what a typical greedy Apple - they always kill it with the price.
Apple has made several attempts to produce good speakers. All failed due to a combination of compatibility and price.
I still have a iSub that does not work on any intel Mac, and that is USB so it is simply not supported by apple anymore.
The only reference I can find for the older Apple Hi-Fi speakers is the original press release.
I am quite sure there are more but they don't come to mind.
Apple needs to:
USE THE DAMM UNIVERSAL SPEAKER PLUG AND STOP USING PROPRIETARY CONNECTORS
support the speaker after it is released.
price them so they are worth it.
I spent $350 on good speakers I got in the late 1990's that I am still using six computers later.
the iSub I got with my one of my Mac's only ever worked on that computer.
Now to push you into getting Apple made speakers they are more focused on removing the industry standard 3.5mm connectors to push you to use the overpriced junk they make. In order to use good speakers you may already have you need to dish out an extra $10 to do so.
In the end I can go on an extended rant on how I am starting to dislike Tim Cook.
Maybe I am in the minority, but I cannot imagine myself ever having one of these things in my home. Ever.
Apple has made several attempts to produce good speakers. All failed due to a combination of compatibility and price.
I still have a iSub that does not work on any intel Mac, and that is USB so it is simply not supported by apple anymore.
The only reference I can find for the older Apple Hi-Fi speakers is the original press release.
I am quite sure there are more but they don't come to mind.
Apple needs to:
USE THE DAMM UNIVERSAL SPEAKER PLUG AND STOP USING PROPRIETARY CONNECTORS
support the speaker after it is released.
price them so they are worth it.
I spent $350 on good speakers I got in the late 1990's that I am still using six computers later.
the iSub I got with my one of my Mac's only ever worked on that computer.
Now to push you into getting Apple made speakers they are more focused on removing the industry standard 3.5mm connectors to push you to use the overpriced junk they make. In order to use good speakers you may already have you need to dish out an extra $10 to do so.
In the end I can go on an extended rant on how I am starting to dislike Tim Cook.
The only speaker on the list even close in quality and sound is the Google Home Max (with a $50 higher price, no less). and the HomePod is twice the market share
Maybe I am in the minority, but I cannot imagine myself ever having one of these things in my home. Ever.
I never liked equating marketshare to the better overall product. There has been countless examples in history where the better product was outsold by competition with a lessor product.While the HomePod may have only a single-digit share of the overall market, Strategy Analytics shared data last month indicating that Apple accounts for 70 percent of the small but growing $200-plus smart speaker market, topping competing products such as the Google Home Max and a variety of Sonos speakers.
That data shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as Amazon Echo and Google Home models are regularly priced as low as $49, whereas the HomePod retails for $349.
I started out not really seeing the usefulness in HomePods or smart speakers in general (despite already owning tons of HomeKit accessories) but I picked one up anyway, mainly to use as a speaker. Now I have 3 of them and love how useful they are. Siri is very responsive and easy to use and I love how natural sounding the responses are. The mics can pick up my voice clear across the house and its so easy to control my smart devices that I've already starting adding even more HomeKit devices to my house. I have a few speakers with Alexa (Sonos One) and I very quickly disabled the smart assistant feature. Alexa never understands me or it would listen and then not complete my request without giving any audio cues as to why. I found you had to be very careful to use specific wording in order to get the correct response, and the responses sounded robotic. The HomePod feels like I'm talking to a person and has been easy enough for guests to control with very little instruction. They might be pricey but they work great and sound amazing.
I would also love Dolby Atmos support. I would get several more.
I didn't mean to imply that HomePod is suitable beyond 7 traditional channels.What do you mean by Atmos support? Surely without an Atmos speaker setup (i.e. ceiling-mounted or up-firing speakers) it would be totally pointless, or am I misunderstanding what you’re hoping for?
I tell HomePod to play NPR without a problem actually.I can’t believe that you can’t tell HomePod to play a radio station. I’ve become used to telling my Echo to “Play NPR” or some other local station that provides a feed via TuneIn.
With an infamous assistant and the high price, that's what happens. I know people say it's an amazing speaker (and it probably is), but clearly the market doesn't necessarily want that.
If I could hook it it up to me TV (in lieu of a soundbar), I'd buy one.