Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HomePod Launches February 9, Available to Order Starting Friday in United States, UK, and Australia
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
So how does one "try" this out while it is displayed in stores? Presumably they will have multiple Homepods on display. If its anything like the spastic kids who randomly turn on all the speakers in Target, I imagine many will not be able to experience the Homepod as advertised.
Also Tim said the Homepod is able to detect if there is more than one in the room (unless I mis-read that). I can't imagine it sounding just as good at home as it does in store if there is more than one.
I guess one must pre-order it to utilize it within their space to experience it as intended.
Also Tim said the Homepod is able to detect if there is more than one in the room (unless I mis-read that). I can't imagine it sounding just as good at home as it does in store if there is more than one.
I guess one must pre-order it to utilize it within their space to experience it as intended.
Then you should also ask AppleInsider, who just said this:
I mean, jeez, if the ultimate pro-Apple fansite says it, then...
Last edited:
Can someone explain this to me?
"Without an Apple Music subscription, HomePod is able to play content that's been purchased from iTunes along with Beats 1 radio content and podcasts. HomePod will only be able to play content that's been directly purchased using iTunes, rather than any music in an iTunes library."
But,
Supports "
Audio Formats
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV, and FLAC"
Cant purchase FLAC from iTunes ?
"Without an Apple Music subscription, HomePod is able to play content that's been purchased from iTunes along with Beats 1 radio content and podcasts. HomePod will only be able to play content that's been directly purchased using iTunes, rather than any music in an iTunes library."
But,
Supports "
Audio Formats
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV, and FLAC"
Cant purchase FLAC from iTunes ?
I'm expecting it will work for that - as long as you have an Apple TV. Quality is another matter entirely. We all know most TV speakers are objectively bad. Personally I have a very cheap Insignia soundbar that doesn't even have a sub. I'm hoping it can at least beat that in quality. On specs alone I don't see how it couldn't. Not having voices (center channel) come from the direction of the TV would be my only concern.
First of all, not my screenshot.
But yes, this will be a great solution for my TV as the only thing connected is an Apple TV.
So let me get this straight, HomePod won’t be able to play a traditional radio station for me? Like the echo can via tune in? That’s a serious oversight if true
I don’t think anyone has it “straight” yet. There is only a bunch of speculation and posturing around an opinion here so far.
Funny, blackberry owners said the same thing at one time about their devices.
Likely not really Apples fault on this one. Typically when we don’t get American products in Canada, it’s because theirs no French version yet, so they can’t sell.
Why would you buy a voice enabled speaker and then have to stream using Airplay through it? That makes no sense. Buy a Google or Amazon device that fully supports many services. If you’re concerned with sound quality get a Google Home Max. It solves all of those issues and gives you a much better voice assistant to boot.
I don't know if it works if you just have the HomePod, but if you have an iPhone or iPad, it thought it should be able to stream anything from the iPhone or iPad using Airplay? At least that was my understanding.
I guess its horses for courses. I'm not that fussed about being able to say 'Hey Siri! Play some Taylor Swift', but imagine just using the iPhone to remotely select music. Or stream some radio to it from the phone.
The current trend of releasing significant features after launch is so weak.
Apple should just unlock one tweeter each month so consumers can really appreciate the 7th tweeter in August when stereo and multi-user support appears.
Apple should just unlock one tweeter each month so consumers can really appreciate the 7th tweeter in August when stereo and multi-user support appears.
I think the real reason for the delay are the features in iOS 11.3 that are tied to homepod. Apple could have waited until March to release but I'm fine with getting it now with new features to follow shortly. Apple TV 4k was also released before it was ready but now is one of my favorite devices.
Apparently there's no alternate audio inputs, so unless you're using something that supports airplay for audio, you cannot use it as a soundbar.
the HomePod is pretty much right now exclusive for the Apple ecosystem and not much else.
Most of my viewing is done via the Apple TV now, movies and most TV shows. I’m only watching 2 shows on my cable subscription. One of them I can watch via the Apple TV anyway.
