Re: New list was Re: I went to pick up my Apple HomePod and got a dire warning, CNET

[christopher hallsworth]

Ok, I will look into this, since I've had quite a few comments on this. Thanks 
for being patient with me.

> On 12 Feb 2018, at 08:54, Harry Bell  wrote:
> 
> Every email account I tried to send from subscribe to this new list received 
> a delivery failure notification. Puzzling. Harry
> 
>> On 12 Feb 2018, at 07:34, christopher hallsworth  
>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello all,
>> Following on this thread, I have changed the subject to reflect what I'm 
>> about to post.
>> For those who are interested in the Homepod, are due to receive one or 
>> received one already, I invite you to join my new list with dedication to 
>> the Homepod. I did this to try and prevent the bashing between that and 
>> rivals like Amazon Echo and Google Home to name but a few. So, if 
>> interested, please send an email to
>> homepoding+subscr...@groups.io
>> Alternatively you can request an off list invite or an off list request to 
>> add you directly using your email address.
>> Thanks in advance for joining, I look forward to seeing you on there.
>> 
>> 
>>> On 12 Feb 2018, at 07:14, Sieghard Weitzel  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Why on earth they wouldn't make it a standard plug-in cable like on the 
>>> Apple TV which happens to be the same as any Sonos player is beyond me.
>>> 
>>> -Original Message-
>>> From: viphone@googlegroups.com  On Behalf Of 
>>> Aleeha Dudley
>>> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2018 1:45 PM
>>> To: viphone@googlegroups.com
>>> Subject: Re: I went to pick up my Apple HomePod and got a dire warning, CNET
>>> 
>>> I saw online that the repair for the HomePod cable is $29. 
>>> Aleeha 
>>> 
 On Feb 11, 2018, at 2:28 PM, M. Taylor  wrote:
 
 I went to pick up my Apple HomePod and got a dire warning
 Commentary: When you buy Apple's new musically smart speaker, you're 
 told to be very careful with it or it'll really cost you.
 By Chris Matyszczyk, February 11, 2018 9:30 AM PST
 
 It really is quite pretty.
 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
 It was such a sunny day in Northern California on Friday.
 Little did I know that it would be clouded by portents of doom. 
 After all, I was wandering along to my local Apple store in Marin 
 County to pick up an Apple HomePod on launch day.
 I'd never bought a first-generation Apple product before, preferring 
 the company to iron out kinks before I give it my louchely earned lucre.
 For utterly irrational reasons, I felt good about the HomePod. 
 Yes, it's expensive. But I couldn't bear the idea of a Google Home or 
 Amazon Echo -- aka the salt cellar and the garbage can -- in the 
 house. Aesthetics, you understand. (I can feel you pitying me.) I 
 presented the QR code kindly texted me by Apple that morning and the 
 store employee, a rather positive sort, insisted I'd be so very, very 
 excited about getting my new toy.
 "We've been playing with it here all morning and the sound fills the 
 whole store. It's incredible," he said.
 "Incredible sounds good," I thought to myself. "But is that better 
 than, say, magical and revolutionary?" It's hard to tell with Apple's 
 constant embrace of superlatives.
 We chatted pleasantly for a little while, as we waited for the HomePod 
 to emerge from the back.
 But when it did arrive, the atmosphere changed.
 "Now I have to warn you," the store employee began. Oh. 
 "The cable is permanently attached to the HomePod. If you rip it, 
 it'll cost you almost as much as the HomePod itself to repair," he 
 said. (Naturally, someone has already tried to rip it off.) I didn't 
 have time to react, as he continued: "A pet or a vacuum cleaner 
 catches it, and it'll be really expensive."
 I insisted I had neither of these things.
 He barely listened and added: "Unless you've got AppleCare."
 Aha. 
 The math is painful. The HomePod costs $350. Repairing it costs $279, 
 as revealed by Apple support -- and my Apple store salesman -- on Friday.
 As for AppleCare+ for HomePod, which extends your coverage to two 
 years, that's $39.
 The Apple store employee admitted that he was duty-bound to lay out 
 his fears for my gadget-caring inadequacies.
 It is, though, rare for a product to cost almost as much to repair as 
 to buy. Repair costs for Apple products are going up, though. The cost 
 of repairing an iPhone X screen? Why, $279.
 In the case of the HomePod, unless you have AppleCare+, why wouldn't 
 you just buy a new one, rather than wait an unspecified period for 
 your own to be repaired?
 Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. It's 
 likely, however, that the high cost of repair is linked to the fact 
 that the product is one whole piece, with seemingly no place of entry to 
 outsiders at all.
 The mesh of 

Re: New list was Re: I went to pick up my Apple HomePod and got a dire warning, CNET

[Harry Bell]

