I wrote an article about Airplay vs Sonos and got a question about how someone would go about sending an audio steam from an iOS app to several Airplay devices at the same time.
The only way, that I am aware of, requires a computer. Obviously, you could use Logmein or some other Remote Desktop iOS app to take control of a computer and just run Spotify (or another music app) on the computer and use Airfoil ($25) to send that audio stream to any or all Airplay receivers in your home (I blogged about Airfoil in the past). I used this process with great success before Rhapsody (which I used at the time) had an iOS app.
Also, right now the Airfoil Remote app ($5) on iOS will allow you pick a preselected program from a list you created and steal the audio from it:
The only way, that I am aware of, requires a computer. Obviously, you could use Logmein or some other Remote Desktop iOS app to take control of a computer and just run Spotify (or another music app) on the computer and use Airfoil ($25) to send that audio stream to any or all Airplay receivers in your home (I blogged about Airfoil in the past). I used this process with great success before Rhapsody (which I used at the time) had an iOS app.
Also, right now the Airfoil Remote app ($5) on iOS will allow you pick a preselected program from a list you created and steal the audio from it:
If you choose Spotify or one of the other popular apps they support, you will gain playback control and metadata with album art:
If you don't want to take control of the computer directly, you can also run Airfoil Speakers on the computer. Airfoil Speakers allows the computer to behave like an Airplay receiver. This comes in handy when you just want to listen to audio from your iPhone over your computer's speakers. You simply start Airplay Speakers on your computer, then it will show up on your iOS device as an Airplay speaker. Once you choose the computer from your Airplay device list in iOS, your iOS device will send the audio stream from almost every app to the computer.
Once Airfoil Speakers is capturing the audio from the iOS device, you can then use Airfoil to capture that stream and send it to any or all of your Airplay devices. The Airfoil Remote app will allow you to control which speakers will receive music and even let you individually control the volume of each of those speakers.
In other words, you just run Airfoil Speakers and Airfoil (two applications) on a computer and then just pick the computer as the receiver for your iPhone. It works great for music and podcasts.
I should mention that Airfoil Speakers for the computer and iOS, is part of the regular Airfoil pricing. It can also be installed on an iOS device and it will enable you to send audio to the iOS device from a computer. Really cool stuff.
Once Airfoil Speakers is capturing the audio from the iOS device, you can then use Airfoil to capture that stream and send it to any or all of your Airplay devices. The Airfoil Remote app will allow you to control which speakers will receive music and even let you individually control the volume of each of those speakers.
In other words, you just run Airfoil Speakers and Airfoil (two applications) on a computer and then just pick the computer as the receiver for your iPhone. It works great for music and podcasts.
I should mention that Airfoil Speakers for the computer and iOS, is part of the regular Airfoil pricing. It can also be installed on an iOS device and it will enable you to send audio to the iOS device from a computer. Really cool stuff.
RSS Feed