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HomePod's Sound Continues to Receive Top Marks After Listening Demos in New York and London
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I don’t own a voice assistant of any kind so information I have may be outdated, but from what I understand you can’t start an Apple Music session using Alexa but you can control volume, pause and skip using voice commands. May not be much but it’s more than Apple is offering at least initially.
This is another potential case where Apple’s penchant for secrecy may bite it in the profits. If they have plans to support other systems it might help sales to say so now.
I don’t own a voice assistant of any kind so information I have may be outdated, but from what I understand you can’t start an Apple Music session using Alexa but you can control volume, pause and skip using voice commands. May not be much but it’s more than Apple is offering at least initially.
This is another potential case where Apple’s penchant for secrecy may bite it in the profits. If they have plans to support other systems it might help sales to say so now.
I know lots are moaning that Siri can't control anything more than apple music or perhaps what's in the icloud (itunes match) but I guess I'm in the minority of users who really don't desire to use Siri more than I have to. I PREFER to use an iphone to airplay to a speaker vs struggling to get Siri to understand or do something beyond setting an alarm. I have an apple watch for homekit with Siri already baked in. Same with iphone. iPad on a stand with a BT speaker in kitchen that takes "hey siri." There's just no reason for me to want a Homepod.
Apple touts being able to text people with homepod using siri. I'd rather have a root canal than do this..
It simply makes more sense to get Sonos which can plug and play into a tv system later and supports or will support airplay 2. But whatever the case, you have more options here along with better sound.
Apple touts being able to text people with homepod using siri. I'd rather have a root canal than do this..
It simply makes more sense to get Sonos which can plug and play into a tv system later and supports or will support airplay 2. But whatever the case, you have more options here along with better sound.
lol, smh, what you've referred to is irrelevant. I didn't initially reply to you, you are the one who replied to my posts where I was referring to apps in general. You deluded that I had not read what I was referring to. But the premise of what I was saying, that you replied to ... was purely about the fact that HomePod's Siri will have access to developer apps. What you referred to in the context of replying to me was consequential of your ignorance.
The more you type, the more I realize you have no idea what you're talking about. Since this thread, an article on Macrumors has been posted stating that iTunes Match users will be able to use HomePod's Siri to play their music.
Of course it won't work, but you have no real understanding of why it won't work. It's not that there's an absence of SiriKit play controls, it's the fact that Siri doesn't understand what "Steve Earle" is in the context of "Spotify" search. You delude that the issue is playback controls, when that's not true at all. Siri understands "Play", Siri can even "Pause" a song when Spotify is playing, thus app playback controls exist. But Siri doesn't understand how to find "Steve Earle" in "Spotify" to therefore play it. If Siri cannot find "Steve Earle" in "Spotify" it cannot use its already existing playback controls. So what needs to truly happen is, Apple needs to provide a way of presenting app contextual search data and descriptors to Siri.
That is absolutely not a playback control issue, nor is it a streaming control issue. It's a context and understanding issue.
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I don’t know if I’m going to buy a Sonos set or not, but I agree with you about Siri-and Alexa and Google Home.
I'll have a look - I guess one factor in the past has been familiarity with the AM music app - I use it a lot, so do kind of like it. Things like listening to Zane on Beats 1 on my iMac, and adding tracks to playlists from directly within AM. When I've looked at other apps for this stuff, I've always thought they were a little clunkier than AM. Although granted, a big part of that is likely just familiarity.
By the sounds of it, the HP should be pretty close at least to the Play 3, which if the case would be an improvement on what we currently have. I think for us the returns start to diminish quite a bit.
As an addendum to my biggest complaint with the HomePod:
It appears if you use ITunes Match and you have uploaded your library then you can play any and all of that music using Siri even songs that are not included in Apple Musics song catalog. Not cheap and there are limitations for sound quality and number of songs you can store —100,000, so I don’t imagine many would have a problem with this limit— but I think that Apple needs to highlight this as a possibility/option for those with a large catalog of music stored on their hard drive.
I don’t know what iTunes Match costs per year.
It appears if you use ITunes Match and you have uploaded your library then you can play any and all of that music using Siri even songs that are not included in Apple Musics song catalog. Not cheap and there are limitations for sound quality and number of songs you can store —100,000, so I don’t imagine many would have a problem with this limit— but I think that Apple needs to highlight this as a possibility/option for those with a large catalog of music stored on their hard drive.
I don’t know what iTunes Match costs per year.
You made a great point. What problem is it solving for Amazon Echo users. You're right!
They still advertise an iPad as a replacement for a PC.....
And it is for many folks
Not everyone of course, but for many... it is a very viable replacement
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I am definitely on record in this and other HomePod threads as having problems with what the HomePod can do and how it does it. But the problem that they are trying to solve is average sound, and on that front I do agree with Apple.