Every email account I tried to send from subscribe to this new list received a 
delivery failure notification. Puzzling. Harry

> On 12 Feb 2018, at 07:34, christopher hallsworth  
> wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> Following on this thread, I have changed the subject to reflect what I'm 
> about to post.
> For those who are interested in the Homepod, are due to receive one or 
> received one already, I invite you to join my new list with dedication to the 
> Homepod. I did this to try and prevent the bashing between that and rivals 
> like Amazon Echo and Google Home to name but a few. So, if interested, please 
> send an email to
> homepoding+subscr...@groups.io
> Alternatively you can request an off list invite or an off list request to 
> add you directly using your email address.
> Thanks in advance for joining, I look forward to seeing you on there.
> 
> 
>> On 12 Feb 2018, at 07:14, Sieghard Weitzel  wrote:
>> 
>> Why on earth they wouldn't make it a standard plug-in cable like on the 
>> Apple TV which happens to be the same as any Sonos player is beyond me.
>> 
>> -Original Message-
>> From: viphone@googlegroups.com  On Behalf Of 
>> Aleeha Dudley
>> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2018 1:45 PM
>> To: viphone@googlegroups.com
>> Subject: Re: I went to pick up my Apple HomePod and got a dire warning, CNET
>> 
>> I saw online that the repair for the HomePod cable is $29. 
>> Aleeha 
>> 
>>> On Feb 11, 2018, at 2:28 PM, M. Taylor  wrote:
>>> 
>>> I went to pick up my Apple HomePod and got a dire warning
>>> Commentary: When you buy Apple's new musically smart speaker, you're 
>>> told to be very careful with it or it'll really cost you.
>>> By Chris Matyszczyk, February 11, 2018 9:30 AM PST
>>> 
>>> It really is quite pretty.
>>> Andrew Hoyle/CNET
>>> It was such a sunny day in Northern California on Friday.
>>> Little did I know that it would be clouded by portents of doom. 
>>> After all, I was wandering along to my local Apple store in Marin 
>>> County to pick up an Apple HomePod on launch day.
>>> I'd never bought a first-generation Apple product before, preferring 
>>> the company to iron out kinks before I give it my louchely earned lucre.
>>> For utterly irrational reasons, I felt good about the HomePod. 
>>> Yes, it's expensive. But I couldn't bear the idea of a Google Home or 
>>> Amazon Echo -- aka the salt cellar and the garbage can -- in the 
>>> house. Aesthetics, you understand. (I can feel you pitying me.) I 
>>> presented the QR code kindly texted me by Apple that morning and the 
>>> store employee, a rather positive sort, insisted I'd be so very, very 
>>> excited about getting my new toy.
>>> "We've been playing with it here all morning and the sound fills the 
>>> whole store. It's incredible," he said.
>>> "Incredible sounds good," I thought to myself. "But is that better 
>>> than, say, magical and revolutionary?" It's hard to tell with Apple's 
>>> constant embrace of superlatives.
>>> We chatted pleasantly for a little while, as we waited for the HomePod 
>>> to emerge from the back.
>>> But when it did arrive, the atmosphere changed.
>>> "Now I have to warn you," the store employee began. Oh. 
>>> "The cable is permanently attached to the HomePod. If you rip it, 
>>> it'll cost you almost as much as the HomePod itself to repair," he 
>>> said. (Naturally, someone has already tried to rip it off.) I didn't 
>>> have time to react, as he continued: "A pet or a vacuum cleaner 
>>> catches it, and it'll be really expensive."
>>> I insisted I had neither of these things.
>>> He barely listened and added: "Unless you've got AppleCare."
>>> Aha. 
>>> The math is painful. The HomePod costs $350. Repairing it costs $279, 
>>> as revealed by Apple support -- and my Apple store salesman -- on Friday.
>>> As for AppleCare+ for HomePod, which extends your coverage to two 
>>> years, that's $39.
>>> The Apple store employee admitted that he was duty-bound to lay out 
>>> his fears for my gadget-caring inadequacies.
>>> It is, though, rare for a product to cost almost as much to repair as 
>>> to buy. Repair costs for Apple products are going up, though. The cost 
>>> of repairing an iPhone X screen? Why, $279.
>>> In the case of the HomePod, unless you have AppleCare+, why wouldn't 
>>> you just buy a new one, rather than wait an unspecified period for 
>>> your own to be repaired?
>>> Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. It's 
>>> likely, however, that the high cost of repair is linked to the fact 
>>> that the product is one whole piece, with seemingly no place of entry to 
>>> outsiders at all.
>>> The mesh of the device, though, will surely attract some 
>>> scratching-obsessed cats. Which, in my experience, is most cats. It'll 
>>> be fascinating to see whether there will be a sudden surge of cat-related 
>>> snafus.
>>> I walked out with my head hanging a little lower, worried