Wireless music from Pre+? Any Ideas?

[Courousant]

I am looking for a good music solution for my apartment. I would like to be able to play music off of my Pre + library or Pandora. Ideally i would like to do this wirelessly. I was hoping some of our more tech savvy brethren could either let me know what solutions they are using, or make a suggestion for me. If I could have just one "system" with speakers for different rooms that would be ideal.


I don't have a ton of programming skill (fine using WebOSQI, PreWare etc, not much more than that though). My basic understanding is that blue-tooth streaming of music loses a lot of quality (or range?). Is their a way to play music over Wi-fi? does that tech exist yet for public consumption? Is their any reason it would benefit to wait for WebOS 2.0?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[bluenote]

I stream wirelessly from macbook to stereo using airport express.
There is an app for the pre that allows the pre to control itunes on the macbook called Remote Free and I use it occasionally.

[Courousant]

Originally Posted by bluenote

I stream wirelessly from macbook to stereo using airport express.
There is an app for the pre that allows the pre to control itunes on the macbook called Remote Free and I use it occasionally.

I would settle for that sort of approach. Is that available for PC, or only Mac?

[Orion Antares]

Originally Posted by Courousant

I would settle for that sort of approach. Is that available for PC, or only Mac?

The app works with Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

[morrison0880]

The app does work for Windows, but it is rather clunky and time consuming when searching for music, especially if you have a large collection. It also crashed when scrolling through a long list. I would suggest giving it a try, but I'm waiting for another solution.

[Courousant]

Just so that I know I am understanding this correctly. I have to buy AirPort Express from apple for $99 (or find another source, etc). Then a stereo (obviously). I hook up AirPort Express to the stereo. Then with the RemoteFree app (free presumably?) i can control my computers iTunes via my Pre+ over Wifi?

Is this something my non-techy wife will be able to use regularly?

This seems like an expensive Rube Goldberg method. I am fine with doing that, but i assumed if i would need that many different programs/hardware I could do it slightly cheaper than that. Is their a cheaper way? If not, is there a way at that price point to do so more directly? Btw, thanks for everybody's help on this one.

[Orion Antares]

No. Airport Express is just an Apple brand wireless router.

I don't know of any options that would let you transmit music from your Pre to a stereo over WiFi. The only such solutions I know of are bluetooth solutions to just have the Pre's music player sent to a paired BT audio receiver. So if you want to transmit music over WiFi to a stereo then you'd need your stereo solution, a wifi router, the computer hosting your itunes library, and the Pre, which would just be a remote control for your computer itunes. You could of course cut out some of the middle man equipment there if you just have stereo speaker system wired up to your computer. Then the only wireless would be you remote controlling your itunes on your computer from your Pre.

[jbg7474]

Playing music wirelessly from your Pre would gobble up the battery pretty readily. I know wireless sounds cool and all, but the fact of the matter is that even if you could stream music wirelessly over wifi (it's definitely possible in theory, but I haven't heard of anyone doing it), you would still have to plug in for power. So why not plug in for sound too? Lots and lots of stereos on the market have an auxiliary input, and you can buy pretty long aux cables.

[jbg7474]

By the way, you can get the same "stream iTunes from your Mac/PC" via the new AppleTV plus a bunch of other capabilities for $99. I would not get the Airport Express anymore.

[bluenote]

Airport Express was just the plug n play router for macbooks that allowed wireless music streaming using itunes. I bought a used one 2 years ago for $70 as it was so easy to set up for the macbook. For a windows pc you would use other routers to set up your wireless network.

[craftsman]

Maybe I'm not understanding the question but you can Bluetooth from the Pre to a FIFO card that plugs into any Ipod dock and use it to play the music.

FIFO's can be gotten at a Sprint store. It used to be 10.00

[Vociferous]

Originally Posted by jbg7474

Playing music wirelessly from your Pre would gobble up the battery pretty readily. I know wireless sounds cool and all, but the fact of the matter is that even if you could stream music wirelessly over wifi (it's definitely possible in theory, but I haven't heard of anyone doing it), you would still have to plug in for power. So why not plug in for sound too? Lots and lots of stereos on the market have an auxiliary input, and you can buy pretty long aux cables.

You could leave your Pre on a touchstone. I think the Bluetooth speaker is probably the simplest and best solution. The sound quality is not diminished that bad. The sound is fine. If you really wanted great sound you'd set up a sound system. If you're looking for super portable, and super easy, Bluetooth speaker is the way to go.

