airtunes without computer?

trasver

Hi all

I love airtunes and the way you can play music over multiple speakers which makes it the ideal system for me.

The only drawback is that I have to have my laptop on to do this. the ideal system for me would be to have some sort of hard drive where all my music is stored and use my iphone (or some sort of device) as a remote to connect and control my music and dictate what speakers the music plays through.

As I write this I realise it is probably wishful thinking and it probably isn't possible! Any thoughts/suggestions?!

Cheers

preilly79

does it deffinitely have to stream the music wirelessly? this is for movies, but it might get you in the right direction: http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11002

J-blk

I can't see how you would bypass using a computer entirely but if you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone, you could have the PC/Mac that contains your music library wherever in the house really (or hidden away) and use Apple's own Remote app from the app store to control iTunes (including streaming to various Airport Express units you have around the place). You could also use VNC from the iPhone/iPod to the PC/Mac for any other odd jobs (like starting iTunes up in the first place, etc).

trasver

Yeah I thought as much, have a MacPro in work and a macbook pro which I also use for work so don't really have a designated home computer so its all well and good when I'm round the house but ideally I'd like to have it that others can use it when I'm not there.

Am using the remote.app at the moment on my iPhone and its sweet, what a clever little application.

The lacie thing looks cool (thanks preilly), I suppose in a way apple TV does the same thing and can now apparently be connected to airtunes as a speaker position. All I need is that apple allow appletv to be the host for the music and enable it to stream to different speakers and I'm sorted!

Wishful thinking....

PaulieBoy

I would consider getting a Mac Mini, it would be just the job for your situation.
My Mini is hooked up to my stereo upstairs and I use Airtunes to play my music elsewhere in the house.
The Mini is tiny , totally silent, and would not only serve as a base for your music, but you could use it as a backup device for your iTunes, you get a two for :-)
It's not an expensive option as you already have the Touch, and compared to other remote systems out there it's a lot more functional. Once setup, you could probably use it headless ( without a monitor) using the iTouch to control iTunes.
It would be high on my options list, as with that setup, you got exactly what you want.

J-blk

+1 on PaulieBoy's suggestion - that's pretty much my exact setup: I have a Mini as my media center at home and control the streaming to my Airport Express with the Apple Remote app. And the Mini is also great for video and pretty much all other media too.

Alternatively, you could build a pretty cheap Windows server (not sure you can get an iTunes client to work reliably in Linux) and use that but it's a much more messy approach than using a Mini.

trasver

Cool I never even thought about the mini, and using it without a monitor means it sits happily in a corner out of the way! Then again I'm sure I'll end up adding a monitor to it anyway!

Good stuff guys, thanks!

J-blk

The Mini is a brilliant little machine for such setups - bear in mind that you will need a monitor to first set everything up but once done, you'll never need it again. You can then do all "heavier" tasks (like updates, application configuration, etc) using Leopard's screen sharing from your MacBook Pro - I do this all the time with mine and it's dead easy to use on your internal network.

trasver

Ah I love it, what would we do without beautiful Macs! Cheers guys for all your help!