Devices for Streaming Music

[PetrolTed]

I've been looking at a Soundbridge, Squeezebox etc. Will any of these devices play music files purchased via iTunes? What I've read so far would suggest not which renders them 50% as useful as I imagined.

[Plotloss]

Apple wont licence their FairPlay DRM system so no one can play stuff downloaded through iTunes anywhere other than an Apple product.

And people accuse MS of sharp practice...

Edited by Plotloss on Tuesday 18th December 20:47

[Gingerbread Man]

I have a squeeze box. Good bit of kit. I've the wireless model. Sits up stairs while the computer is downstairs. You can also use the wireless ones as a wireless card if you have a computer up there with no wireless built in.

I find the squeeze box fast and easy to use. Never caused me any problems. Streams just fine. Looks nice. Plays to my surround sound via optical link. It's quite a simple little number but yet when I as looking, like you are now, all reviews of the products said nice but if you can afford it, buy the squeeze box. So I did.

David

More helpful response, does this answer your questions? - http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?BeginnersGui...

Edited by Gingerbread Man on Tuesday 18th December 20:55

[PetrolTed]

So if I want to stream music around the house I need to go back to buying CD's?

[Gingerbread Man]

If that's what the link says. Or.... just stop using iTunes.

I have a separate hard drive for my music and just direct the squeezebox to it. Works fine. I have 80 gig at my disposable.

David

[PJR]

PetrolTed said:

So if I want to stream music around the house I need to go back to buying CD's?

Not really.. Have you considered an Apple Airport express? As well as being a wireless access point. It has other handy uses.. Like being able to stream music to it. It has an audio output which you then plug in to your stereo. You can even run multiple ones if you like for streamed audio anywhere in the house.
It also has a USB socket to plug a printer in to, should you wish. For wireless printing.

This is the bit you will be interested in though.. http://www.apple.com/uk/airportexpress/airtunes.ht...

P,

PS, Dont blame Apple for the DRM hoopla. Blame the record companies.

Edited by PJR on Tuesday 18th December 21:48

[PetrolTed]

Thanks PJR. Looks like a partial solution, but if I understand correctly I've got to go to my PC to select the music and where it will be played. i.e. if I'm in the kitchen I've got to go upstairs to my office and select the tunes and 'kitchen'. Is that right?

[cyberface]

PetrolTed said:

So if I want to stream music around the house I need to go back to buying CD's?

You can burn a CD from your DRM-laden iTunes tracks (I don't buy DRM tunes so haven't done this personally, but it is meant to be possible) and then re-rip it. Quality will depend on the quality of the original download.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'stream music' around the house. If you mean just broadcast a random selection of tunes over an internal IP address using standard internet radio protocol, there are Apple apps that let you do this (I'm not sure whether you're running iTunes on a Mac or a PC, sorry).

If you mean you want a dedicated device that can connect to a hi-fi in any room and allow you to select from your iTunes library hosted on the main machine, then you'll need to carefully match the protocols used.

If you've got Apple kit then Airport Express is an option but doesn't allow you to choose the tunes from the device itself (e.g. main computer in the cellar with the library, hi-fi in the bedroom 2 floors up).

Overkill is to run an AppleTV with a television... this will connect to your iTunes library on the main box and allow you to select tracks / albums / playlists with an IR remote.

Other option is to buy a cheap-ass laptop or an old iBook with Wifi, and use the Sharing feature on iTunes on the main machine to share the library out to the remote laptop, and connect the line-out to the hi-fi.


Here's my setup if it helps:
Main library on a separate machine connected via NFS to my main Apple Quad workstation, running iTunes and sharing through WEP2 on an Apple Airport Extreme wireless base station (cellar office)

Living room TV connected to an AppleTV picks up music / video / TV shows over wireless, it's a B&O telly so sound is already decent. Ground floor.

Upstairs, two rooms have old Apple laptops running iTunes and picking up entire library via Wifi - one is rarely used and uses the decent Harman Kardon USB speakers off an old Cube, the other plugs into a Bose Wave clock radio.

All possible, and with the cost of second hand PC laptops that can run iTunes happily with an audio out being less than dedicated hi-fi kit.... I'd go with that. Newer (but still second hand) Apple laptops come with Front Row and an IR remote so you could, say, select the music you wanted from across the bedroom, assuming you're in bed and the laptop is sitting on the hi-fi / speaker system on the other side of the room.

It's a bit geeky but it works first time with no dicking about. Sound quality depends on the source and the DAC in the receiving end (not normally a problem for MP3s but if your library is lossless and you're an 'audiophile' then my setup is probably going to be sneered at )

[PetrolTed]

Blimey, you'd think in this day and age it'd be possible to have an iTunes 'server' sending any tunes to wireless devices within the house.

Looks like I'll just have to revert to plugging the iPod into different devices around the house via an Aux line.

[Gingerbread Man]

Can you not just share the folder where you keep the music and squeeze box it. Or am I missing something?

[pies]

You can get a program called soundtaxi which you can use to convert the itunes file to any format and remove the drm

[cyberface]

PetrolTed said:

Blimey, you'd think in this day and age it'd be possible to have an iTunes 'server' sending any tunes to wireless devices within the house.

Errrr that's exactly what my setup is doing... the only trick is that the 'wireless devices' have to be running iTunes. Don't need to be Apple Macs... I had an ancient Sony Picturebook running Windows 2000 and iTunes feeding a separates system via the Aux output before I got rid of the hi-fi.

To be honest, if your goal is to be able to select from your library anywhere in the house, then an old small laptop is ideal anyway since you get the screen size to be able to choose from your library easily. A small box or hi-fi separate with a small LCD display isn't really that easy if you've got hundreds of artists each with tens of albums, or worse, if you've set up bespoke playlists or 'smart playlists' on iTunes.

You can plug an Airport express into a mains socket and output the sound into a hi-fi, but you'll have to go to wherever your iTunes 'server' is to choose the music. And if I'm in the bedroom and my servers are 2 floors down, it's a pain.

You could do it with all-new kit by buying a few Asus Eee laptops at £200 a pop, installing Windows and iTunes on them and bob's yer uncle. Small, unobtrusive, and will allow you to select all your music including DRM stuff off the main machine. Just need to keep your main iTunes computer powered on all the time.

[PetrolTed]

cyberface said:

To be honest, if your goal is to be able to select from your library anywhere in the house, then an old small laptop is ideal anyway since you get the screen size to be able to choose from your library easily.

Thanks - do get it, just don't really want any more computers littering the house!

[cyberface]

PetrolTed said:

cyberface said:

To be honest, if your goal is to be able to select from your library anywhere in the house, then an old small laptop is ideal anyway since you get the screen size to be able to choose from your library easily.

Thanks - do get it, just don't really want any more computers littering the house!

Fairy nuff. Works for me, even Windows 2000 (best Windows ever) running a clean install and iTunes only can have uptimes of 100s of days - never needed to mess about with any of them. It's not like they're doing anything other than serving tunes, and they're a lot easier to debug than some third-party box that may not 100% be compatible with iTunes streaming...

An AppleTV would be very easy but requires a telly screen. If you've already got a TV in the bedroom (horror of horrors, but I hate TV) then it'd probably be the easiest solution.

[Plotloss]

You can get DRM free EMI titles legally with a subscription and Napster acquired music I believe can be played outside Napster but I'm not 100% on that.

Real's DRM system Rhapsody is compatible with the Squeezebox.

The SQB is a good solution on the whole (Transporter especially so) but if you want to stick with iTunes acquired music then you have to select Apple products or find some sandals.