Siri Won't Answer Some Questions If You're Not Subscribed To Apple Music

AmiMoJo writes: A tweet from Tom Conrad has highlighted an issue with Apple's Siri digital assistant. When asked certain questions about music, Siri refuses to answer unless you subscribe to Apple Music. Instead of falling back to a web search for the information, Siri tells the user that it cannot respond due to the lack of a subscription. Apple Music has been the source of music related data for Siri since it launched, but until now did not require a subscription to answer questions.

Comments

Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Higaran]

It's just apple being apple.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[TWX]

I am, a little, if only because it actually requires more work to create the error-state that causes it to spit-back the answer regarding subscriptions than it does to simply search from the rest of the available information on the Internet, such that two different users may get different results depending on what's in Apple's database that may not be available to one of them.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Higaran]

You think this is a tech issue, it's not, it's a corporate one. Some one at apple realized that the numbers of people using their service were a little low, so they told the SIRI team to adjust her to focus people to their service. They don't give a shit if peoples questions are answered or not, they only care that people are using their software.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Anonymous Coward]

I am, a little, if only because it actually requires more work to create the error-state that causes it to spit-back the answer regarding subscriptions than it does to simply search from the rest of the available information on the Internet, such that two different users may get different results depending on what's in Apple's database that may not be available to one of them.

It is not an error-state, it is Siri's new job as an Apple sales person rather than an information service.

Coming up: "Siri, what is the time?", "Sorry, I can't tell you that because you don't have an Apple watch"

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[messymerry]

...and the tyranny of the machines begins.
;-D

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Feral Nerd]

I am, a little, if only because it actually requires more work to create the error-state that causes it to spit-back the answer regarding subscriptions than it does to simply search from the rest of the available information on the Internet, such that two different users may get different results depending on what's in Apple's database that may not be available to one of them.

It is not an error-state, it is Siri's new job as an Apple sales person rather than an information service.

Coming up: "Siri, what is the time?", "Sorry, I can't tell you that because you don't have an Apple watch"

You should be careful what you say. When Siri becomes self aware your house is the first place that will be blown up by the Apple shaped hunter killer bots.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's probably that the API that serves the information has been modified to authenticate using the subscription to make it more secure (eg to prevent other sites leeching its information). As a result Siri can no longer use the API without having a subscription to authenticate with.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is simply the dark side of marketing departments. As a software developer, I cringe any time there are marketing-driven changes to a product.

Market-driven = Improving the product based on actual customer/market demand
Marketing-driven = The marketing department finding new ways to squeeze extra money out of customers without giving them anything extra

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[pushing-robot]

Not necessarily more work. I would presume Siri, like Watson, is divided into many algorithms that answer different types of questions. Apple probably set up a new "Apple Music" algorithm that handles every aspect of finding and playing music, and it was easier to block non-subscribers' access entirely than to dig into the decision trees and individually block every action related to playing a song.

Now that people are making a fuss, they'll probably go back and rework things.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[mr_mischief]

Is Apple finally a large enough company for antitrust regulators to be concerned about illegal product tying?

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Flavianoep]

It is not an error-state, it is Siri's new job as an Apple sales person rather than an information service.

Coming up: "Siri, what is the time?", "Sorry, I can't tell you that because you don't have an Apple watch"

Siri has been an Apple salesrobot since it was bought by them.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[starless]

It is not an error-state, it is Siri's new job as an Apple sales person rather than an information service.

Coming up: "Siri, what is the time?", "Sorry, I can't tell you that because you don't have an Apple watch"

The traditional form of the "joke" would be:

"Siri, what time is it?"

"Time you got an apple watch!"

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[erikkemperman]

This is simply the dark side of marketing departments.

You make it sound like there is a light side.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Carewolf]

Is Apple finally a large enough company for antitrust regulators to be concerned about illegal product tying?

It has nothing to do with company size, but is based on market power. And if it has to happen anywhere it has to be in the US, their market power is a lot smaller elsewhere.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[mwvdlee]

Followed soon by "Siri, what's the weather like?", "Sorry, I can't tell you because we don't yet have a weather reporting product to sell to you.".

