Considering Apple Music’s New Voice Plan
Mike Rockwell on his blog, Initial Charge:
I buy just about all the music I listen to and store them in a Plex library. On my iPhone and iPad, I use Prism and on Apple TV and Mac I use the Plex app. But on my HomePod’s, I have to rely on AirPlay. It works, but there’s no way to start a specific song or album by voice unless I purchased it on iTunes.
At first I thought the Voice Plan for Apple Music was a laugh (and to friends I likened it to the buttonless 3rd-gen iPod Shuffle). But the more I’ve considered it, and come across use cases like Mike’s, the more I think it was a clever move on Apple’s part. Imagine you’ve been gifted a HomePod mini. What do you do with it if you’re not already an Apple Music subscriber? The barrier to entry has been halved to just $5 a month to vastly expand how that gift can be used.