Can homepod play bbc radio stations?

Yes...I used the BBC Radio App from my phone and played live radio stations from my phone on the HomePod.

I listen to BBC Radio Four on my HomePod all day using AirPlay from my desktop or iPad, but I’d love it if I could cut out the middle step at some point soon.

This is correct. HomePod will only have access to your iTunes content that exists within the Cloud. So that's everything within your iCloud Music Library and anything managed by iTunes Match. Everything else - including Internet Radio stations - are exempt.

My faith in Apple tells me that they have a plan and we'll see it happen, at a time of their convenience - as always.

It does seem as though some third party integration exists, or is possible. 'Hey Siri, play Capital Radio' will play Capital Radio, and I think this works with a few other stations.

Interestingly, if you say 'Hey Siri, play BBC Radio 1' that plays the R1 playlist, but that might be more akin to playing a podcast than the radio itself.

Yeah. From what Postgate said, I get the impression that the only reason their services aren't available for HomePod yet is because Apple haven't really provided any kind of platform for them to run on. There's no App Store for HomePod, no 'Skills' store: it doesn't have access to third party applications. There's no where for the BBC to put their services on HomePod. We can forgive Apple in that they explicitly mentioned they'd be putting music ahead of Siri services at launch, and Tim Cook has said Siri's features on HomePod would improve over time, but radio is a fundamental part of the music experience for many people so it would be a shame if these kinds of services were not supported soon.

It's encouraging to learn that there is an open dialogue between the BBC and Apple, as this suggests Apple are also in talks with other service providers.

Agreed, but I suspect that the absence of the platform/store/skills is that Siri isn't up to running/controlling them yet, which it would have to do as that is the only interface. Siri has some limited integration with apple apps on the iPhone, but otherwise just seems to open 3rd party apps with no functionality. Needs more work to even do something simple like - 'Hey Siri play BBC R6 Music/Radio 2' - which I will need if it is to replace my kitchen/study radio where I can just push the on switch! Agree that it's good they are talking to the BBC and other 3rd parties though.

I was aware that there were internet radio station available in iTunes - and I've just created a playlist with the BBC ones. Suspect most don't use this functionality due to good BBC iPlayer radio app on iOS devices and BBC website radio player on Mac/PC. Also the iTunes interface for radio is shocking.

The issue with HomePod is, I think, that it won't stream iTunes accounts from your PC/Mac, but only from the Cloud, so you need to be on iTunes Match or Music in the Cloud. Happy to be proved wrong.

What HiFi review seems encouraging though, with useful improvements in Siri. Once BBC radio is fully accessible it will be a good option.

Yes, as discussed at length, the HomePod does seem to understand requests for radio stations owned by the Global media group. The BBC has and maintains Apple Music playlists which includes the most popular music from the station for any given week/top charts - this is what Siri brings up when "Radio 1" is mentioned.

Telegraph review is up, though unclear if this is in the same highly controlled circumstances as all the 'previews'. Amusingly they make a number of mentions regarding the lack of radio that the posters here can no doubt relate to...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/02/06/apple-homepod-review-siris-smar t-speaker-speaker-smart/

The Homepod can stream purchased content from iTunes. iTunes internet radio (note, not the Radio tab, Internet radio from the drop down) includes all BBC stations. So why can't the Homepod treat a stream the same as iTunes does, with a software update? Why the need for the BBC to do anything at all?

iPlayer app for iOS is obviously a great option, but I think it would be more inconvenient for me to have to initiate radio playing via my iPhone than from sitting at my desktop. At that point, the BBC radio website/Radio Player site are not convenient because you can only AirPlay from within iTunes (on a PC). It looks like the most convenient option right now are the Internet Radio streams available within all desktop versions of iTunes. I may be able to deal with that temporary arrangement, until Apple figures out what exactly they're doing with HomePod.

Although it was concerning to hear the Verge review saying that directing Apple TV audio (via AirPlay) to HomePod was possible, but not as convenient as it should be. They said it works once you've set it, but if you then change the AirPlay source to HomePod, you'll have to re-establish the connection with Apple TV when you switch back. Another mild inconvenience which I'd like to think Apple will make smoother at some time.

No, iTunes purchased = cloud-enabled content by definition. And the rest of your library if it is in the Cloud via Match or Apple Music functionality. With respect to radio, not sure if the radio stations fall under that definition with respect to native HomePod streaming and Siri control.

Sorry, my bad. I assumed it connected to your purchased collection locally and not via the cloud.

It’s all possible with a software update. But, very disappointing a smart speaker can’t play radio from launch. That’s really not good enough. If you bought any other product based on ‘it might support it in the future but we don’t know when’ you wouldn’t accept it. And it looks like it will never support Home Sharing. I think a lot of owners will be returning them and cancelling orders.

Also, no power output stated on the Apple website. I would have thought this to be an essential specification, and possibly a legal requirement.

Moz70 wrote:

However, this stops the music if I need to use the phone. Would be much better if you could just play the radio stations direct. As you say Amazon Dot does it seemlessly.

Then maybe you should consider the Sonos speaker with Alexa instead. It sounds as if it might better meet your needs.

You can also submit feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

JarScott wrote:

I can't see any logical reason for this lack of functionality, apart from possibly an oversight on Apple's part.

You should submit feedback to Apple letting them know you'd like to see that feature. I have.

Product Feedback - Apple