Another friend suggested the XBox solution

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Should I buy an Aiport Express?

Dec122008

I want a way to play my music from the computer around the house, without too much expense... is Apple Airport Express worth a go? I think I'll need another solution to be able to change tracks from the other room, but just to stream from one to the other is it worth a go?

UPDATE: That seems to be a NO then.

pauly :: 2008 :: Comment / reply

RE: Should I buy an Aiport Express?

I bought one years ago, but simply could not make it work.

darryl :: 12 Dec :: 2008 :: Comment / reply

Thanks, advice from another friend at work here is NO too

It seems to be just one way communication, sound is streamed from the PC to the airport express, and then I can plug speakers in to that. I can't send anything back the other way to skip a track or anything. This would be slightly worse than the current setup of ipod plugged into stereo, or ipod plugged into powered speakers (which we have in the bedroom and kitchen). Maybe I'll get a better solution one day.

Cheers for chipping in though mate.

pauly :: 12 Dec :: 2008 :: Comment / reply

RE: Thanks, advice from another friend at work here is NO too

Have you considered the Squeezebox technology from Slim Devices? I've used the Classics before, they stream off your network and each one can be streaming different music. You can jump tracks around too. Logitech bought Slim Devices (last year I think) so be interesting to see how they evolve over the next few years.

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html

There's a free download on there called "SlimServer" that you can set up on a PC to do the streaming. You can also I think get SlimServer running on the Linux installation that comes on Western Digital MyBooks if you hack the firmware.

12 Dec :: 2008 :: Comment / reply

Yes I have considered them

I think Richy has one doesn't he? I like the idea but it seemed a bit pricey at the time, I was hoping I could cobble something together with even cheaper bits. I really like the itunes interface too so would quite like to keep that. Might well end up with a squeezebox though, all roads do seem to lead back to them...

pauly :: 12 Dec :: 2008 :: Comment / reply

RE: Yes I have considered them

NO WAY I absolutely HATE iTunes, particularly its user interface. MediaMonkey is better but still not quite right. I only use iTunes when I have to, grrr, stupid Apple and yet more of their crappy proprietary technology.

Have you considered getting a DNLA compliant device? And installing a DNLA server? You can again get network devices e.g. Buffalo do a DNLA server on one of their NAS devices. Just a thought, might be cheaper to do something like that.

Or just buy an old xbox for 20 GBP, stick a wireless bridge on it, soft mod it, stick XBMC on it (woo they are porting this to Linux and Windows), and stream stuff to it from your NAS or PC.

13 Dec :: 2008 :: Comment / reply

Another friend suggested the XBox solution

I will have a look, does sound like a good cheap solution...

pauly :: 14 Dec :: 2008 :: Comment / reply

RE: Yes I have considered them

So you can get a free DNLA media server from here (versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X):

twonkyvision.com

Seems to be a popular one and even incorporated into commerical products.