Got an Apple Speaker (home pod) for my nearly 13-YO daughter. I knew it was a risk because her Mighty MP3 player *might* not be compatible with it, but figured we’d give it a shot, and maybe I’d use it or just return it if it weren’t.

Turns out it’s not, but she really likes it. Moreover, it takes voice commands (which makes it like Alexa, i.e., a spy device in your house even though Apple claims unlike Alexa it doesn’t record voices and anonymizes them, doesn’t associate them with usernames.)

But what’s worse is it doesn’t work with Spotify, so you have to subscribe for $11/month to Apple Music. So you’re not just paying $100 for what I thought was a speaker but $132/year to use it.

So she’s nagging me to create an account for her, and I said maybe when we get home from NY in a few days and settle in, but she’s nagging me, and I just lose it and say, “I screwed up, I meant to get you a better speaker for your MP3, and I thought that’s what it was, but it’s not, it’s part of an ecosystem they want to rope you into, and then there’s the Siri crap, and this is just bad. I’ll get you a better speaker when we get back, but think I have to return this.”

So she’s upset because it was her favorite present, but I’m pissed off about the whole thing. It was my fault, I should have looked into it, but fuck these companies.

I might still change my mind and just do it, but the whole thing is bullshit.