Is it just me? With all the pros and cons ..well mostly cons...about the HomePod has Apple let its marketing of this slip? There are many good concerns etc and may be they are doing this keeping quiet for a reason. I may be wrong here..I have been once before..been wrong..today..heh...But I guess we will have to wait for the reviews to come out..and I will wait. I have an Amazon Dot my oldest son bought for me and was hoping that the HomePod would be a better option..especially for security reasons. But it may not do the same things (as many have already commented on) so I will do the "wait and see" thingie.
Last edited:
[doublepost=1516914203][/doublepost]This may be the product launch that pulls me out of the Apple ecosystem altogether. I was looking forward to it since I use Apple Music. But the inability to link speakers is a deal Killer, and the fact that the product can’t do this out of the gate — despite a delay — shows how unlikely it is to be a significant improvement on other options.
Apple today announced that its HomePod speaker will be released on Friday, February 9, with orders beginning Friday, January 26 via Apple's online store or the Apple Store app in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Apple added that HomePod will launch in France and Germany at some point "this spring," but hasn't provided release dates for other countries like Canada.
HomePod is priced at $349 in the United States, £319 in the United Kingdom, and $499 in Australia. The speaker will be available in White or Space Gray from Apple Stores and at select resellers in each country, such as Best Buy in the United States, John Lewis and EE in the UK, and Harvey Norman and Telstra in Australia.
Apple has primarily positioned the HomePod as a speaker that can stream Apple Music, but with built-in Siri, users can send messages, set timers, play podcasts, check the news and weather, control HomeKit-enabled smart home accessories, and complete other tasks without needing to take out their iPhone.
The high-fidelity speaker is equipped with spatial awareness and Apple-engineered audio technology, including a seven-tweeter array and high-excursion woofer. The nearly seven inch tall speaker is powered by Apple's A8 chip.
Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller:Apple said a software update coming later this year will enable users with more than one HomePod to play music throughout their homes with multi-room audio via its AirPlay 2 protocol. And if there's more than one HomePod placed in the same room, the speakers will be able to detect each other and deliver stereo sound.
HomePod is compatible with iPhone 5s or newer, any iPad Pro, iPad Air or newer, iPad mini 2 or newer, and the sixth-generation iPod touch running iOS 11.2.5, which remains in beta testing, or later software versions.
HomePod is Apple's answer to the Amazon Echo and Google Home. The speaker was originally set to be released in December, but Apple delayed the launch, and missed out on sales during the holiday shopping season in the process.
Article Link: HomePod Launches February 9, Available to Order Starting Friday in United States, UK, and Australia
In the meantime, I tried a few of the ultra-cheap Google Minis over Christmas and their voice assistant is leagues better than Siri. I’m struggling to see why I shouldn’t dump my iPhone for a Pixel, Apple TV for Chromecast (I have one of each and the latter works great at a far cheaper price) and Apple Music for Google’s music service.
Will I keep my Macs after they are outdated? Hard to say. I like them, but Apple seems most interested in mobile products and that’s where they’re struggling to keep up with the competition.
Firstly, airplay 2, when it lands, will likely be a much friendlier implementation of multi room audio. Google Cast audio groups are clunky as hell in the gooogle home app. Half the time the group, or speakers within the group don’t even show up. Google assistant is better than Siri at most things, this is fact, but google home seems very unreliable overall at the minute; I constantly get “sorry. There was a glitch” errors, multiple times per week.
The one thing that neither google nor Alexa can touch Siri on is musicology. Something as simple as “add this to my up next” which Siri has been doing for ages, and google or amazon haven’t even bothered to implement it.
Shows the focus of each company; Apple cares about Music first, The there care about dominating every single inch of your life.
Interesting. I bought two Google Minis and have had no problems with groups. I have also found to Google assistant to be far superior to Siri on my iPhone. I have used Google assistant for things that I was actually surprised it could help with. With Siri, I am constantly surprised by the extremely simple things she is unable to do.
I love Apple Music, but I am not convinced that this product is worth nearly three times the price of a Google Home when it can’t even do much of what the Google hone does. And ... if I switch to Google Home I’ll switch my music subscription since they don’t play nice together.