AirPort Express Streaming Audio From Any Program 261
Foobaz writes "Until now, the only application that can play audio on Apple's AirPort Express has been Apple's own iTunes. But Rogue Amoeba, makers of Audio Hijack, just released Airfoil, a program that lets you redirect anything to your AirPort Express, like streaming audio from mplayer, RealPlayer, or VLC."
Tinfoil hats (Score:3, Funny)
Sync issues (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Sync issues (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sync issues (Score:3, Insightful)
Thanks for reading the FAQ for me (page didn't load for me, apparently it wasn't
Re:Sync issues (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Sync issues (Score:5, Informative)
However. This is not a problem since VLC and MPlayer can move the sound all around. So just watch your torrents with VLC(which I guess you do anyway) and make the sound be a few seconds early. Easy peasy.
More info at http://www.rogueamoeba.com/forum/ubb/Forum7/HTML/
Re:Sync issues (Score:3, Insightful)
Crippleware (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Crippleware (Score:5, Funny)
That's just your music. Try this site [itunes.com] and see if it helps.
Funny? (Score:2, Informative)
*Before purchase, noise is overlaid on all transmissions longer than 10 minutes.
Re:Crippleware (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Crippleware (Score:2)
Re:Crippleware (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Crippleware (Score:2)
I'd rather have something that hooks onto Soundflower and then uses Justeport to stream to the Airport Express.
Re:Crippleware (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Crippleware (Score:2)
Re:Crippleware (Score:4, Funny)
No, not origasmi. I was thinking more the kind your neighbor's dog carefully arranges on your lawn. Dogs certainly know their feng shuit.
Re:Crippleware (Score:2)
Still not the only feature I want (Score:5, Interesting)
Then yeah, I'd like to be able to do it with DVD Player.app as well as iTunes.
Re:Still not the only feature I want (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Still not the only feature I want (Score:2)
Re:Still not the only feature I want (Score:3, Interesting)
So, with shared library you can both listen to different things!
Re:Still not the only feature I want (Score:2)
About the only "work" I got out of Shared Library was... nothing.
It would be nice if I could get it to work, but it just doesn't. Apple's instructions and trouble shooting guides are worthless, and nothing seems to show on Google. Even if I turn off the firewalls on both computers, I have yet to see iTunes sharing to work. This is one reason I won't buy the Airport Express. I'd love to get one, really, but I have no confidence that it
Re:Still not the only feature I want (Score:2)
Re:Still not the only feature I want (Score:2)
Re:Use iTunes Music Sharing! (Score:2)
I would have assumed you could do the same from iTunes on another machine, but since I only have one mac I can't really test that.
Will the foil fly? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Will the foil fly? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Will the foil fly? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://nanocrew.net/blog/apple/revairtunes.html [nanocrew.net]
Re:Will the foil fly? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Will the foil fly? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Will the foil fly? (Score:5, Informative)
RAOP protocol itself has already been analyzed by DVDJon and its implementation is availabe as an open source C# software called JustePort. RAOP protocol is based on RTSP wrapped with AES and RSA cryptography, on which Apple Lossless files are streamed.
AES and RSA are also open methods in conjunction with RTSP. Seems pretty open to me.
Re:Will the foil fly? (Score:2)
Re: Will the foil fly? (Score:2)
In other words, who cares if Apple likes it? If it's good, use it. Do you ask yourself if your car manufacturer will like it that you're plugging an MP3 player into the vehicle's sound system? Oh my god, what if they dislike it??
Okay... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Okay... (Score:2, Informative)
When they realize that everyone is buying an AirPort Express.
Fortunately the AP Express is not a single purpose device, like other streaming audio solutions. The printing and network extending capabilities make it well worth the $125.
A great addition to the AirPort would be a remote control with TV display. I'm visualizing being able to see my track info on my TV screen and control the tracks with a remote. I know that there is a TiVO solution (that I won't link to, use google) that works like this, bu
OSX-only (Score:2)
Re:OSX-only (Score:2)
From the LAUNCHcast [yahoo.com] website :
Seriously?!? Ha-ha!!
There are a thousand and one different sources for music. Pick one that doesn't require you to use an outdated browser, then buy a Mac mini.
What, you're saying there isn't a Windows-based solution to do this kind of thing ?
And what the heck is up with those L
Re:OSX-only (getting offtopic, but..) (Score:2)
Launchcast has some great ideas going and it's genre selecting features are pretty awesome, but if I can't even use it simply because I'm on a different platform, then it'll get no support from me an
Re:OSX-only (getting offtopic, but..) (Score:2)
I actually absolutely agree. It just seems that Yahoo hasn't put one ounce of development effort into it since they bought it, and it's a bit of a shame, because it did have some promise... the whole idea of being able to rate ( and especially, block ) song
Re:OSX-only (getting offtopic, but..) (Score:2)
It might, seeing as how they've got a "new media focus" according to press releases, and they've recently posted job openings for that division.
