HomePod Siri on HomePod vs Siri on iPhone

[chicagofan00]

Why is it if I ask Siri to play a particular song on my iPhone, by song name only, it will play it just fine but if I make the same exact request to Siri via the HomePod it says it can't find the song? If I ask Siri on the HomePod to play the song by saying the name of the song and the artist it will play it without issues. The song is a part of Apple Music so I'm not sure why the difference in how I get Siri to play the song.

This is a bit of a bummer as my 3 year old currently likes to ask Alexa to play a few select songs and while she knows the song names she doesn't know the artist. Alexa seems to handle the request just like Siri on the iPhone so it's a bummer that the better sound source (the HomePod) cannot be used in the same fashion in this particular instance.

 

[The Martian]

Why is it if I ask Siri to play a particular song on my iPhone, by song name only, it will play it just fine but if I make the same exact request to Siri via the HomePod it says it can't find the song? If I ask Siri on the HomePod to play the song by saying the name of the song and the artist it will play it without issues. The song is a part of Apple Music so I'm not sure why the difference in how I get Siri to play the song.

This is a bit of a bummer as my 3 year old currently likes to ask Alexa to play a few select songs and while she knows the song names she doesn't know the artist. Alexa seems to handle the request just like Siri on the iPhone so it's a bummer that the better sound source (the HomePod) cannot be used in the same fashion in this particular instance.

I just tried this by telling HomePod to play Arthur's Theme and she told me Arthur's Theme by Christopher Cross now playing. (Just happened to see the movie in the TV Listing on my TiVo. LOL)

I also just said Hey Siri play Piano Man and she said saying Piano Man by Billy Joel and it started to play.

 

[TheBearman]

What I haven't figured out is how to tell Siri to play a specific version of a song. It will play for me by just the song name but if I want the live version of a song I can't find an easy way to ask.

 

[The Martian]

What I haven't figured out is how to tell Siri to play a specific version of a song. It will play for me by just the song name but if I want the live version of a song I can't find an easy way to ask.

Not sure how to do that one. Will have to play with that one.

 

[chicagofan00]

I just tried this by telling HomePod to play Arthur's Theme and she told me Arthur's Theme by Christopher Cross now playing. (Just happened to see the movie in the TV Listing on my TiVo. LOL)

I also just said Hey Siri play Piano Man and she said saying Piano Man by Billy Joel and it started to play.

Try asking Siri to play “Go Cubs Go”. In my experience it won’t play. However, asking Siri to play “Go Cubs Go by Steve Goodman” it will play just fine. Seems strange that it differs from the phone to the HomePod.

What I haven't figured out is how to tell Siri to play a specific version of a song. It will play for me by just the song name but if I want the live version of a song I can't find an easy way to ask.

I believe you can say “play the other version” and it will play any alternate versions it can find.

 

[TheBearman]

I believe you can say “play the other version” and it will play any alternate versions it can find.

No, that didn't work. Siri just kept telling me it was going to play the rest of the album. What I did finally get working was simply adding the word "live" to the end of the song request. Works for this specific instance but they're are other songs with various versions, not necessarily live, someone might what to play. It would be nice to have Siri understand a request to play a song from a specific album. Something like "Hey Siri, play Hotel California from the Hell Freezes Over album.