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AirPlay 2 Brings HomePod Stereo Pairs and Multi-Room Audio To iOS 11.4 (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the about-time dept.

Today sees the release of iOS 11.4 and with it Apple is adding AirPlay 2. From a report: This brings some important changes to HomePod, including the stereo pairing option that was missing at launch. AirPlay 2 also adds multi-room audio to HomePod, bringing Apple's smartspeaker in line with Amazon Echo and Google Home. Other new features of iOS 11.4 include the ability to access iMessages via iCloud on any Apple device. The lack of stereo pairing and multi-room audio was seen by many as a failing of HomePod, but Apple has now addressed this. The company says that when two speakers are paired, they are capable of "delivering room-filling sound that is more spacious than a traditional stereo pair."

3 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Squeezebox by fluffernutter · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Yaay, Apple caught up to squeezebox! Created by Slim Devices in 2000 and later purchased by Logitech. Of course, with squeezebox you can have squeeze player on Android/iOS/Windows/Linux/MacOS driving a $5000 amp and speaker or a $20 one. But.... enjoy your vendor lock-in Apple fans. I'm sure you will tell yourselves the sound is fabulous.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Squeezebox by teg · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yaay, Apple caught up to squeezebox! Created by Slim Devices in 2000 and later purchased by Logitech. Of course, with squeezebox you can have squeeze player on Android/iOS/Windows/Linux/MacOS driving a $5000 amp and speaker or a $20 one. But.... enjoy your vendor lock-in Apple fans. I'm sure you will tell yourselves the sound is fabulous.

      Squeezebox was a good idea, executed poorly, I had a Squeezebox radio and a Squeezebox Touch. The radio is one of the few items I've ever returned - even just a room away from the Wifi-router, it was unable to get a good enough signal to play music reliably. Having skimped on the wireless networking, it only had 802.11g. The Touch was a little better, but using it was a pain. All in all, Squeezebox was unable to succeed, and died many years before Homepods were even announced.

      Apple seems to be competing mostly with Sonos, and a little bit with Google Home and Amazon Echo.

  2. That's cool but... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1, Interesting

    have they fixed the iOS 11 battery performance issue? That is a lot more important that fixing functionality on a niche product like the HomePod.

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.