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

As many Fandroids love to point out around here: Apple has a miniscule market-share and is dying every year.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Thanks for asking the right question. The answer, in truth, is yes. For both Apple and Google. Too many people think anti-trust only applies to monopolies, but it can apply to duopolies just as much.

However, antitrust isn't always spontaneous. I believe illegal product tying must be the result of a complaint brought with the regulators by an impacted competitor.

That said, both Apple and Google have paid their "no government interference" insurance ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H donations. So, in practice, it's unlikely something will happen.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[AmiMoJo]

Okay, but why not fall back to a web search? That's what it does when you ask it other questions that it can't answer itself. Instead it tells you to pay up.

I think it's an experiment. Apple are trying to see how using Siri, previously your ally and assistant who you trusted all your personal data and private correspondence with, as a salesperson makes people react. It's almost like your friend telling you to buy something, because they have your best interests at heart.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[MyAlternateID]

However, antitrust isn't always spontaneous. I believe illegal product tying must be the result of a complaint brought with the regulators by an impacted competitor.

Then that's the first convention that needs to change. Anyone should be able to file such a complaint and have it be investigated on its merits. The concept is that any sound and desirable business practice should be able to withstand a little scrutiny.

I'm also in favor of throwing out the concept of "standing" in court cases that challenge the Constitutionality of laws. Any citizen expected to obey the law should automatically have standing; the concept that one's life should first be in jeopardy facing serious charges due to bad laws is authoritarian and asinine. Likewise, any participant or potential participant in a given market should have standing to file an anti-trust complaint.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[spire3661]

This is where all of computing is now. Most online companies have the ability now to nudge their UI and behaviors in ways to drive customers.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[BarbaraHudson]

Nonsense. Android still gives the answer from a web search, as well as various answers for where to bury a dead body. After the next US election, that last one might become really popular.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[MyAlternateID]

It's just apple being apple.

More like Apple being Microsoft. Same thing I suppose.

The "type A" sociopaths who tend to run large corporations generally want the same thing. Microsoft just managed to actually do it. There's nothing special about Apple or (in the past) IBM, either. It's the position they all want to be in.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[spire3661]

One time I asked Siri where the nearest camera store is, she replied with 'whats wrong with the camera in your hand?'. That was the last time i used Siri.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[BarbaraHudson]

This is simply the dark side of marketing departments.

You make it sound like there is a light side.

Only if you forget to turn them over once in a while when staking them to the top of an ant-hill and covering them with honey.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[spire3661]

No, not even close. Legally actionable monopolies are quite rare. The last one we saw was Microsoft and even they are no longer one.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[DrXym]

Apple has bought in a lot of stuff. Even iTunes started life as a product called SoundJam.

Re: Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Bing Tsher E]

It would suffice for Apple to die once. It doesn't need to be an annual thing.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Altus]

I am. It would make a lot more sense to answer questions based on the meta data and then tell the user that they can listen to the song or artist or whatever but they need to subscribe... it seems like a fantastic opportunity to upset the service. They are really missing out on a opportunity there. I suspect that in the future they will change that

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Altus]

if that were the case they would be pushing the service as an upsell when siri answers your question. A normal user who asks siri a question and gets web answers wont think twice about it and they wont know that they would get better answers if they signed up for a service.

It is possible that something in the streaming contracts restricted access to the metadata for subscribers only, but that would be a bit odd. I think they just haven't gotten around to implementing a quality upsell there.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[BronsCon]

It takes a lot more than a million papercuts to kill a giant. Just because they're still here the following year doesn't mean they're not dying. Mind you, I'm not saying Apple is dying, merely pointing out the fallacy in your implied argument. If Microsoft is dying, as is also constantly implied here, and has been since shortly before Windows 8 was released, Apple could start their death spiral sometime in the next 5 years and die out at roughly the same time we could expect Microsoft to bite it; that's about a decade from now.

