We have the family plan for two people and love it. I wasn’t even a fan of streaming services prior, but I love how the songs integrate with my existing library seamlessly, working offline locally like any other track.
I also did A:B testing with the $400 Sonos Beam and the HP beat it in every test (blind testing for my SO). Even movie dialog, despite the Beam being advertised for that. I wonder how the $700 Bose soundbar does? It sounds good at the store.
HP isn’t perfect tho, in particular with an Apple TV, strangely. Ex - use it as an output on ATV during the evening, and the next morning it can’t fulfill voice commands until you decouple it from the ATV first (like by beaming iphone music to it). Still, it sounds great so I have high hopes for future integration.
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?
Bitmod comprehensively owned … yet again. 🙄
Yeah, this is the same guy who claimed his iphone was eavesdropping on him and transmitting his conversations to Facebook...so definitely weight his posts accordingly.
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?
Bitmod comprehensively owned … yet again. 🙄
Not entirely necessary... Both you and I have been "owned" before too. It happens. Heck it's happened a couple of times with me even when I have done my research. Not at all helpful to take things to a personal level and tossing out insults playing "Gotcha!"
While this might be the case, it seems counterintuitive that I should have a tug of war take place when I’m listening to music, at the gym for example, and someone is home using the HomePod.
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.
Our family used to use the "One Login to Rule them All!" when signing up phones, but now it's easier for us to have different ones and use the family plan. It seems that this plays fair as well with the ToS, because having one login consume all of the media on 23 different devices (I know...) makes it kind of a "cheat".
Besides, I was wondering why I had all of these screen shots of Monument Valley in my photos.
Yeah, weird using the same Apple ID for your entire family caused problems. ¯\(°_o)/¯
I don’t have this issue so far. But I’m confused by this as I can be streaming a song on my iPad and an completely different song on my iPhone at the same time. Why is the HomePod different?
Good to see you here too. You're one of the interesting people I missed since I stopped going to MR.
While this might be the case, it seems counterintuitive that I should have a tug of war take place when I’m listening to music, at the gym for example, and someone is home using the HomePod.
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.
If more than one person is using the service then you should be on a family plan. Don't complain about limitations that prevent the exact type of piracy you're trying to get away with.
The HomePod in a nutshell: 1. The HomePod lives at "Home" and can only be set up with one Apple Music account. 2. The tentpole feature of HomePod is the ability to ask it to play music using only your voice (i.e. Siri.) 3. The HomePod does not use a passcode for access, so anyone can just go up to it and ask it to play. 4. Currently the HomePod has no ability to switch between Apple Music accounts on the fly.
According to the PSA/Reddit thread the change now means that if someone asks Siri for music on the HomePod, it will stop the music on the owner's iOS device, my personal experience is that the device will still play both without interruption. However if such a change is coming it is unintuitive because: 1. The person using the HomePod (e.g. asking siri to play the latest) has no ability to discern if the owner of the device is listening to music outside of the home, nor any ability to change the Apple Music account in use to avoid a potential clash. (i.e. Nothing to do with a family plan or piracy.) 2. When away from home, the owner of the HomePod has no idea why their music just stopped other than the generic one device message, which also means they might think their other iOS devices have been accessed improperly, or that some kind of bug is occurring.
It's not logical or intuitive that an owner of a HomePod should need to police the usage of their HomePod to avoid the circumstance of a guest or housemate asking the HomePod to perform its core function. It seems Apple thinks this too - since this is how the device has operated up until this point.
It's also not logical to upgrade to a "family" plan, when the problem is that the HomePod can't switch between the Apple Music accounts on the fly. (E.g. Two housemates each with their own Apple Music accounts - they wouldn't be on a family plan, as well as the many other scenarios where family plans don't make sense.)
Customtb: This has nothing to do with "family" accounts using a single plan as you suggest. flydog: This has nothing to do with "piracy", that's the stupidest comment in this entire thread (a remarkable feat for an Apple news site.)
While this might be the case, it seems counterintuitive that I should have a tug of war take place when I’m listening to music, at the gym for example, and someone is home using the HomePod.
You might need a refresher on the meaning of the term "individual," as in "individual plan." It has always noted in its T&Cs that it was for one person and one device at a time (as noted in the article).
You need a family plan, which is a huge bargain over two individual plans and (again as noted in the article) allows for up to six streams, which could be six individual streams or multiple devices used by fewer people/in different locations.
Comments
I also did A:B testing with the $400 Sonos Beam and the HP beat it in every test (blind testing for my SO). Even movie dialog, despite the Beam being advertised for that. I wonder how the $700 Bose soundbar does? It sounds good at the store.
HP isn’t perfect tho, in particular with an Apple TV, strangely. Ex - use it as an output on ATV during the evening, and the next morning it can’t fulfill voice commands until you decouple it from the ATV first (like by beaming iphone music to it). Still, it sounds great so I have high hopes for future integration.
Both you and I have been "owned" before too. It happens. Heck it's happened a couple of times with me even when I have done my research. Not at all helpful to take things to a personal level and tossing out insults playing "Gotcha!"
1. The HomePod lives at "Home" and can only be set up with one Apple Music account.
2. The tentpole feature of HomePod is the ability to ask it to play music using only your voice (i.e. Siri.)
3. The HomePod does not use a passcode for access, so anyone can just go up to it and ask it to play.
4. Currently the HomePod has no ability to switch between Apple Music accounts on the fly.
According to the PSA/Reddit thread the change now means that if someone asks Siri for music on the HomePod, it will stop the music on the owner's iOS device, my personal experience is that the device will still play both without interruption. However if such a change is coming it is unintuitive because:
1. The person using the HomePod (e.g. asking siri to play the latest) has no ability to discern if the owner of the device is listening to music outside of the home, nor any ability to change the Apple Music account in use to avoid a potential clash. (i.e. Nothing to do with a family plan or piracy.)
2. When away from home, the owner of the HomePod has no idea why their music just stopped other than the generic one device message, which also means they might think their other iOS devices have been accessed improperly, or that some kind of bug is occurring.
It's not logical or intuitive that an owner of a HomePod should need to police the usage of their HomePod to avoid the circumstance of a guest or housemate asking the HomePod to perform its core function. It seems Apple thinks this too - since this is how the device has operated up until this point.
It's also not logical to upgrade to a "family" plan, when the problem is that the HomePod can't switch between the Apple Music accounts on the fly. (E.g. Two housemates each with their own Apple Music accounts - they wouldn't be on a family plan, as well as the many other scenarios where family plans don't make sense.)
Customtb: This has nothing to do with "family" accounts using a single plan as you suggest.
flydog: This has nothing to do with "piracy", that's the stupidest comment in this entire thread (a remarkable feat for an Apple news site.)
But, good grief this is one thing this product doesn't need...another reason not to bother with and just get a Sonos One for much cheaper.
You need a family plan, which is a huge bargain over two individual plans and (again as noted in the article) allows for up to six streams, which could be six individual streams or multiple devices used by fewer people/in different locations.