I guess no more Apple routers.
The airport group was shut down months ago.
I don’t remember that, but there has been many awkward demonstrations. I think Craig does a good job, he seems natural and his silly jokes are easy to laugh at. Always thought he does a good job considering he is an executive and not a marketing guy. 100x better then Eddie Cue, who is just embarrassing.
yeah, if you put a comparison to Eddie Cue, Craig does a superb job…
Mini is still the best size for reading and games; at least if you want one handed reading. I found the normal iPad just a bit too big for that. I’d like to have a 12in for fun but at that point it would be heavier and larger than a MacBook 12 and could only be used at the desk.
It doesn’t look like Siri will gain 3rd party support for music and podcasts apps in iOS 11, which is a shame. I use Siri hands-free in the car and it’s frustrating that I can’t open up Overcast and listen to a podcast while I drive. You can’t even launch Pandora.
I don’t understand the need to have the music delivery integrated into the speakers themselves. I bought a few Chromecast Audios. One is at the main stereo/TV system, one at an old Logitech Squeeze Boom (excellent sound from a small box - but an ecosystem that died from corporate incompetence), another to a pair of Mackie CR3s. One could also use small bookshelf speakers and a little class D stereo amp. All great-sounding speakers. It all works from my phone. A fraction of the cost of Sonos / Apple / Yamaha Multicast, etc.
He has come a long way since then. He is now one of Apple’s best presenters.
That kind of hits at the problem. Good speakers and an amp aren’t cheap and I don’t want to really want to research what to get it and set it up (making room in my kitchen, hiding speaker wires, etc). That’s part of what is great about these systems, they are small, and you just unbox it, plug it in, and set it up in the app. Everything works great without needing any work arounds. Plus the biggest part, I am a heavy Apple user, having a speaker assistant tied into my phone and computers is really handy.
That said, once Sonos works with Alexa, I am all over that and will probably buy a Dot or two.
I guess it depends on how you define ‘good’. A Lepai LP-2020A+ amp is $30 and a pair of Dayton Audio B652 speakers runs $40. I paid $80 for the more self-contained Mackie CR3. I presume you could not plug in the passive speaker in that pair and use it as a mono speaker like the Sonos.
I can’t help you with the ‘I want it to be Apple’ part, though.
That isn’t what I said. I want it to work well with the hardware and software I already own. If Amazon gave it a better speaker and fully supported iCloud, Apple Music, etc, I would have no need for the Apple speaker. That isn’t going to happen though.
Amazon has no problems supporting Apple Music and iCloud. Apple won’t allow it.
The speaker on the full Echo is fine. Not audiophile, but if you want that you should purchase a Dot and a separate powered speaker to customize the experience you need anyway.
My business class Lenovo died a bit over a year after I got it and I thought we were going to have to buy a new one. Was pretty shocked to discover it had a 3-year warranty instead of a 1-year warranty.
Really? Wow, I love my Airport with the attached SAN. Why did they shut it down? How will you back up a Mac to the network without one?
Not enough $$$ for them. It’s a blip on their financial report. But, yeah, they disbanded the router team a while ago.
Yeah, it was back in November. I’d been using airport base stations since the first one, I think.
There are lots of other solutions these days. It’s funny that mesh networks are all the rage now, but Apple had been more or less doing the same thing for years. I don’t know why they didn’t go and buy a startup like Eero or Plume to get them back into the game.
Doesn’t matter to me who won’t allow it, only that it doesn’t.
It is not fine. My Sonos Play 3 sounds a lot better. Not even in the same category. I could purchase separate speakers and a Dot, but as I said above, that is not the ideal solution. An Echo like device, which supports Apple and has a better speaker, is. So I will be buying a HomePod.
If you actually care about audio quality first, a dot and external speakers is the best choice. But since you’re trapped in the apple ecosystem and care about audio quality, you really have no other choice.
I know it’s odd, but I really like Apple products. I am ok with that.
I’m pretty bought into the Amazon video content pipe, not just Prime. They specifically said Amazon Prime video app coming to the tvOS. I’m thinking that might still leave out the stuff I bought. I will be frustrated and upset if that turns out to be the case.