Chapter 3
Stream Music and Movies across Your Home
Before AirPlay and other streaming technologies came about, you really only had two options for streaming music across your home. (Movies didn’t figure in at all.) The first option was to buy a ridiculously expensive wireless system that required using a compatible base unit to send the audio and a set of receivers dotted around your house. The second option was to run audio cables from a TV or hi-fi system between rooms and manually connect them to speakers. Both options were time-consuming, restrictive, and definitely not future-proof.
Although you might be able to add new speakers using both methods, people using a wireless home entertainment solution needed to buy the same brand of speaker to match their system, normally at a premium price. People with a wired solution had to add more unsightly cables and again buy more speakers to add to their setup. Both options also offer limited control, normally only allowing audio from one source — a TV, stereo, or radio, for example. They’re the sort of systems built into expensive houses in the 1980s and 1990s, more often than not fixed into walls and fittings, slowly becoming obsolete with no option to upgrade without a hefty electronic and maintenance bill.
The AirPlay Alternative
But now there’s AirPlay, doing away with almost all these issues while adding amazing flexibility, control, and a range of prices to suit your budget. The additional ability to stream video should make ...