Re:OSX-only (Score:2)
There are no current plans for porting Airfoil to Windows.
Yeah, right...
Use Airfoil to play audio from RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, Safari, and almost any other application right through your AirPort Express.
Re:OSX-only (Score:2)
Re:OSX-only (Score:2)
thx
Audio Hijack (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Audio Hijack (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Audio Hijack (Score:5, Informative)
(http://nanocrew.net/blog/apple/revairtunes.html [nanocrew.net])
and yes... this is THAT Jon... the one that got yanked into court for reverse-engineering the DVD encryption. all hail Jon!
what we need now is for mplayer and VLC and the others to implement airport express streaming directly in the media player...
Apple's not going to like this. (Score:2, Informative)
Don't flame me. I'm an Apple user. So I know what I speak of.
Re:Apple's not going to like this. (Score:5, Informative)
1. It's been in beta for a while, Apple could have easily done something about it earlier.
2. It still uses iTunes. The backend uses the iTunes API to add a local stream to the library and send it to the Airport Express.
What would really make Apple upset is if someone had discovered the key being used to encrypt the audio, but that hasn't happened here.
Re:Apple's not going to like this. (Score:3, Informative)
-ben
Re:Apple's not going to like this. (Score:2)
So basically it ends up doing for $25 what a more patient user could do for free with icecast, Soundflower, and iTunes all wrapped in a nice package.
Re:Apple's not going to like this. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry. (Score:2)
Re:Apple's not going to like this. (Score:3, Insightful)
This is much different than, say, cracking their DRM. I really can't think of a single reason they would disapprove of Airfoil.
Re:Apple's not going to like this. (Score:3, Interesting)
I am the developer for QTConvert, an app that just exposes the QuickTime API for format exporting, a feature normally only available for folks who've upgraded to QuickTime Pro. When iTMS first came out, the QuickTime API still supported exporting from Protected AAC to whatever formats were valid targets. However QuickTime Pro had disabled this, by doing a simple check. Since I didn't really care to have my tunes in an encum
RealPlayer!? (Score:3, Funny)
Kudos to the hackers though..
Are Airports lossy? (Score:2)
Re:Are Airports lossy? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Are Airports lossy? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Are Airports lossy? (Score:2)
Re:Are Airports lossy? (Score:2)
My .sig Can Beat Up Your .sig... (Score:2, Funny)
Consider yourself disemvoweled...
Re:Are Airports lossy? (Score:2)
iTunes sends the audio to a Airport Express formatted in the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). It does this with everything.
For example, say you have a whole bunch of 128k MP3 songs you're playing in iTunes. iTunes will decompress those to standard PCM audio, and then re-encode that to ALAC and send it to the APEX. So the quality of sound you hear on whatever your APEX is plugged into will be as low (or as high) in quality that your original source is.
-dale
Re:Are Airports lossy? (Score:2)
Re:Are Airports lossy? (Score:2)
Google to the rescue... here's the DAC the APEX uses:
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/prin
Sure, it's no Focusrite DAC, but it's adequate enough for my tastes. When it's purest audio I want to hear, I don't put my music over the APEX... I use my Metric Halo 2882 and KRK V8 monitors
-dale
Dishonest marketing (Score:4, Informative)
That is dishonest marketing. JustePort [theregister.co.uk] has been doing that for quite some time. It's even more dishonest when Rogue Amoeba probably relied on JustePort to write the AirFoil.
Re:Dishonest marketing (Score:3, Interesting)
Checking facts seems like it would be the right thing to do before casting aspersions. Now pardon me
Is there an equivalent for windows? (Score:2)
Re:Is there an equivalent for windows? (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know about routers, but you can do what I and a lot of others do and have a media server hooked up to your home theater setup through either wireless or (preferably) wired ethernet (still better than wireless for speed and stability). I'm sure there are probably some NAS devices that can act similarly at a lower cost than a full-fledged PC. I admit that I don't quite "get" what's so specia
No need for VNC (Score:3, Informative)
If you're using Linux as your media server, just connect to it using a remote X-Server. It might be a little less intuitive for a Windows us
Re:Is there an equivalent for windows? (Score:2)
Or.... (Score:5, Funny)
Or... Doom3. Wonder how long it will take for the neighbors to call the cops.
Advanced Sound Control Panel (Score:2)
I've been hoping for a while that Tiger would include a more advanced sound control panel that would allow the user to direct sound streams and adjust volumes for any combination of sound inputs, outputs, and for each application. It would also be very nice if they would include a maximum volume damping feature on an application by application basis. This is really something that should be handled by the OS. Unfortunately I have not heard of any of these features making it into any of the Tiger betas. May
Rogue Rawks (Score:4, Informative)
This is a completely unsolicited endorsement (a
VLC streaming to AirPort Express (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2004
I've been using this solution for playing DIVX files from my laptop (which is connected to my projector, while the audio is routed to AirPort Express) for some time, and works well, thanks to the author's knowledge, and the power of VLC !
