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

Posted by timothy on from the check-out-any-time-you-like dept.

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.

16 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Is anyone really surprised by this? by Higaran · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's just apple being apple.

    1. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by Higaran · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

    2. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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"

    3. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    4. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by starless · · Score: 5, Funny

      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!"

    5. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by erikkemperman · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is simply the dark side of marketing departments.

      You make it sound like there is a light side.

      --
      Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
    6. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.".

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    7. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by spire3661 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Good-bye
    9. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by MyAlternateID · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    10. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    11. Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  2. Hey Siri? by Chas · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  3. Good business practice? by Tyrannosaur · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  4. And the Garden Walls continue to grow higher... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.

  5. Fine in 9.2 Beta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.