Well, this won’t be popular but years ago, when Apple endlessly dawdled on music, I looked elsewhere. I ended up with Google Play Music, with which I found not only an extensive library, but a FREE (even to non-subscribers) music locker that lets me store my entire iTunes library (up to 50,000 tracks) in the cloud — INCLUDING ALL RARE AND UNIQUE RECORDINGS, not just a match (which often doesn’t exist). It can count entire Beethoven symphonies as One track, by the way)...It has a web interface, when iTunes offered no such capability, and a very good app, that works very well on my iPad. I even added a Chromecast Audio for 35 bucks (actually on sale even cheaper) and it is hooked to my home audio. I have my music, arranged into MY playlists wherever I am. It is great at work where I am not allowed to download iTunes or similar music software. And if i am traveling where there is no web connection, I can download a track, a playlist...whatever. (Or I can just carry along my trusty old iPod Classic which holds nearly the whole library...Apple why did you ever discontinue this little wonder...)
...not sure I “get” the whole thing of the HomePod, beyond the added appeal that some will find with its limited Siri capability. Maybe I am just an old man, but why is it more than just novel to tell my speaker what to play? Honestly. i would like to understand the excitement this generates (beyond the excitement I feel as a shareholder, watching apple sell these items). For that price, I can have a very nice, if basic, Onkyo receiver cabled to a pair of very nice sounding Polk Audio speakers, for true stereo, and still afford to attach a Chromecast Audio that I control from my ipad. The music is streamed via wifi, so the quality is great. I cannot see how the audio of Homepod would equal it.
Well, this won’t be popular but years ago, when Apple endlessly dawdled on music, I looked elsewhere. I ended up with Google Play Music, with which I found not only an extensive library, but a FREE (even to non-subscribers) music locker that lets me store my entire iTunes library (up to 50,000 tracks) in the cloud — INCLUDING ALL RARE AND UNIQUE RECORDINGS, not just a match (which often doesn’t exist). It can count entire Beethoven symphonies as One track, by the way)...It has a web interface, when iTunes offered no such capability, and a very good app, that works very well on my iPad. I even added a Chromecast Audio for 35 bucks (actually on sale even cheaper) and it is hooked to my home audio. I have my music, arranged into MY playlists wherever I am. It is great at work where I am not allowed to download iTunes or similar music software. And if i am traveling where there is no web connection, I can download a track, a playlist...whatever. (Or I can just carry along my trusty old iPod Classic which holds nearly the whole library...Apple why did you ever discontinue this little wonder...)
...not sure I “get” the whole thing of the HomePod, beyond the added appeal that some will find with its limited Siri capability. Maybe I am just an old man, but why is it more than just novel to tell my speaker what to play? Honestly. i would like to understand the excitement this generates (beyond the excitement I feel as a shareholder, watching apple sell these items). For that price, I can have a very nice, if basic, Onkyo receiver cabled to a pair of very nice sounding Polk Audio speakers, for true stereo, and still afford to attach a Chromecast Audio that I control from my ipad. The music is streamed via wifi, so the quality is great. I cannot see how the audio of Homepod would equal it.
I've concluded that this is further evidence of the very personal choices people make regarding their tech. The spectrum of customers in this marketplace is very very wide. Some people want on demand, no fuss music to hum along to when it pops in their head, others want full blown concert hall quality and think MP3s an abomination. Some have carefully curated libraries that they cannot risk; others hate the idea of a library, and just want music on. It is very, very personal, and it makes sense to get the widest possible appeal with a product that is profitable. It is a tough task, but it is unreasonable to think it appeals to all. Like...me and you. For me, I simply have a radio tuner, and free streaming apps. I tried XMSirius Radio because the car I bought had it as part of the CarPlay receiver I wanted. But the subscription fee to XMSirius is simply not worth it, and I will drop it come renewal time.
I set my "gee, I wonder what this is like" threshold on the echo dot at about $20. I'm curious what it does, but don't see a reall need for it. And this always on stuff from a non-Apple entity is not real appealing.
I'm curious about HomePod too, but $350 plus subscription fees to make it fully work just isn't a priority for me. Maybe later when the price drops, the Siri interface works with more things, there's a bundle available, or I have cash to burn, I'll reconsider. But this product is just not for me. Yet.
Are there any caveats of using Apple Music instead of iTunes Match? Other than the price of course. In other words, is there anything that iTunes Match can do that Apple Music cannot?
ITunes Match plays music you have. Apple Music plays anything in Apple’s catalogue.
"Apple Music allows you to stream our catalog of 45 million songs, along with everything in your iTunes library — no matter where it came from."
According to that it sounds that AM provides the same sort of matching service that iTunes Match does. I also understand that AM provides a whole boatload of songs that aren't in my puny 20000 song library. I'm asking if I'm giving up any features of iTunes Match by using AM instead.
As you read, no need to get iTunes Match if you pay for Apple Music, it’s included.
Maybe I am just an old man, but why is it more than just novel to tell my speaker what to play?
Some of us old guys don't have an iPhone surgically implanted to our hips. When I'm at home, my phone is usually on a dock in another room. It's great to be able to change songs, or start and stop music simply by speaking to siri. It doesn't even matter what room I'm in -- siri seems every bit as good as if I had a human friend standing near the speaker at all times. I find it much more convenient than searching for my phone, opening it up, and scrolling through songs to find the one I want.
