HomePod's Multi-Room Audio and Stereo Features Will Not Be Available at Launch

[dominiongamma]

Apple’s keynotes are turning into CES. “It’s not available for purchase and we don’t know when it will be released.”

Yup and the keynotes style are looking dated and the audience will clap for features that other smartphones had for years.

 

[Bdub12]

Why is "stereo pair" in quotes? Is it not real left/right stereo? Looks fishy.

 

[scrapesleon]

I’m tired of waiting

 

[Newton1600]

Hopefully Canada launches once they have a fully baked speaker...

 

[robbyx]

Probably way too many home speakers sound bars. I don’t think Apple really wants to be in the sound bar business.

Sonos sells 10 different products, give or take. Only one is a sound bar. I think the question of why Apple didn’t buy them is legitimate. What Apple is delaying, again, today with HomePod are things Sonos shipped years ago. Multi-room audio. Check. Pairing speakers for stereo sound. Check. HomePod better sound utterly amazing. Otherwise there’s absolutely nothing compelling about it.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Half-baked HomePod, but it was fully functional for leaks.

 

[BlandUsername]

Or you could just buy Sonos five years ago and have both of these features.

I went the Bose path, Have Soundtouch equipment everywhere, I would love to get something that could provide services when wired into one of the HDMI inputs. Aside from that, quite content with what I have.

 

[adamjackson]

Good. Will make me feel okay about waiting for these to show up on Refurb site or eBay used.

 

[Dayv]

Or you could just buy Sonos five years ago and have both of these features.

I almost did a couple times, but I don’t want to have to pipe everything through the Sonos app. I was pretty sure I was in for one HomePod at launch, but thought buying a pair immediately might be a bit much, so the delay on AirPlay 2 simplifies the question for now.

 

[Newton1600]

Also what’s so difficult about launching this in Canada? It just irks me on principle ...

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Can I get a "Can't innovate my ass!"?

 

[az431]

Or you could just buy Sonos five years ago and have both of these features.

Sonos does not support either of these features.

 

[ASUgrad1999]

I’m sure Apple has determined a high percent of buyers would only buy one anyway (at least initially) so why make them wait until the product is fully “ready”. I’m not defending Apple’s poor track record of product releases as of late, but I can see why they made this decision.

 

[macduke]

If it can’t do multi-room audio or that room filling stereo mode, then that makes it even more pointless.

I don’t like how much Apple has been playing from behind lately. And it’s not like the iPod where they revolutionized MP3 players. This barely adds anything over the competition. They had a huge lead with Siri in 2011. They squandered it.

 

[az431]

Why is "stereo pair" in quotes? Is it not real left/right stereo? Looks fishy.

Stereo does not mean left and right. It means multi-dimensional (more than one source).

 

[mookc1]

Talk about trying to rush something. They should just shelve this. They can’t even put the features in this delayed product that are in competitor’s offerings. It’s an expensive experiment with the consumer paying for the ‘privelege’ of testing.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Also what’s so difficult about launching this in Canada? It just irks me on principle ...

What principle? Before you take it personally, remember it could very well be that your gov't is slow to issue the required certification. Or it could be a licensing issue with the Canadian music lobby. I doubt Apple wants to deprive Canadians of it's half-assed speaker.

 

[Phil A.]

Sonos does not support either of these features.

Yes it does - I am listening to 2 Play:1 speakers in a stereo pair right now and I can group any of my Sonos speakers together in a multi-room configuration.

It's been supported since they launched

 

[mookc1]

Yes it does - I am listening to 2 Sonos:1 speakers in a stereo pair right now and I can group any of my Sonos speakers together in a multi-room configuration.

It's been supported since they launched

SONOS is awesome!

 

[Scottsoapbox]

So the hardware is late and the software is later.

 

[blacktape242]

wow you would think that would be standard from the get go.....swing and a miss apple...

glad I went with Sonos.

 

[robbyx]

Sonos does not support either of these features.

Yes they do. And have for years. You can send different audio streams to different Sonos devices or link devices to play the same stream in different rooms. And you can pair Sonos speakers in the same room to create true stereo.

Have you ever used Sonos? Maybe next time wait to comment until you do?

 

[oneMadRssn]

Why didn't they buy Sonos? It is actually an honest question, may I add... instead of buying Beats, i.e.

I'm glad they didn't. The thing I like about Sonos is that they are platform agnostic - no music service is prioritized over any other.

 

[symphony]

Honestly, what is wrong with Apple? A near Trillion Dollar company can't make a speaker.

Uh... they did make a functional speaker. It’s just that some features aren’t available at launch.

 

[drewsof07]

Product was announced too early.

 

[MacFan23]

I'm glad they didn't. The thing I like about Sonos is that they are platform agnostic - no music service is prioritized over any other.

*as long as you're using the sonos app/sonos supported app