Re:VLC streaming to AirPort Express (Score:2)
This is totally wrong. (Score:2, Funny)
You think you own the product, so you should be able to do what you want with it? Sorry, but no, it's an Apple product and such notions do not apply to Apple products. Unless Steve Jobs gives the go ahead and gives it his blessing.
I would like to be the first to say that this is unethical, im
From any program?! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:From any program?! (Score:2)
Wireless everything? (Score:2)
Re:Wireless everything? (Score:2)
Re:Wireless everything? (Score:2)
Rogue Amoeba equivalents (Score:2)
Anyone know if there is an equivalent product for Windows? I know I can reroute audio as a whole under Control Panel, but I haven't seen anything to give this level of per-program control.
System sound (Score:2, Redundant)
Would be fantastic. I'd love to remotely use my stereo speakers without ugly cables dragged across the room.
Re:CAN ANYTHING HELP ME WITH STREAMING VIDEO? (Score:5, Informative)
streaming audio and video (Score:2)
As someone else pointed out, you could stream video via LAN with (what else?) Video LAN Client (VLC). It has its bugs, too, but is updated and fixed more frequently than any open-source software I've eve
Re:I don't want to troll but: (Score:5, Funny)
When did we get that extra 1%?
Re:I don't want to troll but: (Score:2)
Yeah, that iTunes program is wicked expensive (Score:5, Informative)
You do realize that iTunes is free, and works just fine with all sorts of file formats you can rip from your own cd's or buy elsewhere right? It'll even convert your WMA files to AAC.
---If I buy a Chevy vehicle, I want it to work with any gasoline that's been refined properly. I don't want to buy Chevy gasoline, or gasoline from an "approved Chevy distributor". Same goes for my music... If I buy something that plays music, I just want it to play my goddamned music... Not music from store A, or through service B.----
Sounds pretty much like iTunes fits the bill for you then, as long as you avoid buying music downloads from any seller with proprietary DRM (pretty much everyone selling major label songs for download, Apple included).
--- Until things change, Apple ain't seeing a dime from me.---
You should really stick it to them by downloading it and using it for free then.
Re:Yeah, that iTunes program is wicked expensive (Score:2)
Audio players are free these days... Winamp, musicmatch, microsoft, apple... Hell, I've even written my own. The fact that they've locked out their hardware so that only ~their~ free music player will work with it is inc
Re:Yeah, that iTunes program is wicked expensive (Score:3, Interesting)
Why does Windows load IE's render engine on startup?
Also, what's invasive about iTunes?
Audio players are free these days... Winamp, musicmatch, microsoft, apple... Hell, I've even written my own. The fact that they've l
Re:Yeah, that iTunes program is wicked expensive (Score:2)
Even Quicktime is invasive (why the hell do they have that load on startup???).
Quicktime is more than a video player, it is also the audio and video libraries upon which iTunes is built. Windows Media player uses a different set that is built into windows and loaded with the OS. Apple uses their own, which is ported from Mac OS.
The fact that they've locked out their hardware so that only ~their~ free music player will work with it is incentive enough for me to steer clear.
What? I'm not sure how you
Re:Yeah, that iTunes program is wicked expensive (Score:2)
>You do realize that iTunes is free
I believe the poster meant "the wireless playback unit requires iTunes, so the wireless playback unit is one more thing I'm not going to buy from apple, because I don't like/want iTunes."
Not really (Score:2)
Understood, but his reasons for disliking iTunes were not very accurate.
More importantly, the unit in question, Airport Express, does not require iTunes, it's essentially an 802.11 base station compatible with OSX or Windows. If you do want to stream music over it, you can use iTunes, or as pointed out in the artic
Uhh... (Score:2)
But if someone buys an AirTunes adapter, they buy something
Re:Uhh... (Score:2)
Apple COULD make products that interoperate with other devices/applications easily, but they don't. Thus, they don't get my (and a lot of other peoples') business. It's frustrating because they have a lot of things that have the kinds of features I want, but keep giving me reasons not to buy.
~D
Re:Gaaah! (Score:2)
By the way, iTunes doesn't just play Apple approved music. It plays any Mp3, wav, or aiff. It diesn't play orbis or flac, but that's a market-driven dec
Re:Gaaah! (Score:3, Funny)
What's that you say? I can't? Proprietary bastards!
Re:Cross Platform Alternative (Score:2)
AirTunes works over WiFi, meaning digital music delivery (read no quality loss) vs. this FM lossy transmitter.
Besides, if you live in a large metropolitan area (Toronto) you'd never get enough juice out of this thing to drawn out the adjacent radio station frequencies.
Analog is fine for some, but what you are suggesting is in no way a replacement for a digital* utility like the AirTunes.
*Yes I am aware