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AirPlay and AirPort Express

Anyone have any ideas as to whether AirPlay (AirTunes as was) will support audio streaming directly from an iOS device to AirPort Express-powered speakers?

The new Apple TV will allow you to stream audio, video and photos directly from an iOS device to a TV that is connected to an Apple TV, and thus by extension also to any speakers that are connected to your TV. I'm not particularly bothered about that added functionality, as I really only use my AirPort Express speakers to stream music. If you could stream audio directly from an iOS device to AirPort Express speakers, that would be a big help if, for instance, I can't be bothered to switch my MacBook on or if my wife wants to stream from her iPhone when I am away from home with my MacBook (on which is stored our iTunes library).

Equally I don't really want to shell out for an Apple TV for the privilege of streaming from an iOS device, and even if I did I would not want to have to have my TV switched on to allow my iOS device to stream to my speakers.

Very early days, I know, and a little hard to answer until iOS 4.2 comes out, but if anyone has any preliminary thoughts I'd be interested to hear from you.

MacBook Pro (mid-2009); MacBook (early 2008); iPhone 3GS, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 5, 2010 5:32 AM

21 replies

Nov 24, 2010 7:34 PM in response to Gareth Llewellyn

I found that simply quitting and redrafting the iPod application refreshed the Airplay connection.

capesnr

Level 1

9 points

Nov 26, 2010 12:20 PM in response to Bosamar

I have a similar setup (AE in the living room connected to my speaker amp thru the AE audio cable) which works fine with Itunes and the Iphone Remote, but I don't get the Airplay icon on my iphone 3gs. I don't have the AE configured for ANY internet access at all, but it goes through my Linksys router wirelessly on the same network as Itunes. How do I get my iphone 4.2.1 to use Airplay? You mentioned that you have to select the AE under wireless first. I don't think this will work with my setup because the AE is not broadcasting a wireless id. Anybody get this config to work?

runrguy

Level 1

4 points

Nov 26, 2010 3:04 PM in response to capesnr

AE joined to my home (Uverse) router, iPhone 4.2 joined to the same router, then hard-reset of iPhone, then playing a new song. Once I switched to a new song, the white arrow popped up, allowing me to send the audio to AE.

This is going to be huge once more people are exposed to it.

Nov 29, 2010 2:56 PM in response to runrguy

Dear Gang,

I find this discussion very interesting, but I had a couple of questions for those of you who are using the AE with AirPlay:

-Can you control the volume on a pair of self-amplified speakers hooked to the AE via the iDevice?

-If the AE is set to be a "dummy" receiver on the WiFi network (i.e. it isn't the primary router nor a WiFi network nub / expander), will it still work with AirPlay via devices signed in to the main WiFi?

TIA,
Mark

bobwild

Level 4

1,634 points

Dec 12, 2010 7:11 AM in response to daddo

1. anyone know how to go from their iOS device to more than one airport express (or AirPlay) unit at once?

I wish I could do this, but haven't had any luck.

2. is it possible (the way Airfoil does it) to go from an iOS device to a Mac - in my case, a mini?

I dont' think it is possible but hopefully it will be added sometime in the future.

3. I see the icon on video as well and it looks like i can throw video to the Airport express units as well - anyone know how to get those units to output to a monitor?

No way! Airport Express does not do video. You would need an AppleTV to throw your video at.

..Bob

Message was edited by: bobwild

Dec 20, 2010 8:50 AM in response to Gareth Llewellyn

If you are trying to get an iPhone 3GS to play songs to AirTune speakers, I think it also matters what version of iTunes your iPhone is synced with. For example I have two 3GS phones, one is synced to a 10.4.11 Tiger laptop (iTunes 9.2), the other a 10.5.8 Leopard (iTunes 10.1).

Both phones have the 4.0 IOS - but the speaker "choice" triangle only shows up on the iPhone that is syned to Leopard and the iTunes 10.1. I think you need to have iTunes 10 or greater for these feature to function.

Open to any suggestions on how to get this to work with iTunes 9.2 on my Tiger laptop - software update says that is the most recent version of iTunes for that machine 😟

AirPlay and AirPort Express