[heino]

maybe not entirely your solution, but if you want to control your music from the pre there are several ways:
1. Install ampache on a pc with windows or linux running. There your music will be stored. Install ampache mobile on the pre. You can configure it to either play the music on the pre or on the pc.
2. Buy a logitech squeezebox touch and store your music there. Buy squeezecontrol for the pre. You can control all squeezeboxes with this app. SB touch is the only SB that cab act as a media server. Otherwise you would need a pc where the music is stored or only listen to internetradio. W squeeze control you cant listen to the music on the pre but the interface of SB control is very easy and nice to handle. With SB radio in the rooms you will get a nice sound experience, but they cost.

[Orion Antares]

Originally Posted by Vociferous

You could leave your Pre on a touchstone. I think the Bluetooth speaker is probably the simplest and best solution. The sound quality is not diminished that bad. The sound is fine. If you really wanted great sound you'd set up a sound system. If you're looking for super portable, and super easy, Bluetooth speaker is the way to go.

I'd agree with this. And as to the OP's earlier statement, I don't think that diminished sound quality would be an issue since you're streaming from your Pre. The people complaining about diminished quality are probably audiophiles that store everything in FLAC or Apple Lossless. If we're talking web streaming, MP3, or ACC, etc. then there really shouldn't be any noticeable loss as long as you're Pre is within 20ft (excluding obstructions like walls) of the BT receiver.

[Courousant]

Wow, thanks everyone for all the suggestions and clarifications.

The Logitech squeezebox sounds pretty great (if a tad pricey).

It seems like a new desktop and a squeezebox just got added to my shopping list (my current HP Laptop is dying. I think I am going to switch to a full desktop and then maybe a PalmPad at some point for couch use).

[Unclevanya]

Why not use the Lightly web server (via Preware and Optware) and stream the contents of your USB partition directly via WiFi?

NOTE: I haven't done this - but in theory you should be able to do it since by default the Lightly Web Server makes the USB partition readable on port 80 without authentication required. Authentication can be added as can Webdav.

[hparsons]

Originally Posted by Courousant

Just so that I know I am understanding this correctly. I have to buy AirPort Express from apple for $99 (or find another source, etc). Then a stereo (obviously). I hook up AirPort Express to the stereo. Then with the RemoteFree app (free presumably?) i can control my computers iTunes via my Pre+ over Wifi?

Is this something my non-techy wife will be able to use regularly?

This seems like an expensive Rube Goldberg method. I am fine with doing that, but i assumed if i would need that many different programs/hardware I could do it slightly cheaper than that. Is their a cheaper way? If not, is there a way at that price point to do so more directly? Btw, thanks for everybody's help on this one.

I don't know of a truly wireless method. I suspect that, for now, you'd have to settle for BlueTooth if you want to be truely wireless.

That said, the Pre (and my wife's Pixi) both sounded pretty good on her car's sound system. I also use a BT on my motorcycle helmet, and that sounds pretty good.

I'd suggest before you try some of the weirder setup (that don't really give you music from your Pre anyway), you give a BT speaker set up a try, and see if it suits your needs. The advantage to that trial is that if you're not happy, you can get a refund on the hardware.

A quick google search will turn up lots of BT enabled speakers, and CNET did a fairly decent comparison of five for a starter - Bluetooth speakers - CNET Reviews

[Unclevanya]

If you already have a nice sound system with RCA jack inputs I would look for a bluetooth adapter for streaming music rather than a speaker.

Here's the first one I found in a search on the web. I'm sure there are plenty of others:

Voiis Stereo Wireless Music Gateway - Cell phone and smart phone accessory - CNET Archive

Loads of them with lots of mixed results. You can also just buy an 1/8th inch jack adaptor to plug directly in without wireless. That's what we do.

[laingman]

Here is what I use. It works perfectly

BlackBerry Remote Stereo Bluetooth Gateway for BlackBerry 8100, 8110, 8120, 8130, 8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8800, 8820, 8830, 9000 (Black):Amazon:Cell Phones & Accessories

and if you also want to play audio from your computer on your home stereo get this

Toshiba Bluetooth V2.1+EDR USB Nano Adapter | Toshiba Direct

I do it all the time and these two are guaranteed to work.

[pomokey]

i got this guy refurbished for about $20 or so. It works both ways, so it can send or recieve bluetooth audio. it works great with the pre. I'd say the range is about 20 or so feet line-of-sight.