My first gen HomePod in our kitchen/diner has died so I need to replace it. The whole family use it. We hardly ever Airplay to it from our phones - we almost always use it to ask Siri to play music from Apple Music.
Can Sonos meet the same use case i.e. just using it using voice to play Apple Music? Is it as easy as Siri on a HomePod? I guess I would be prepared to use Spotify using voice if needed.
I know people love Sonos (e.g. ATP people) but do they have my use case?
Sonos has support for both Alexa and its own voice assistant. You can enable one or both of them at the same time.
Since Amazon Alexa supports Apple Music, either one works.
I’ve found the Sonos voice control to be more limited and fussy, but it works. It seems to have more trouble sometimes with my custom Apple music playlists.
Sonos voice is a good choice if you are concerned about Amazon and privacy. Alexa is a good choice if you want music control along with general questions and answers that at this time are still much better than Siri.
Sonos voice only does music - no other voice queries.
Thanks
So I can use Alexa to play Apple Music and answer questions? That’s good, I didn’t know.
Do you just say ‘Alexa, play …’ and the config defaults it to Apple Music?
Can you use Alexa and Spotify on a Sonos in the same way?
It looks like you can.
Why are HomePods dying? I have a Bose Bluetooth speaker that is at least 15 years old, and it works as well now as the day I purchased it. There is nothing “smart” about it, but it sounds great and is still running strong. I also had two expensive tower speakers for years that never failed me. I finally sold them years ago, but they worked perfectly for at least 10 years.
I should add that I purchased the original HomePods when they came out and they are still working perfectly. 
I can understand how the “smart” component of a HomePod might stop functioning, but I see no reason why a speaker should fail in a relatively few years.
Is my experience with the Bose and tower speakers an outlier? Is it more common for speakers to fail?
I have a homepod mini but I use a Raspberry Pi for Smart guts so that it doesnt die on me in 5 years for this very reason. I have two Crosley products that the only thing thats smart about them are blue tooth.
The first gen HomePod for instance is suffering from this issue (it has happened to me, too, I have replaced it with the 2nd gen and I sold the defective first gen one):
No Power - Shorted S.B. Diode
Symptoms: No power, no lights, and no response. Power draw at the outlet will typically be around 2-10 Watts. If left plugged in for some time, the side of the HomePod may feel slightly warmer.
Diagnosis: Diode is located on the amplifier board. Use a multimeter in continuity test mode to test if diode is shorted by placing one probe onto the larger pin of the diode, and the other probe on one of the two smaller pins of the diode. If meter shows it’s shorted, move probe from first small pin to other small pin. If you still see a short, remove the diode and test with the diode off the board. If just the diode shows shorted and not the board, replace the diode.
It is quite sad that Apple never has launched a repair program for out of warranty defective units. It is happening quite often, which is sad and not something I would expect from Apple.
In both Amazon Alexa and Sonos app, you can configure the default music service.
You can still use additional services, you just have to append “on Apple Music” to the voice commands to play something on non-default services.
No. Most speakers last for 10, 20, 30+ years.
AFAIK, the HomePod thing is an early component failure on Apple’s part.