HomePod's Siri will have access to messaging, memo, and list apps—nothing else. If you disagree, feel free to cite the developer documentation that states otherwise, with or without your usual ad hominem embellishments.
True, but that doesn't materially affect HomePod's lack of API endpoints to non-Apple music services.
Let's go back to first principles. HomePod is three things:
- A voice UI for Apple music services: Apple Music, iTunes Match, iCloud Music Library, and iTunes purchases
- An AirPlay target for external devices
- A platform for messaging, memo, and list apps
Which is precisely why "Search the web for Steve Earle on Spotify" is a UX kluge: it's a second step that isn't reasonable to ask of the user. Even when you get the result, you still have to manually launch the link. Only then are you able to use Siri again for playback controls. Like I said, a car with everything except an accelerator isn't a car. More importantly, this workaround isn't actionable to programmers.
I am very keen to hear these, not because I am likely to buy them because I just simply am not in the market for speakers at all much less smart speakers, but because I'm curious about how successful Apple was in getting great sound for the price, particularly in a solo configuration.
As others have pointed out, the only impressions available now come from Apple-controlled demo setups, but it sounds encouraging nonetheless.
The only thing I use for Siri for is for sending text messages (while driving -- super convenient!) and creating reminders, so I don't really take advantage of other Siri features anyway, and I have an Echo Dot for everything else (particularly great for its Amazon integration), so I'm just not compelled to buy it myself.
As others have pointed out, the only impressions available now come from Apple-controlled demo setups, but it sounds encouraging nonetheless.
The only thing I use for Siri for is for sending text messages (while driving -- super convenient!) and creating reminders, so I don't really take advantage of other Siri features anyway, and I have an Echo Dot for everything else (particularly great for its Amazon integration), so I'm just not compelled to buy it myself.
Speak for yourself. I was still shocked that Ipods and Ipod Classics supported Windows.
EDIT: typo
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I disagree. Again, you really don't understand what you're saying.
But I won't cite developer documentation. I'll actually feel free to cite whatever I want, lol.
http://homepodinfo.com/apple-homepod-siri-commands
The truth is Siri on Homepod has access to significantly more. It's developers which only have access to HomePod's Siri on the things you listed, but you didn't actually say that. I understood what you meant though, I'm just reflecting the reality that you have no true understanding of what you're actually saying. You use words you don't really understand, and say things you don't really mean. While thinking that you comprehend clearly. That's funny; possible, but improbable.
You're trying to steer things in the way you want them to be, to fit your delusion. It is a fact, that you claimed that the absence of "streaming control" was relevant in SiriKit. It is not. You then tried to switch it up and say it was "endpoints for track controls" is what SiriKit needs. It is not. Now you're trying to say it needs "API endpoints to non-Apple music services."
It does not.
No matter how you phrase it, it's not going to be any more true. It's your logic in the situation that is fundamentally incorrect. What you're proposing is actually a programmatic fallacy, and is not how AI development is approached. You believe developers need actionable access to Siri, but that's actually an inaccurate order. The app isn't supposed to trigger Siri, so Developers don't need actionable access to it (but they could be given actionable access, like say clicking on the mic button within an app would trigger Siri, such functionality could be given, but is not necessary because of the order of processes). It's Voice that triggers Siri, and then Siri triggers the app. In the correct order of process, there is nothing that Developers need actionable access to.
Instead, it's Siri which needs access to the developer apps, and it's the developers that must define their data in a way that Apple describes, so that Siri understands. Those aren't programmatic endpoints necessarily. It can be, depending on how it's implemented. But it could just as easily be defined in a text file that Siri simply parses. But you previously did not even understand the difference in nuance of developers accessing Siri, versus Siri accessing the Developer's apps.
Perhaps to you they are the same, and you're just trying to convey an idea without truly understanding it.
So I understand that your point in some roundabout way is: "even if people complained to Developers there are just some things they can't do, which although I honestly don't understand why they can't do it, it doesn't change the reality that they can't do it. So those developers weren't given the necessary tools." Which would be true, but it's biased. Because it's addressing them not being given the tools to what you want them to do, and yes for everyone like you complaining to Developers would have no fruitful results. But there are many others that complaining to developers might have fruitful results because they were given the tools.
At the end of the day, yes some developers do not have access to do what you want them to do. But I was conveying that developers have access and were given tools to access HomePod, so HomePod is not truly a closed-system (it's just closed in a way that you wish it was open). What you desire and its absence stands, but it in no way diminishes what my premise actually was. You just arrogantly deluded I had not read what I referenced, and that you understood the situation better. When in truth, I actually understand the situation intimately, and of course I truly read it. I've been a developer for 30 years, lol. -- But you were too blind by your own ego to see, that I actually referenced more knowledge than what you read. While you continued to delude that you understood.
