hawaiianshirtguy

StrangeDays said:

Yup. Read the article. Maybe you’re too young to remember but Creative (Labs) and Diamond used to be big players. 

You just know some of those Creative guys are sitting around saying "We had it all. We had the market locked up! We didn't deserve what happened to us! We gave the customer exactly what they asked for - FM tuner, lots and lots of buttons! Flashy designs! Hundreds of songs!". 

anantksundaram said:

On this one, I believe Daniel is entirely wrong....There is already an established market for these devices, and the two leading companies in this market are no slouches

...

To be fair, when the iPod came out there was already an established market for portable music devices<

That being said, I agree that the HomePod will not set the world on fire. I bet they will sell way more than analysts think, and I bet there are more variations already well past the mock-up state in their secret labs. 

And, I bet with my pocketbook - I placed an order this morning. Though, I hedged a bit. I had been planning on buying two, but when news came out that some features would come later I decided to get just one and see how I like it. I don't plan to use AppleMusic, so we'll see how it goes. 

Scot1 said:

What bothers me is that Apple is using an “A8” chip that’s two generations old. I hate paying premium prices for “old” technologies. 

You aren't paying a premium price for old technology, you are paying a discounted price for old technology. If it had the newer chips you would probably be paying more.

Plus, it's a sure bet that there would be absolutely no perceptible difference in sound. All this thing does is play music (and, of course, do digital processing on said music), it doesn't need a bunch of horsepower.

Processors aren't like wood that rots over time. If it was good enough to power an iPhone a year ago, it's more than powerful enough to power a speaker

DavidAlGregory said:

Not dragging around a $350 toilet paper roll sized speaker in my computer bag.
Not replacing my main stereo setup.
Not going to use it in the car.
Not going to haul it to the beach, camping or the back yard.

So exactly what use is this thing?

I don't think it was designed to be used in the car, or used at the beach, camping, or even in the back yard. It is a HOME pod, designed for a semi-permanent spot in a home. I suspect it was, however, designed to replace a typical "main stereo setup". I think complaining about not being able to tote around a device that wasn't designed to be toted around is tilting at windmills. 

I had been hoping to put one in my kitchen, one in my bedroom, and one in my office, so that I can have easy-to-manage multi-room audio. I'm starting to lose confidence that Apple will be able to deliver on that. :-\ 

Since it doesn't support multi-room audio, that makes me think it doesn't support airplay. WTF?