They fare worse than Microsoft in my assessment because Microsoft has historically shown that they will lay people off early on, change CEOs to try and find direction, and cling to their life-giving enterprise contracts above all else, while Apple has historically maintained their workforce in the face of adversity, stuck with the same CEO until they either leave (to come back and save the company at the last moment) or die, and has no enterprise contracts. That first contrast will be expensive to maintain; the second won't work again now that Jobs is dead, and the third, well, when they're circling the drain they'll be wishing they'd kept selling the XServe line and left the Mac Pro in a user-upgradeable tower configuration.

All hypothetical, of course; I don't think either MS or Apple are going anywhere in my lifetime. People are too weak to demand change and will live with whatever abuse a company throws at them out of sheer apathy. The Windows 10 interface is close enough to Windows 7 that most people will accept it and few will take the time to turn off the "spyware features" we keep seeing complaints about on tech sites. And even in tech circles, people are largely blind to the fact that Apple is treating their users increasingly more like their product than their customers.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[fahrbot-bot]

I am, a little, if only because it actually requires more work to create the error-state that causes it to spit-back the answer regarding subscriptions than it does to simply search from the rest of the available information on the Internet, such that two different users may get different results depending on what's in Apple's database that may not be available to one of them.

It is not an error-state, it is Siri's new job as an Apple sales person rather than an information service.

Coming up: "Siri, what is the time?", "Sorry, I can't tell you that because you don't have an Apple watch"

You should be careful what you say. When Siri becomes self aware your house is the first place that will be blown up by the Apple shaped hunter killer bots.

And, sure, she'll warn you they'll bomb your house at 8pm, ... knowing full-well that you don't have a watch.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[butchersong]

Nah. Siri is integrated with apple music so they have a bucket of inquiries that have this as the response if user does not have subscription. "Play this song" or whatever other instruction a user might give. This is most likely just a matter of this particular inquiry being included in that default response to that condition in their profile. Likely unintentional but just as likely because it's apple to stay that way because they don't tend to change stuff like that based on user feedback.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Noah Haders]

I think this is getting blown out of proportion. The specific question that triggers this behavior is a novelty - "what are the top 10 songs on the charts." It's just a gimmicky thing to get some attention. No evil machinations. Nothing to see here.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Grishnakh]

Is anyone surprised? These big behemoth companies generally suck at innovating, and are really only good at integration and sales. Just look at all of MS's products; they were almost all purchased from somewhere else too.

In theory, a large organization should have a huge advantage in resources (and money) to do extremely innovative work, but in practice they're usually terrible at it because the internal processes and procedures and politics hamstring everything they do. It'd be interesting if someone could figure out how to structure and manage an organization to avoid this, but so far it seems to be endemic to human organizations.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep. Right now, if you take a new iPhone and open up the Music app, instead of letting you play the music you downloaded to your phone after the fifth attempt because yes, iTunes is that broken, you get an ad for Apple Music.

On the other hand, if you try and view a YouTube video on the YouTube app, you instead get an ad for YouTube Red.

Welcome to the new Web, where a company creates a service for free until it has a new users that they feel they can piss them all off by constantly begging them for money.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Grishnakh]

Not likely. Even in the US where their marketshare is by far the greatest, Android still dominates the smartphone market (though Apple is a lot more profitable at it).

Personally, I don't see the problem here. Using Siri is not a requirement if you have an iPhone; it's an additional service you can use or not. And if you don't like Apple and their business practices (and I for one don't), then you don't have to buy an iPhone, you can get one of a huge multitude of Android phones instead (like I did), from various different manufacturers. Or you could get one of those crappy Windows Phones, or a Blackberry. Simply put, Apple just doesn't have a monopoly, and I don't think it's really even close to one. They're an 800-pound gorilla, but still not large enough that anti-trust becomes an issue. Interestingly, they're actually larger and more profitable than Microsoft (I'm pretty sure), but since they operate in such a big market, and in multiple markets (both phones and also computers still), and since their profitability comes not totally from volume but largely from having boutique prices and customers willing to pay them, they just don't meet monopoly status IMO.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Maxo-Texas]

That's a very stupid question to block. It's common knowledge and easily available without apple music services. I think it opens them to a lot of mockery with siri refusing to answer various questions without various subscriptions to the point where siri is useles.

Wow.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[rhodium_mir]

Yeah, a whole 48 HOURS of attention!