Simply put, with HomePod I'm listening to music more because it's crazy easy to use.
My only gripe is I wish that "Hey siri, skip album" worked. Sometimes an album comes on that I don't want to hear (eg: Christmas music in February) and there doesn't seem to be a way to skip it via siri.
Maybe I am just an old man, but why is it more than just novel to tell my speaker what to play?
Some of us old guys don't have an iPhone surgically implanted to our hips. When I'm at home, my phone is usually on a dock in another room. It's great to be able to change songs, or start and stop music simply by speaking to siri. It doesn't even matter what room I'm in -- siri seems every bit as good as if I had a human friend standing near the speaker at all times. I find it much more convenient than searching for my phone, opening it up, and scrolling through songs to find the one I want.
Simply put, with HomePod I'm listening to music more because it's crazy easy to use.
My only gripe is I wish that "Hey siri, skip album" worked. Sometimes an album comes on that I don't want to hear (eg: Christmas music in February) and there doesn't seem to be a way to skip it via siri.
But I do have an apple watch on my wrist. More often that not, when I ask Siri on my apple watch, it says, "go look at your iPhone." Sigh.
Fairly, this might not be the case for music playback.
Maybe I am just an old man, but why is it more than just novel to tell my speaker what to play?
Some of us old guys don't have an iPhone surgically implanted to our hips. When I'm at home, my phone is usually on a dock in another room. It's great to be able to change songs, or start and stop music simply by speaking to siri. It doesn't even matter what room I'm in -- siri seems every bit as good as if I had a human friend standing near the speaker at all times. I find it much more convenient than searching for my phone, opening it up, and scrolling through songs to find the one I want.
Simply put, with HomePod I'm listening to music more because it's crazy easy to use.
My only gripe is I wish that "Hey siri, skip album" worked. Sometimes an album comes on that I don't want to hear (eg: Christmas music in February) and there doesn't seem to be a way to skip it via siri.
But I do have an apple watch on my wrist. More often that not, when I ask Siri on my apple watch, it says, "go look at your iPhone." Sigh.
Fairly, this might not be the case for music playback.
Apple has heuristics for choosing which device answers to "Hey, Siri", and HomePod almost always seems to win unless I'm holding the watch or phone up near my head. It actually works quite well in practice. If anything, it works a bit too good. When I'm in bed I can't say "Hey siri, set an alarm..." because I want the alarm on my phone but the HomePod always answers instead. There's probably a solution for that, but I haven't yet looked for it. Right now I simply pick up and turn on my phone before making the reqeust. It's not a dealbreaker.
Are there any caveats of using Apple Music instead of iTunes Match? Other than the price of course. In other words, is there anything that iTunes Match can do that Apple Music cannot?
ITunes Match plays music you have. Apple Music plays anything in Apple’s catalogue.
"Apple Music allows you to stream our catalog of 45 million songs, along with everything in your iTunes library — no matter where it came from."
According to that it sounds that AM provides the same sort of matching service that iTunes Match does. I also understand that AM provides a whole boatload of songs that aren't in my puny 20000 song library. I'm asking if I'm giving up any features of iTunes Match by using AM instead.
As you read, no need to get iTunes Match if you pay for Apple Music, it’s included.
I know that AM has the same sort of matching -- but Apple didn't specifically state here that iTunes Match is included. t just want to know if AM is less capable in any respect compared to iTunes Match.
Another actual data point: my experiences with iTunes Match have been very positive for several years. When I started, I pruned my collection down to a manageable amount - from about 30,000 tracks to around 20,000. It was a good exercise, as it caused me to clean up stuff that needed purging. There were a few initial issues with album art that I fixed, that was it. Now my collection is well north of 33,000 tracks from a wide variety of sources - purchased tracks, CDs, vinyl, live recordings, rehearsals, etc. - and I can report zero glitches among my 6 devices. I've tested this on my HomePod, and it works as advertised - I can ask Siri for personal recordings that are definitely not on Apple Music, and they play just fine.
Would be nice if AppleMusic on my iPad would show what’s playing via AppleMusic on my HomePod. They don’t seem to be aware of each other.
You can do this. Swipe up on your iPad to show the Control Center, then open the Audio panel. The HomePod will appear just under it on the screen, click it and now you can control the HomePod using your iPad or iPhone. Note: I think both must be logged into the same Apple ID.
I left my computer on all night to upload songs to Match. Not a single song uploaded, but many songs were deleted from my hard drive. Luckily I keep redundant collections. To call that a flaw is a vast understatement.
Comments
I set my "gee, I wonder what this is like" threshold on the echo dot at about $20. I'm curious what it does, but don't see a reall need for it. And this always on stuff from a non-Apple entity is not real appealing.
I'm curious about HomePod too, but $350 plus subscription fees to make it fully work just isn't a priority for me. Maybe later when the price drops, the Siri interface works with more things, there's a bundle available, or I have cash to burn, I'll reconsider. But this product is just not for me. Yet.
YMMV.
Simply put, with HomePod I'm listening to music more because it's crazy easy to use.
My only gripe is I wish that "Hey siri, skip album" worked. Sometimes an album comes on that I don't want to hear (eg: Christmas music in February) and there doesn't seem to be a way to skip it via siri.
Fairly, this might not be the case for music playback.