HomePod and ripped iTunes

[Fireball Dragon]

I am picking up a HomePod tomorrow. There seems to be plenty of stock here in the UK.

My iTunes music library is a combination of purchased songs from iTunes and ripped music from my CD collection.

Can HomePod play my entire iTunes library, inlcuding ripped CDs?

PS: I like to own my music and don't have an interest in an Apple Music subscription.

 

[Zari]

Yes via iTunes on your Mac or from any iOS device using AirPlay. There maybe another way of playing local music, but I've not found it yet.

 

[Fireball Dragon]

Yes via iTunes on your Mac or from any iOS device using AirPlay. There maybe another way of playing local music, but I've not found it yet.

Thanks, Zari. Do you know if that is for streaming only then?

So I couldn't ask Siri on the HomePod to play a (ripped) song I already have on my iTunes library if my Mac is off?

 

[Zari]

I can't get Siri to play a ripped tune on the Homepod, but I can ask it to play any of my iTunes purchased music, this is all streamed and not played from a local source. Hopefully this might be a feature that is included later, the ability to see all local stored music as long as it's in your iTunes folder
To play local music, you have to start it playing from your device, once it's playing you can do all the usual "hey siri" for volume, pause, play, next track etc.

 

[chabig]

So I couldn't ask Siri on the HomePod to play a (ripped) song I already have on my iTunes library if my Mac is off?

Obviously, if your Mac is off it can't stream to HomePod. But if you subscribe to iTunes Match, your ripped music will be on Apple's servers and you can stream them without your Mac.

 

[Fireball Dragon]

I can't get Siri to play a ripped tune on the Homepod, but I can ask it to play any of my iTunes purchased music, this is all streamed and not played from a local source. Hopefully this might be a feature that is included later, the ability to see all local stored music as long as it's in your iTunes folder
To play local music, you have to start it playing from your device, once it's playing you can do all the usual "hey siri" for volume, pause, play, next track etc.

That's helpful. I was just thinkng if there was a way for iTunes to realise wat music I had in my iTunes library (ripped or otherwise) and allow me to play this.

Obviously, if your Mac is off it can't stream to HomePod. But if you subscribe to iTunes Match, your ripped music will be on Apple's servers and you can stream them without your Mac.

Cheers. I'm not too keen to sign-up for any more subscriptions. Was going to get a HomePod anyway, so will just use it to play music I have purchased from iTunes (still quite a bit).

I usually only buy a physical CD and rip it if I find it cheaper than it is on iTunes already.

 

[CACTUARU]

Hmm, I can't seem to play any of my iTunes library on my Home Pod...

 

[Phil77354]

My understanding is that ripped music on your iTunes library can be played on the HomePod - it is simply another Airplay choice that you can select.

Siri can't be used to control your music selections from your own iTunes library, it can only be used to select music from Apple's own music service, or iTunes Match.

I'll be able to confirm this within the next few hours but I'm confident this is how it works from everything I've read.

 

[CACTUARU]

My understanding is that ripped music on your iTunes library can be played on the HomePod - it is simply another Airplay choice that you can select.

Siri can't be used to control your music selections from your own iTunes library, it can only be used to select music from Apple's own music service, or iTunes Match.

I'll be able to confirm this within the next few hours but I'm confident this is how it works from everything I've read.

AirPlay on my iPhone only picks up AppleTv?

 

[Phil77354]

AirPlay on my iPhone only picks up AppleTv?

To be honest, I'm not even sure I know where to find AirPlay on my iPhone. But if your don't have anything else in your system that is using AirPlay, then it would make sense that the AppleTV is the only choice shown. Just my guess.
[doublepost=1518197517][/doublepost]OK, I see it now. AirPlay between iPhone and AppleTV selection using the Control Center. Haven't had the opportunity to try that before.

My expectation is that HomePod should now show up similarly, so that you could use AirPlay from your iPhone or iPad to stream the audio to the HomePod, if you're listening to a podcast or something on YouTube, etc. I'll check that out later today when I get my HomePod set up.

 

[CACTUARU]

AirPlay on my iPhone only picks up AppleTv?

Right, I'm just not seeing the HomePod anywhere other than Home

 

[webstyr]

1. You can not ask Siri on your Home Pod to play any ripped song that you have in your iTunes library on your Mac. This really sucks and I hope Apple makes this VERY elementary function available in the next update.
2. You can play any song you have in your iTunes library on your Mac by hitting the play button in iTunes and setting the output speakers to Home Pod. (You can also set the output speakers to multiple speakers. For example you can select both Home Pod and AppleTV so the song will play through the Home Pod AND whatever speakers your AppleTV plays through. In my case that would be a Bose surround system. The addition of the Home Pod to the surround system really improves the sound quality.

3. You can play any song you have on your iPhone by selecting the song and touching the Airplay icon below the volume level of the song and then selecting selecting from the resulting popup your Home Pod. BUT, you can not select multiple output speakers on the iPhone like you can on the Mac.

 

[cmichaelb]

Yeah it has no problem playing my ripped library, just no Siri control.

The big issue is there is such a delay playing a video. The sound is delayed slighty in iTunes, much much worse when using a third party video player.

 

[gelie]

Obviously, if your Mac is off it can't stream to HomePod. But if you subscribe to iTunes Match, your ripped music will be on Apple's servers and you can stream them without your Mac.

True but in a lower quality. Especially if you ripped from CD.

 

[TheBearman]

True but in a lower quality. Especially if you ripped from CD.

Good point but I have two listening modes... If I just want music playing while I'm doing things around the house or when I have guest for a party I'm not that critical. If I'm relaxing with a goal or focus on the music, then it matters. It's nice to say "Hey Siri" and having something play or change.

Itunes match is fairly inexpensive with a $30 a year cost. I'm ok with that, $2.50 a month is like one cup of coffee from Starbucks. As for Apple Music, harder to accept. At a yearly cost of $100, I'd rather go with Amazon Prime. For about the same cost I get music (maybe not as extensive a collection), plus movies, and 2 day shipping. Bigger bang for the buck.