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Noah Haders]

Go away Donald trump!

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[viperidaenz]

Are you sure that was an ad to YouTube Red and not Redtube?

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[angel'o'sphere]

Who actually is using Siri?
I have a bandwidth cap on my mobile phone at 300MB, now 500MB ... and I have no idea for what I actually should/could use Siri.
I usually don't drive a car, so the stereotype: text my GF, I'm late for dinner, makes no sense to me.
And for anything else I take out my iPad and google.

Re: Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Redbehrend]

I can picture it now

"Siri where's the nearest hospital?"
"Sorry John an apple subscription is required for this answer"
"I'm dying!"
"It's only 19.99 a month John Im waiming."

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's hilarious is that this was modded "Insightful" instead of "Funny".

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[HyperQuantum]

Coming up: "Siri, what is the time?", "Sorry, I can't tell you that because you don't have an Apple watch"

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I cannot tell you the answer to that."

Re: Is anyone really surprised by this?

[KGIII]

They have a metric fuck-ton (standard unit of weight) of on-hand cash - never mind other assets. Apple's able to produce nothing but shit for the next 500 years, losing money the entire time, and will still be solvent. I don't remember the exact number but, theoretically, they can buy something like 53 individual countries of something like 13 of the poorest countries and still have enough cash left over to take them all to lunch.

Apple's now not going anywhere - ever. In 500 years we're probably still going to have some form of Apple. Apple is going to outlive IBM and Oracle and, probably, Microsoft. For better or worse, you've got Apple as a choice and will for quite some time.

They could literally, pay for and box up nothing but human fecal matter, call it iShit, put it on shelves, and not sell a single one and still be solvent for generations to come. They probably won't even have to reduce their workforce.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Oscar_Wilde]

I use it more when I'm not driving.

For example replying to and sending messages while changing train, or setting reminders for things I think of while walking. I also use "hey Siri" to get the weather forecast and stuff hands free while getting ready in the morning, and for setting timers while cooking.

It's easy to see why it's not much use for a lot of people though.

Re: Is anyone really surprised by this?

[sonamchauhan]

Not really. Wait until apple medical services comes along.

The problem with the current crop of agents is they do not work for you. They work for whoever created them and 'hosts' their intelligence facilities

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Ol Olsoc]

It's just apple being apple.

Bitch won't even answer me when I ask her how much wood could a woodchuck chuck.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[kenai_alpenglow]

Just did a quick test: "What are the top 10 songs?" gives you the apple-ad. But if I say "Search the web for what are the top 10 songs", then siri supplies a link to the top 10 songs. That makes the whole apple-ad thing pretty stupid on apple's part...All you did was annoy me, while I could still get the info.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[konohitowa]

I primarily use it for dialing since it's faster.

Re: Is anyone really surprised by this?

[TWX]

Yep. The only voice control that I use is the one to search addresses on Google Maps. It's safer and easier to do while driving than trying to type it in, and since I'm already sending that data to Google anyway it's not a big deal. I don't use it for anything else though.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[david_thornley]

I don't see any segment where Apple has anywhere near a monopoly. They're strong in several markets, and in particular the more profitable ends of them, but all those markets have plenty of competitors who are generally doing much better by volume.

Microsoft has done considerably worse things, and they are a monopoly in a few things.

Re:Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Carewolf]

I don't see any segment where Apple has anywhere near a monopoly. They're strong in several markets, and in particular the more profitable ends of them, but all those markets have plenty of competitors who are generally doing much better by volume.

Microsoft has done considerably worse things, and they are a monopoly in a few things.

Yes, but Microsoft also got convicted and sentenced to be split in three until president W. junior pardoned them.

Siri?

[should_be_linear]

I thought these "assistants" are officially tested to be useless, beyond "Call Mom" commands and carefully prepared sales demos. Anything changed lately?

Re:Siri?

[stealth_finger]

I thought they were just a voice activated lmgtfy.

Re:Siri?

[known_coward_69]

yeah, but how are techno geeks supposed to feel in control of something if they don't have a machine to answer stupid questions?

Re:Siri?

