Replicating Sonos without iTunes running

[WeirdBlitzBoy]

Is there a way to avoid buying the Sonos bridge but still be able to enjoy the benefits of using Sonos iPod touch app and using the WDS functionality of the Airtunes to replicate it? Basically, I'm asking if i have a NAS and a couple Airport Expresses running Airtunes can I avoid buying the Sonos system? I hate that my computer needs to be on and running iTunes to use the Remote app on the iPod touch. THanks.

 

[TJRiver]

And I was thinking, is there a way I can get Porsche functionality in my Kia? Just askin'............................

 

[notjustjay]

Is there a way to avoid buying the Sonos bridge but still be able to enjoy the benefits of using Sonos iPod touch app and using the WDS functionality of the Airtunes to replicate it? Basically, I'm asking if i have a NAS and a couple Airport Expresses running Airtunes can I avoid buying the Sonos system? I hate that my computer needs to be on and running iTunes to use the Remote app on the iPod touch. THanks.

You can buy NAS devices with built-in iTunes servers. However, I'm not sure that this is enough to get a system going like you describe. I was going to say that it was likely possible, but I did some Google searching on your behalf and found this thread:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/NAS-and-iTouch-Airport-Express

Which basically seems to conclude that you'll either need to run your Mac as a server -- or cough up and buy that Sonos.

Here are two more threads which both indicate that this is not currently possible, though the folks at Firefly are working on it:

http://forums.fireflymediaserver.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8009

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/523999/

The conclusion that I draw is that in their current implementation, something has to do all the heavy lifting to get the music from point A to point B. For the Airport Express, Apple designed that something to be a Mac or PC running iTunes. The alternative is to buy a device like Sonos or Squeezebox, which contains the processing power to do the same sort of thing. The folks at Firefly are trying to put those smarts into their software which will run on a Linux PC or NAS.

I have a Sonos setup, by the way, and I quite like it. One of its selling points is that it doesn't require a server to be running, unlike most of the other solutions.

 

[androiphone]

I've toyed with the idea of a cheap nettop conected to the TV as an always on media centre, you could then have iTunes always on and airport expresses throughout the house controled with the ipod touch, a couple of TV tuners and a cheap bluray drive would replace most of the boxes under a TV and if you add a large external HDD then you could share it out like a NAS.

either way a dirt cheap nettop may be a good way to do it