Last year, when Apple unveiled the HomePod, the company claimed the new smart speaker would “reinvent home music.” But when the voice-controlled wireless device was released last month, at a hefty price tag of $349, reviews by tech publications were consistent: great sound, but not so smart. After two weeks with the gray-black, honeydew-sized ovoid sitting on my kitchen counter, I have to agree not only about the sonics but Siri’s lousy conversational skills as well. If smart speakers supposedly are reinventing how you listen to music at home, then the HomePod strikes me most as a semi-bleak omen.
Perhaps that sounds dramatic, but a device’s technological flaws have a way of shaping users’ practical expectations. The HomePod’s voice-control problems mean that the speaker works best when it’s used for passive listening. This is where Apple’s promise to, once again, reinvent listening falls short: While the iPod at least allowed for the prospect of “the long tail,” where digital technology would theoretically enable lesser-known artists to thrive, the HomePod physically embodies the recent streaming trends towards background Muzak and winner-take-all dominance.
Siri is limited to an extent that would be funny if it weren’t so frustrating. If all you’re going to do is tell the HomePod to play “Beyoncé’s first album” or “indie music for dinner,” or, who knows why, “the Grammy nominees,” you’ll be fine. When I asked Siri to “play something I’ll like,” Apple Music already knew what I’d listened to on my existing account, so what I heard was usually good enough to have on in the background. If I didn’t like it, I’d say, “Play something different,” and it would flip to a song- or artist-driven station that was more or less in line with my listening history.
Try to use Siri in a practical way to engage more deeply with music, though, and you’re likely to run into trouble. Once, when I asked my HomePod to play a song as recognizable as Solange’s 2012 indie hit “Losing You,” Siri replied, “I can’t find the song ‘Losing You.’” More than once, when I asked to hear “the new Beach House record,” the speaker chirped back, “Playing ‘Hope,’ by Boris.” On multiple occasions, I requested Pitchfork’s Best New Tracks of 2018 playlist. “OK, playing Pitchfork’s Best New Tracks 2016.” I asked for the pioneering free-jazz ensemble New York Art Quartet, and heard Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York; I asked for “the new album by A.A.L.,” an alias of producer Nicolas Jaar, and instead variously heard Al Green, 8 Ball Aitken, Fall Out Boy, and somehow, the Grateful Dead. It’s probably best not to talk about the time I wasted, on a whim, trying to explain to Siri that I wanted to hear Psychic TV’s 1988 album Allegory and Self.
It seems the HomePod is not even smart enough for a 6-year-old. Again and again, when my son requested “the song ‘Kidz Bop,’” Siri cheerfully replied, “OK, here is ‘Kid Is Back,’ by Juelz Santana.” When he clarified that he wanted to hear “Kidz Bop Shuffle,” Siri replied, “OK, shuffling Get Up Kids.” Maybe these miscues were for the best: HomePod can’t recognize multiple users, even when everyone in my house has their own iCloud account. To keep those choice Trolls cuts from influencing my Apple Music recommendations, I’d have to actively change the settings on my phone and block the HomePod from tracking anything I played.
Apple also touts the HomePod’s ability to answer questions about music, but this feature is of little practical use. The device’s press materials dare you to ask, “Hey Siri, who plays drums for Coldplay?” (You can easily Google the name of Will Champion.) But when Apple Music’s personalized station brought up Esperanza Spalding’s “Judas” and I asked who played drums, Siri responded, “I don’t know who plays drums on ‘Judas,’ but drummers in Fozzy have included Frank Fontsere and Eric Sanders.” Huh? (The correct answer is Karriem Riggins, Siri.) When I was served up an unexpectedly dance-y take on A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” and wondered aloud if it was a remix, Siri recited the Wikipedia definition of remix.
Still, I have to admit that the HomePod sounds superb. Whether or not it was playing what I asked for, the music I did hear was clear, spacious, and room-filling, across various genres. The cymbals sparkled at the outset of Kamasi Washington’s lush “Rhythm Changes,” and the low end rang out cleanly on a more bass-heavy track like Anderson .Paak’s “Am I Wrong?” Another plus: When Siri did manage to understand me, I didn’t have to shout over the music. Even from across the room during Iceage’s “Catch It,” the HomePod’s microphones could pick out my voice surprisingly well.
For now, the HomePod is mainly for Apple fanatics, since you don’t have full voice control if you use it with streaming services besides Apple Music. (You also need an Apple mobile device that’s running an operating system no older than the one released in January.) Listeners who prefer toggling between YouTube and Bandcamp, Spotify and SoundCloud (or those who simply tire of Siri’s games) can still stream to the HomePod using AirPlay, and the sound seemed just as good to me. But if you’re not using Siri, there are plenty of lower-cost options for smart speakers, like the $199, Alexa-enabled Sonos One. While someday more people may make use of HomePod’s smart-home controls, in a gadget that can turn on your coffeemaker or tell you if your front door is unlocked, music will probably always feel like an afterthought anyway.
Like the Apple Watch, the HomePod likely will be a modest success. The number of people with disposable income who own iPhones, enjoy a speaker that looks and sounds nice, and will be satisfied with primarily passive music listening can’t be small. But if the HomePod is a reinvention for music, it’s currently a regressive and homogenizing one. I’ve never missed my iPod more. This would make a great dock for it, actually.