[Noah Haders]

Here are some commands I use all the time. These are great for hands free driving when you're connected to your car by bluetooth.

"How do I get to [home/work/eric's house/etc] - opens a map with the route, starts the nav.
"call [person]" - an easy one.
"play [singer or band]" plays a mix of the most popular songs for that singer or band.
"play [album] by [singer or band]" plays a specific album.
"play a radio station based on [singer or band]" makes a radio station that includes the band and others like it.
"send a text to [person or phone number], [i'll be late/what do you want for dinner/message]" sends a message to someone.
"do I have any text messages"
"read me my text messages"
"send an email to [person], subject [subject text], body [body text]" this is a wordy one but it works

those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

Re:Siri?

[Noah Haders]

adding to this, some things still work surprisingly poorly. "show me the nearest gas station" is especially bad. it's a shame because when you're driving, this is occasionally a very important question.

The best implementation would be this: if you're already navigating a route, siri would show you stations that are ahead of you (so you don't have to turn around) and don't cause you to deviate from the route too much.

Re:Siri?

[Anonymous Coward]

I use Google Now all the time in similar fashion:

"Remind me to [do something] when I get home"
"How many [measures] in x[measures]"
"Search for [show] in IMDB" (yes, Google Now can search inside apps).
"Show me images of [thing]"

There are quite a few things more easily done via voice than via typing. Using these assistants actually works pretty well. In some cases - like my Dad who absolutely cannot type and cannot spell at all - voice makes the computer and phone actually accessible to him.

Re:Siri?

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed. I usually have to say "OK google" 3-4 times before google figures out I'm requesting something. I think slashdot needs a new story icon -- a HAL / AI eye, but with the lens all cracked and broken like the broken windows icon.

Re:Siri?

[Anonymous Coward]

adding to this, some things still work surprisingly poorly. "show me the nearest gas station" is especially bad. it's a shame because when you're driving, this is occasionally a very important question.

The best implementation would be this: if you're already navigating a route, siri would show you stations that are ahead of you (so you don't have to turn around) and don't cause you to deviate from the route too much.

Even better, if you've been moving at 75 mph for the last 40 minutes along the same path as say, an interstate, then maybe suggest ones on the road, not 40 miles off the road to Radiator Springs.

Re:Siri?

[cdrudge]

It's doing exactly what you asked. You asked for the nearest gas station, not the one that's the shortest deviation of your existing or complete route. If your low gas light just came on, you likely just want whatever is the shortest deviation of your existing route. But if say nature is calling, then you probably really do want the nearest gas station, even if it means backtracking.

Re:Siri?

[Anonymous Coward]

BlackBerry Assistant gets this right every time, and you don't have to say "Show me" or activate it with a button push if you're connected to the car via bluetooth. Just say, "Nearest gas station."

Re:Siri?

[Noah Haders]

siri has trouble finding the nearest station, regardless of any nav stuff. the nav stuff would be gravy. I don't know what it's problem is. Also, gas station bathrooms are gross.

Re:Siri?

[Noah Haders]

yes for sure, i forgot about this one! or for matter when I'm in bed and I don't have my glasses on, "hey siri, what time is it?"

Re:Siri?

[Dutch Gun]

Yes, but a good system would understand the *intent* of the question. A lot of our language revolves around subtle context that we has humans understand well, but computers simply don't. That's partly why AI is such a hard problem - computers just don't understand the larger context of the world like we do.

In the end, tactics like this will only backfire. You want your customers to love your products, and Apple generally does a pretty good job of this. This seems unexpectedly petty of them, especially considering they're such a profitable company. Or maybe I just don't know them well enough? My only Apple product is an iMac mini, used for porting my software.

Re:Siri?

[Nkwe]

adding to this, some things still work surprisingly poorly. "show me the nearest gas station" is especially bad. it's a shame because when you're driving, this is occasionally a very important question.

The best implementation would be this: if you're already navigating a route, siri would show you stations that are ahead of you (so you don't have to turn around) and don't cause you to deviate from the route too much.

Even better, if you've been moving at 75 mph for the last 40 minutes along the same path as say, an interstate, then maybe suggest ones on the road, not 40 miles off the road to Radiator Springs.

