I have a HomePod that is playing music from my library just fine when I manually queue it from my iPhone or MacBook. The HomePod recognizes my voice and can respond to requests for weather information or news. But for some reason Siri does not recognize requests to play music by artist name or album name or song name. I consistently get a reply "Sorry, I couldn't find <item> in your music." Any ideas?
Siri on your Mac can play what is on your Mac. Siri on your iPhone can play what is on your iPhone, which might be the same as what is on your Mac, but doesn't have to be. Siri on your HomePod cannot "see" the library on your Mac, it only has access to your unhidden purchase history, unless you pay for either Apple Music or iTunes Match. If you don't want to add either service then stick to AirPlay from your library.
tt2
Siri on your Mac can play what is on your Mac. Siri on your iPhone can play what is on your iPhone, which might be the same as what is on your Mac, but doesn't have to be. Siri on your HomePod cannot "see" the library on your Mac, it only has access to your unhidden purchase history, unless you pay for either Apple Music or iTunes Match. If you don't want to add either service then stick to AirPlay from your library.
tt2
Thanks for your reply :). I was reading on the support website that "If you don't have an Apple Music membership, then you can ask Siri to play music from your music library".
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208279#music
I'm wondering if anyone else if having that same issue.
Unless you have Apple Music or iTunes Match (and the Recognize My Voice feature is disabled*) then Siri is supposed to be able to play from your unhidden purchase history only. AirPlay may be the only way to access the bulk of your library.
tt2
* Presumably a bug
It isn't clear, but in context that would be for a device that has Siri capabilities you can use Siri to play the content stored in the library on that device. So if I've copied one album into the storage on my Apple Watch I don't expect to be able to play any of the other albums that I own, unless I've also got a subscription to Apple Music or iTunes Match to get access through the cloud. The HomePod doesn't have any internal storage you can add music to. You're limited to your unhidden purchases unless you enable more content with a subscription.
Everyone is in the same position.
Update: Someone in another thread has pointed out the the Recognize My Voice feature breaks access to the unhidden purchases as well as iTunes Match content, so there is that wrinkle too.
tt2
Thanks for following up. I'm learning more all the time it seems. I have a follow-up question in that I think my scenario is a little different than described. In this case, I have cd's imported into my music library on my MacBook Pro. I have also created some playlists on the MacBook. My iPhone has been synced with the MacBook so the same music and playlists are on both devices. My Apple Watch does not contain any music or playlists. My understanding is that there is no music stored on the HomePod either. All devices are on the same (my home) network. The Music app is open on the MacBook. So, wouldn't the HomePod look in the music library on my MacBook and start playing music?
Ahhh! Thanks for being patient with me. I understand now. AirPlay will work for me. 😊
You're welcome. 🙂
tt2
Siri Not Recognizing Artists or Albums in Music Library
