Received Apple Home Pod Friday, Returning Monday

 

Apple's answer to Amazon, the Home Pod

   I have an Apple centric home. I purchased my first Apple Macintosh in 1994 the week their first PowerPC 6100 computer went on sale. It was a collaboration with IBM creating a new chip to rival those made by Intel. It was a workhorse but to today's standards the average iPhone is 100's if not 1,000's of times more powerful than my very first computer.

   I have an iPhone X, a phone that I have yet to make peace with, unlike my beloved and returned iPhone 7+, an iMac, an iPad Pro and a MacBook Pro. So, I somewhat know my way around the Apple universe.

   When I found out that Amazon's Echo Alexa powered machines do not work with Apple products, and unable to afford Sonos speakers, or so I thought, I had to settle for a Bose Mini-speaker and several Ooontz speakers that worked well enough. My Visio sound bar worked well but you had to keep hitting the Input button to get sound again from your TV. I played music from my iPhone on that system once or twice and never tried it again. The sound though, was amazing.

   The Bose speaker is, well crappy. After replacing the first one when the tech had no better luck than me, I find it hard to pair. You REALLY have to want to play it because from the get go it takes up to 5 minutes for the speaker and the phone to see each other. Oddly, a $35 Ooontz speaker pairs almost instantly every time. But, well, I wanted something better.

When you speak to Siri the top glows.

   After watching Tim Cook's presentation of all things Apple in September, I was drawn to the Home Pod. Here was an Apple centric speaker that could play all your music and use Siri for some commands as well. The product was slated to be available in December, then delayed until the early part of February. You could place your order February 2nd and items would be available February 9th. I ordered it to be delivered, and, as promised it arrived about noon Friday, February 9th. They should have waited a few more months to make sure it really, I mean REALLY, does work.

   I struggled with it Friday. The pairing was not easy. It played music but not mine. The sound is amazing, EXCELLENT in fact. However, I bought it to play my music, music I have been collecting on first records, then cassettes and finally CD's. Most of my music was mine and I have kept all my CD's as backups in fact.

This is how you pair your Home Pod to some device ...
here your iPhone. It can't see mine.

   Try as I might, Siri kept telling me that it couldn't find my play lists and seemingly played whatever it wanted. The sound was, for something this small, stunning. I had to hand it to Apple. It really was that good. But, it wouldn't pair completely, something I wrote at length about regarding my iPhone X. I took that back the day I got it because it too wouldn't see what was on my iPhone 7. It took over 90 minutes at the Apple store to get the process to start and three weeks of backing up every few days to get the photos and music backed up on my iMac on this new phone. 

   One of the reasons I always liked Apple products was their elegance and ease of use. That has changed and they might as well go under the moniker of Applesoft ... they seem to have inherited the tendencies of Microsoft ... throw the program out there and let their customers do the product testing for them. There's a reason Dilbert is so popular. We laugh (in recognition) and then we cry.

   I searched the Internet Friday looking for solutions to my problems. Ironically, while you could buy a new Home Pod, there was nothing on the Apple web site about issues. I know, I looked. I did read an article about it and the reviewer, like me, was thrilled with the sound. He found Siri lacking compared to Alexa. I found Siri worked well enough only the software couldn't see any of my Apple products that ALL had the same songs, books, movies, even photos on them.

   Saturday I didn't even try. I listened to an audio book and painted a birdhouse that had been ordered. In the middle of the night I woke thinking maybe I needed to make sure all of my music was in my iCloud account. 

   Sunday, I searched all my programs and iCloud didn't even have a feature to store or back up your music. Going again to the Apple site I found that you could leave a number and they would call you. That's what all the sites say these days and few do. I didn't expect much when suddenly the phone rang and there was an Apple tech.

   The first guy was surprised and didn't know how to help me. He did some searching while I held and then suddenly we were cut off. I had given him my cell number but he never called back. Trying again, waiting again, I had to explain my problem all over again. And try as she might she couldn't help me either. 

Using an ancient Roman gesture,
this is my recommendation

   The third person was as perplexed as the others and finally asked for access to my desktop. She could see my music my lists and using the phone had me ask Siri to play my Classical Music. She heard it say that it couldn't find that listing in my music. She was surprised and then asked me to click some button in iTunes and instantly the room was filled with Vivaldi! The only thing the Home Pod could see was the computer. That was NOT what I wanted. She was putting a tech issue order in. I thanked her for her help, she, quite muted now, said she was sorry she couldn't help me.

   I knew what I was going to do. Tomorrow I will return it. It was an extravagance I really couldn't afford and since it doesn't work as it was touted, I realized I didn't need anymore stress in my life. I kept all the packing so tomorrow bright and early it goes home.

   This is the second product I've purchased from Apple in less than a year that didn't and doesn't work well. From what I am reading I am not the only person who is beginning to find frustration with Apple products not working well or so changed that you need to be a geek to figure out how to use them. I am sure when I walk in with my Home Pod asking for a credit there will be surprise. This time, I'm done. Maybe with the second or third generation I might consider it again. Now, I can hear my music through my iMac, Bose or easier to use Ooontz speakers. Crystal, clear sound will just have to wait awhile longer.

    Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where the emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! Be sure to check my re-opened ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Shortly I will be adding many new and exciting products, many of these items will be talked about here for sale there!