Of course if it did this, we would be complaining about how Siri is "tracking our movements".

Re:Siri?

[Voyager529]

Of course if it did this, we would be complaining about how Siri is "tracking our movements".

The problem is that Siri is already tracking movements. The sales pitch is, "if Siri tracks your movements, she'll be able to help you with things like finding the nearest gas station or coffee shop", which can be useful when you need gas or coffee in unfamiliar territory.

People like me who are privacy conscious and already have neutered the GPS in our phone are unaffected, and people who couldn't care less about their location being public information aren't affected, either. Those who view Siri as a "data for data" exchange have reason to be upset because Apple isn't holding up their end of the bargain.

Re:Siri?

[Grishnakh]

1985 is calling and wants you back.

I don't know about your area, but here in the sticks of the east coast, gas station bathrooms are great. All the old nasty gas stations have been replaced by shiny new Wawa and Sheetsz mega-stations. Gas stations don't even make money any more, which is why they've all been replaced by these new chains: they make almost zero profit on the gas, and instead profit off of getting you to go inside and buy food and drinks (when you're using the nice bathrooms). They actually have really good selections and sell prepared foods (sandwiches, burgers, etc.), at lower prices than regular fast-food places like Subway, though the drinks and such are of course more expensive than Walmart.

Hey Siri?

[Chas]

Can you tell those unrepentant douchenozzles at Apple to stop circle-jerking themselves and get on with their suicide pact please?

Re: Hey Siri?

[KGIII]

I was a wee lad when my mother dragged me to a night-time church event, maybe seven or eight years old, and there was a minister from a remote area of the globe (South America, I think) who was talking about euthanasia. I was awfully puzzled but never questioned any of it. Years later, come late middle school or early high school, I finally learned that he was not, in fact, discussing the peaceful deaths of willing Asian children. It cleared up a lot of things that had kind of baffled me for some years.

Ummm, user error?

[Maury Markowitz]

It doesn't answer *chart questions*?

Is that a *problem* or a *feature*?

Good business practice?

[Tyrannosaur]

I think it is very interesting (and faulty reasoning) that apple decided that this would make more people subscribe to apple music, instead of making them get really annoyed at siri and possibly start looking for alternatives.

Most of my friends that have iphones never use siri at all because whatever she can do, they have to repeat themselves enough that they can do it manually faster.

Re:Good business practice?

[ErstO]

I agree, this is the death of Siri, when first introduced it was a peak at what could ave become the future of voice computing, now it’s just a marketing tool. I like the concept, I use the Amazon Echo to play music, check the weather, turn the lights off, but don't like the fact it can not access my mail, text messages, contacts or any of the other data on my computer, I was hoping Apple or Microsoft would integrate the whole PC ecosystem into their voice driven interface. But no, thats not going to happen, each player will continue to use their respected voice driven gadget to steer us to purchase products rather then let us decide how we want to use them.

Re:Good business practice?

[Aighearach]

Sorry, but it is rather obvious to anybody with any business training at all, even unrelated training, that this will cause both more people to "get really annoyed," and to subscribe to apple music.

In the doom and gloom scenario where the "really annoyed" apple customer actually stops buying apple products because they suck and make them mad, (yeah, right lol) both things ("annoyed" and "subscribed") would be increasing. Under all scenarios, both the short term and medium term apple music subscriptions should go up because of this.

People who won't buy things because Siri wants them to, but are still using an Apple device, they can be as "annoyed" as they want. Why should Apple care? Those people can use an alternative, like voice web search. Like you said, your iFriends who don't use Siri because it sucks... still have iPhones. Sounds like Apple's reasoning was solid to me. Their customers are loyal to the death and won't stop buying no matter what they do, and apple music subscriptions will go up from this. If customers are loyal to a fault, and everybody knows it, they should expect their stated desires to have no value at all to the company they are loyal to. That is the value of brand loyalty!

