Streaming music with Airplay from Mac to iOS device

[apockalipse]

Has anyone heard if this will be a feature in Airplay?

 

[saving107]

As of iOS 4.2.1 (GM) and iTunes 10.1

(Audio/Video)

What will work:

iPhone -> New Apple TV/AirPlay enabled device*
iPod touch -> New Apple TV/AirPlay enabled device*
iPad -> New Apple TV/AirPlay enabled device*
Mac/PC** -> New Apple TV/AirPlay enabled device*

What will not work:

iPad -> iPhone
iPad -> iPod touch
iPad -> Mac/PC
iPad -> iPad
iPhone -> iPad
iPhone -> iPod touch
iPhone -> Mac/PC
iPhone -> iPhone
iPod touch -> iPad
iPod touch -> iPhone
iPod touch -> Mac/PC
iPod touch -> iPod touch
Mac/PC -> iPhone
Mac/PC -> iPad
Mac/PC -> iPod touch
Mac/PC -> Mac/PC

*AirPlay Enabled Device: Home Theatre System, Receivers, Airport Express and Sound Dock
** Mac/PC will require at least iTunes 10.1 for AirPlay to work with video

http://www.apple.com/itunes/airplay/

 

[tnerb]

AirPlayer is a Mac OSX app that gives limited support for using a mac as an airplay receiver. If you want to use an iOS device as an airplay receiver try AirView from the app store.

 

[Cruleworld]

Airplay won't do it but the paid application for mac called AirFoil will do that, and the app for iPod touch is free. I use it at my church to stream the audio from up stairs down to the gym for Dodgeball games going on down there during youth group all the time.

 

[appmama]

What you are looking for is the wifi2hifi app, it streams whatever music program is playing on your computer

 

[Jimmyhudson]

4.3 update

I heard this feature was added in the most recent update? Anyone know how that works?

 

[Mawal]

you need to setup your IOS device for home sharing...that's all....

 

[apockalipse]

I heard this feature was added in the most recent update? Anyone know how that works?

The Home Sharing feature that they just added to iOS devices with the latest update does allow you to listen to your entire iTunes library on the later generation devices.

However, there are some things to note -

- It won't work with earlier model iphones/ipods that are no longer supported.
- It is not synchronized playback like it would be with an AirPort enabled device/speakers. Listening to Home Sharing music on your iOS device will be independent of the music playing on your computer. So your computer and device are using the same library but playing their own songs and playlists.

Home Sharing is a cool new feature, but not exactly what I was looking for here.

As suggested by an earlier poster, I found that AirFoil best suited my needs. The program cost $25 for your Mac and the accompanying iOS program is free. You can try the main program for free to see if it is the solution you are looking for but you are limited to 10 minutes of streaming. It allows you to stream any audio (not just iTunes) from your computer to any combination of speakers and/or iOS device (including older models) and control the volume levels to each speaker. My only complaint with AirFoil is that you can't control the inputs or volume from the iOS app itself, you must go to the computer. To control it from an iOS device, you must get yet another 3rd party app called Reemote for $4.99.

These apps give me exactly what I was looking for, although it did cost $30. In my opinion, it was definitely worth it as I use this set up almost everyday. It has allowed me to use my old iPhone 3G, along with a set of nice portable iPod speakers (Logitech s715i - if anyone is interested, I highly recommend these!) as a mobile audio system that can be moved anywhere in my house or yard. The music is completely in sync with the other "stationary" speakers in my house and everything is centrally controlled by my girlfriend or me with our iPhone 4's.

It is slightly convoluted since it requires 3 different apps (iTunes, AirFoil, and Reemote) but nothing I can't live with. Hopefully, Apple will see the value in someday building this functionality directly into iOS, but for now, this is a solution that works very well if you don't mind the minor additional cost.

 

[killercatfish]

Have you tried stream2me? I think it was relatively cheap (much less than 25$). Let's your stream any media within the folders you choose to share with the free Mac os serve2me