PSA: The HomePod now counts towards streaming limits with Apple Music
Sometime in 2019, Apple quietly changed how the HomePod is counted by the Apple Music service as a streaming device, resulting in a slightly more restrictive device for the end-user.
The net effect of the change, as pointed out by a Redditor, is that if you have a single-user Apple Music subscription, if you start a stream on your iPad or iPhone, it stops what's playing on your HomePod, and vice versa. This appears to be how Apple intended it all along, as none of the marketing materials have ever suggested otherwise, nor have there been exceptions carved out for the HomePod in Apple's terms of service for Apple Music.
The $9.99 per month Apple Music subscription allows for one stream. The $14.99 per month membership doesn't have this restriction, and allows for six different streams across all of the user's devices either on that Apple ID, or others linked by Family Sharing.
One stream being played by multiple HomePods attached to an account still counts as one device. Local playback of iTunes media stored on a hard drive not acquired from Apple Music of original files not downloaded as a match from Apple's servers does not count as a stream.
Multiple users on Reddit confirmed that they had been told the same thing. Apple Support representatives were telling users that called in that the previous behavior was a bug, and the current HomePod behavior is how the device was intended all along.
It isn't clear when the change took place. AppleInsider can confirm that the previous behavior manifested at least through New Year's Day. There hasn't been an official OS update in 2019 as of yet, so the change must have been made server-side, and it appears to be rolling out gradually.
The net effect of the change, as pointed out by a Redditor, is that if you have a single-user Apple Music subscription, if you start a stream on your iPad or iPhone, it stops what's playing on your HomePod, and vice versa. This appears to be how Apple intended it all along, as none of the marketing materials have ever suggested otherwise, nor have there been exceptions carved out for the HomePod in Apple's terms of service for Apple Music.
The $9.99 per month Apple Music subscription allows for one stream. The $14.99 per month membership doesn't have this restriction, and allows for six different streams across all of the user's devices either on that Apple ID, or others linked by Family Sharing.
One stream being played by multiple HomePods attached to an account still counts as one device. Local playback of iTunes media stored on a hard drive not acquired from Apple Music of original files not downloaded as a match from Apple's servers does not count as a stream.
Multiple users on Reddit confirmed that they had been told the same thing. Apple Support representatives were telling users that called in that the previous behavior was a bug, and the current HomePod behavior is how the device was intended all along.
It isn't clear when the change took place. AppleInsider can confirm that the previous behavior manifested at least through New Year's Day. There hasn't been an official OS update in 2019 as of yet, so the change must have been made server-side, and it appears to be rolling out gradually.
Comments
I don’t think it was a ‘bug’ as described but the intended behavior. Additionally there is no option to purchase an additional stream for the HomePod, only the single user or the family pack.
Something smells fishy.
I guess people who really need this can just go to the $15 plan, but $60 extra a year just to stream another stream seems like too much $$
No, Apple is the only one playing games like this. The other guys restrict how many devices you can use for ‘offline mode’ - or download to, but can stream to as many devices as you want. I completely forgot Apple still does this. Hey Apple, 2004 called and they want their DRM back...
Not true for Spotify Premium: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Number-of-devices-for-premium-family/td-p/1384909
Not true for Amazon Prime Music:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201535280
Not true for Pandora:
https://help.pandora.com/s/article/000001191?language=en_US
Not true for Google Music:
https://support.google.com/googleplaymusic/answer/3139562?hl=en
Not true for Deezer:
https://support.deezer.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115003873289-Connected-devices
Not true for Tidal:
https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/201623252-How-many-devices-can-I-use-simultaneously-
Apple Music also forced the creation of Family Plans on the other premium streaming services and still has or is matched for the best price.
Is there some other music streaming service that matters that isn't restricted to one concurrent stream?
As for your claim, do you have proof that only Apple does this?
The post you just quoted says otherwise. They already were.