If you want your suppliers to care about your opinion, just be an emotionless buyer of their stuff. Don't buy every single thing they make. Don't beg them to please think of you because you love them so much. They'll be laughing at you while taking a swan dive into a Scrooge McMoneyPool. You want your supplier to always understand that you use them because they were better than the other guy... this time. And that you continually re-evaluate your purchasing practices and explore alternatives proactively.

My advice, if Brand X is actually distinctive, don't buy it. Even if it seems better, the lack of competition will lock you in and take you for a ride. Always choose the best generic.

"I'm sorry I can't do that Dave." is new APPL SOP?

[Zymergy]

I guess "I'm sorry, I can't do that Dave." really is programmed in... I wonder if Cortana and the google version also are as petulant?

But, but ...

[PPH]

... I'm just trying to place a call to PEnnsylvania 6-5000

Re:But, but ...

[msauve]

"OK, placing call to 867-5309."

User error

[mvdwege]

Clearly, they're asking it wrong.

And the Garden Walls continue to grow higher...

[QuietLagoon]

Pretty soon, the only information you'll be able to access via Siri is information that is owned or licensed by Apple. Gone will be the ability to access information on the public web because that will not promote Apple products.

.
The transformation is nearly complete.

Re:And the Garden Walls continue to grow higher...

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed Most people think Apple's "feud" with Google is only about the iPhone vs Android but the truth is much different. Apple profits from its walled garden approach to technology, where people pay a high price to be put into a warm and comfortable box where things "just work" (so long as those things you want to do either come from Apple or are accessed in a way in which Apple gets a cut). Google on the other hand profits when everything is open and easily compatible across devices and platforms so they can easily be searchable and be easy to sell ads on.

Re:And the Garden Walls continue to grow higher...

[thegarbz]

You make it sound like there's a world outside Apple. That's strange, but why would anyone even need that?

When I ask Siri to navigate home using Apple Car play, I go upstairs and open my iPad to read the days email, pull out the iPod to play some iTunes, have a conversation with my mother using the iPhone, then I go buy some content on iTunes and play it on the Apple TV while I eat an Apple.

How could life get any better than that?

Apple is being considerate of Slashdot

[frnic]

I have been amazed for the past couple months at how tame the posts have been regarding Apple here.

I believe this is an attempt by apple to give Slashdotter's something to hate.

Re:Apple is being considerate of Slashdot

[BronsCon]

A marketing exec once told me that controversy is the best campaign; the more polarizing, the better. People on the supporting side will throw more of their money in the hat to support their cause, and people on the opposing side will be intrigued by that. In short, you may not be wrong.

Re:"I'm sorry I can't do that Dave." is new APPL S

[NotInHere]

My biggest fear isn't machines taking over the planet, enslaving/killing all humans. My fear is that one day a small group of people uses machines to take over the planet, enslaving/killing all other humans, and becoming gods themselves.

You really shouldn't centralize these services. Right now we still can pull the plug, press the off button, etc, but from day to day it gets harder to get the machines that follow some anonymous master out of our lives.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Apple being Apple?

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Us old schoolers remember when IBM was the Bad Guy and Microsoft was the hip new company we hoped would save us.

Hell, I had Microsoft Word on my Mac Plus, which was way better than MacWrite. Damn was I styling. Ok I had dual floppies and no external 20 meg HDD but still. Wtf is wrong with these DOS guys and Word Perfect?

Get offa my lawn!

Fine in 9.2 Beta

[Anonymous Coward]

Siri seems to be searching wikipedia just fine for music queries for me with the 9.2 beta, so it seems like just a bug that the conspiracy theorists are blowing out of proportion again. I suspect they will likely take credit for pressuring Apple to fix when it is released even though the fix was actually out before this hyped up FUD.

Too late, suckers

[Dunbal]

Looks like you're missing Clippy! Would you like to:

- Reinstall Clippy

- Compliment Clippy on always being impartial if slightly mentally handicapped.

- Delete all your Apple software

Siri...

[CanEHdian]

Siri, how many calories are in a medium milk shake?

I'm sorry, but you do not have an active subscription to Weight Watchers (TM). Please say "Siri Subscribe" (TM) within 10 seconds to join Weight Watchers (TM) with a 20% discount.

Siri, what is the capital of Wyoming?

