Originally published at: Apple Unveils Third-Generation AirPods, Tweaks HomePod mini and Apple Music - TidBITS
Apple used its “Unleashed” event partly to focus on music. It revealed third-generation AirPods with a host of improvements, unveiled new colors for its HomePod mini speaker, and announced a new Apple Music Voice Plan for access to the music service solely via Siri voice commands.
Our original HomePods are paired and hooked up to our AppleTV 4K and the projector. Every movie we watch we love the audio. They really are great. But no return it seems despite the ‘Mini’ designation still attached to their current offering. We have a mini in the kitchen, wish it was orange now…
The Voice only plan seems designed for a bundle with them. Buy a Homepod Mini, get the voice only plan for a year. The smart playlists are fine but my version of a Seventies playlist for biking is not yours. I do enjoy curated playlists but generally for areas I don’t have expertise in, ambient or latin jazz, say. I can’t imagine not being able to craft my own for driving or biking.
I do wish they had released ways of sharing playlists more fully a la Spotify however.
I won’t be replacing the HomePod Mini I returned recently until it includes some version of the AirPod Adaptive EQ.