auxio

eightzero said:

On something of a lark, I got a homepod mini for a very very low price. I jumped because I am rather curious about it. Initial impression is that it indeed has excellent sound. However, the Siri interface is still very unpredictable, and doesn't seem to understand I have a full library of music in the computer upstairs that she is connected to. Yes, I know this is fixed once I subscribe to Apple Music (and I got a free 6 month subscription to try) but having the functionality of this device tied to a subscription is something I really don't want.

You can also just subscribe to iTunes Match, which is much cheaper.

I get that, ideally, the HomePod could connect directly via Wi-Fi to your music library (which shouldn't cost you anything).  But as someone who has actually spent time working on software that tried to do direct connections between devices over LANs, it's unbelievably complicated to deal with all possible network configurations that people have in their homes (I could have spent a lifetime trying to do tech support for poorly configured networks).  Hence why "the cloud" happened.  So you're paying for Apple to have a copy of your music library in the cloud which other devices can access.

red oak said:

All of these millennial or Gen Z snowflakes are torpedoing their careers.  They are going to wake up 10 years from now wondering how the f* everything up so bad 

God forbid anyone actual cares about anything except themselves.  I'm hoping the movement towards ethical Capitalism, which there's a fair bit of support for even at the investor level these days, gains some momentum from cases like this.

crowley said:

Lol. Don’t worry about the lack of ports, just use a hub, they say.

Because the dozens of cheap USB-C hubs on Amazon are all flawlessly engineered to specifications. /s

This is exactly why Apple has had hardware compatibility programs in the past, and why I typically buy the accessories listed in the Apple store.  The time and headache wasted with poor quality accessories just isn't worth the few bucks of savings.

davgreg said:

Using a Satechi hub right now that is a legacy from a MacBook Air and everything works fine from a Focal speaker set to a M-Audio keyboard to a Plugable HD unit, etc. 

I'm using a Satechi hub as well without issues.  I have a PureFix hub which has been problematic from day one which got worse with Monterey.  I'm chalking this up to cheap component manufacturers cutting corners as I've seen similar problems with USB 2.0 hubs that I got on the cheap.

KTR said:

Damn, and they pay the 30% App Store tax

And what a blow that must be.  Paying Apple 30% of $0 since the app is free and there aren't any in-app purchases afaict.