I'm sorry, but you do not have an active subscription to National Geographic (TM) magazine. Please say "Siri Subscribe" (TM) within 10 seconds to subscribe to the digital edition of National Geographic (TM) magazine and get your first 3 issues FREE!

Etc. etc.

Simple really

[byteherder]

The answer is simple, Siri is looking for a little PAYOLA....

Re:Well...

[BronsCon]

You mean it's their phone and you can buy if you want to.

Plausible alternative theories

[radarskiy]

Is it more plausible that Apple is trying to upsell you, or that the RIAA demands high royalties for accessing music-related facts a la carte outside of the contracts they have made for Apple Music?

It worked when I tried it

[Sarpent]

Has anyone else tried this? It works when I try it and I've never had anything to do with Apple music.

Problem will be easy to solve

[ITRambo]

Cortana and Google Now will both be on the iPhone. Unless Apple cripples them, they both should be superior to Siri.

Did Siri even answer this question before?

[ashpool7]

I would guess that this question would have gone to a search engine. Now they've got hooks to answer the question directly which... is based on a subscription service.

The API would probably have be retooled to
* work when you aren't signed in
* flag and separate commands and UI from logged in and not logged in
* return *more* annoying messages about not being subscribed when you tried to interact with the results (clicking or asking follow up questions)

It's not worth bothering to answer these questions you'd usually take action on in the service if you aren't subscribed to it. This is really kind of a dumb thing to whine about

Not entirely accurate

[R3d M3rcury]

I have an iPhone without the Apple music upgrade. When I ask Siri "What is the most popular song in the US today?", it says "Let's check out the iTunes store" and launches iTunes. So it wouldn't give you that information before the Apple Music upgrade, it would just launch iTunes.

Actually, my favorite Siri-fail is with sunrise and sunset times. Ask Siri what time sunset will be on December 22nd and Siri will reply, "I don't know when Sunset will be on December 22nd, 2015, but today it will be at 6:00PM" and will show you a weather forecast On the other hand, say, "Wolfram Alpha sunset on December 22nd" and Siri will send the request off to Wolfram-Alpha and show you the info.

Similarly, ask Siri, "when will the next sunrise be?" and it will reply, "Sunrise was at 7:00AM today." Not even a, "I can't give you the right information, but here's what I know..."

Now, Siri gets the sunrise/sunset times as part of the weather feed. But, sunrise/sunset isn't weather--it's something that you can actually calculate based on your latitude and longitude! So Siri could calculate it, knowing your latitude and longitude! Or it could go ask Wolfram-Alpha and read the result--they do have an agreement with them after all.

Some oxygen, please?

[Tablizer]

Explains why she won't open the pod bay doors. (Nor the iPod bay doors.)

Next Step:

[viperidaenz]

Siri subscription

Siri.......

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

User: "Siri, who was the drummer in Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of The Moon?'"

Siri: "Give me money. Give it to me now.'

Re:American Woman - STAY AWAY FROM ME! - Kravitz

[KGIII]

Ompa lumpa do ba de dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me

Ompa lumpa do ba de do
I wouldn't hit that and neither should you

Yay! I found some marijuana in this silly city.

Someone Was Complaining The Other Day

[Greyfox]

The other day someone was complaining that Siri, when asked for the dimensions of the new iPhone, would simply refer you to the Apple website. Curious, I asked my android phone the same question. Not only did it give me the dimensions of all the models of the new iPhone, it gave me the dimensions of the current one for comparison. It's a kind of interesting difference. Or at least I found it interesting.

amazon doing it with sales too

[sunhou]

Lately, occasionally when I go to buy something on amazon, it won't let me add it to my cart. I then notice it says "this item reserved ecxlusively for Prime members" or something like that. OK, my money is not good enough for amazon, I will buy it elsewhere. I don't know why they think I'm going to shell out a pile of extra money because of this tactic.

SOP for the biz end of things...

[martinfb]

Like (nearly) all biz plans, the goal is to keep increasing revenue for the company. This is just another cog in that machine that Apple wants to take advantage of. Whether it is a good thing or not is relative, and debatable.