For example, "UX kluge"
Before that hack was even mentioned in that thread, people were listing Siri keywords that work with Spotify out of the box. You keep thinking that you need a hack to get Siri to work with Spotify, you're obviously not really understanding the situation. You "think" it's understanding the situation, but it's not. Siri by default has playback keywords that work with Spotify, so therefore Siri is already able to control playback via apps. People covered that in that forum thread. And as I keep telling you, it's not as you think, and you don't really understand.
I really hope that Siri control of AirPlay streams are enabled from the door on HomePod as they already exist on iOS. So you can take a slice of humble pie.
Hey everyone, it's not going to have Spotify - get over it and move on.
Audio is subjective, though, the info this redditor shared puts my initial concerns, brought on by the "demo reviews", to rest.Interesting, thank you. This review sounds quite positive indeed.
That being said, I take audiophile reviews with a grain of salt. Having spent quite a few years in an audiophile forum, I think audiophile opinions of a new product tend to follow a cycle: Initial reviews are exuberant and flaws are downplayed (e.g. "A single HoemPod is not quite as crisp as 2 X300A’s when it comes to the highs"). As time goes by the enthusiasm will calm down while the perception of flaws will become more pronounced. By the time the HomePod 2 is coming up, audiophiles will likely be praying that Apple will have fixed the unbearably muddy highs of the first version.
I think the term "audiophile" is pretty vague. It's used by people who claim they have (or dont have) the ears for sound. Much of it is very subjective of course.
I just read the Reddit post, and it is interesting how people still compare to this to Sonos Play 1. The Play 1 to me just doesn't sound good. It sounds teeny and not very meaty. Arguably, I also felt the Play 5 wasn't that great either. I used to own a Wren, which I thought was a very good sounding speaker for its price point compared to anything Sonos.
Historically, I've found that my audio tastes disagree with the average Engadget/Verge/etc journalists' ears.
Same here. I'd read them just for the entertainment of it, and to get more insight, even though I'm not in the market for ANY of these types of speakers... smart, assistant-like, or whatever else they primarily can do. With any product, I'm especially interested in the negative reviews, which we won't get from these folks who'll either want to be on Apple's good side, or can't do anything in-depth yet.
I'd like to read negative reviews. You learn so much about a product from these.
I take it you've used it.. that's why you know he's wrong?Talks about waiting for reviews while dismissing the hands-in experiences of people who have actually interacted with it; proceeds to pre-form their own opinions on a product despite never actually having used it in real life.
If you have an Apple TV 4 or 4K try this exercise:
AirPlay any media that isn't an Apple app to your Apple TV. When it's playing on your Apple TV, take your Siri remote and say "Pause", and it will pause the AirPlay stream. While it's playing you can also say, "Rewind", "Fast Forward" and other playback keywords, and they will work. This will work for Spotify that is Airplayed, Youtube, etc. Thus reflecting that Siri on the Apple TV can control AirPlay streams. Try it on an app that is installed directly on the Apple TV too, and it will work also, reflecting that Apple TV's Siri has playback controls for Developer apps too.
Claims that HomePod Siri will not be able to control what is being Airplayed, would only be possible if the Siri for HomePod doesn't have the same core functionality as the other Siris. Which is possible, but so far no current Siri is missing playback control for other apps. It's a basic Siri function, which is why playback control via SiriKit is redundant. It wouldn't enhance Siri in any way, and Apple doesn't need to provide SiriKit access to such things, because everyone already has access to such things and there's no benefit to giving programmatic access to such things.
What Siri cannot do is fully understand the meaning of words to an app. That is the true situation, which I dubbed as "Insight Control" or "Search Control". That lack of understanding is why Siri can't play specific tracks, or artists, in developer apps, yet because Siri doesn't know how to find them, and doesn't know what it means. But that is truly what developers need, and it's not specific to music apps, but music apps will benefit from it by having the ability to play specific tracks, as would all developers benefit from it by being able to define / explain their App to Siri. The probability of Apple allowing developers to define apps in other ways via SiriKit is high, I imagine it will happen by this upcoming WWDC. If not, it'll definitely happen within two years, or the ecosystem might stagnate.
Siri's ability to use miscellaneous apps is inevitable, it's just a matter of when.
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Thanks. I’ve heard of Homebridge but wasn’t sure how stable it is, plus it would need to be ‘wife-friendly’. Several years ago I had a Window Media Center as our main TV source, and you could put money on the fact while I was out it would crash.....don’t want to go through that again.
We're talking past each other. You've been referring to Siri track control of files/URIs that have been manually navigated to and launched. That's the easy part.
I've been referring to using Siri to navigate to the files and URIs and launch them in the first place. That's the missing element, hence my analogy of a car without an accelerator. Again, if on the 9th I set up my HomePods and am able to say, "Play Taylor Swift on Spotify" like I can on an Echo, and a Swift track starts playing, I'll happily admit I was wrong.