

 

[waw74]

if you don't have Apple Music, you will not be able to ask siri to play music
Siri can play tune-in stations without a subscription, so you will have some streaming radio, and the audio portion of TV stations. but that's it.

there is currently no intercom feature from HomePod to HomePod like with Alexa
you could have siri text her, or call her phone

I'm not sure how multiple accounts work with HomePod, it does have that feature though.
I live by myself, and she will ask me once a week or so "who's speaking" when I try to add a reminder, or something to my grocery list. Although this happens less the further I get from my last reset of the HomePod.