A few loose scruz

Several years ago, I decided to move my entire CD-based music collection to our family computer, making the music more easily accessible. I, then, realized that having the music in the computer was great for synchronizing with mobile devices and maintaining a catalog of the music, but not so great for listening to on the home stereo system. As I looked for a better solution, I found numerous, expensive ways to get the music that was on my computer to play on my stereo via both wired Ethernet and WiFi connections, yet each needed me to control the music via the computer's interface. My goal: I wanted to stream music from my computer and control the music from a remote. And I wanted it to be reasonably priced. I was beginning to think that there was nothing out there in the "affordable" category to fulfill my needs, and then I heard about AirTunes.

AirTunes is a feature built-in to Apple's AirPort Express that allows playing your iTunes music through your stereo or powered speakers. More research yielded that the Airport Express had a 3.5 mm audio minijack for analog or optical digital sound. The setup was simple: use the AirPort Express behind the home stereo -- the AirPort Express would connect  to my home's wireless network and via cable to my home stereo system. The final piece to the puzzle is Apple's Remote application for the iPhone, which would allow me to control the streaming music remotely. Music streaming nirvana! Everything worked as I wanted and the AirPort Express unit was under $100.

Present day: Apple releases the new Apple TV. AirPlay, coming soon to Apple TV, will allow content on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to be streamed to an Apple TV via wireless. This means music and video purchased on a mobile device can be watched on an television via the Apple TV. If AirTunes provided a great solution for streaming music, then AirPlay is an evolution of AirTunes, allowing video streaming as well. I look forward to adding an Apple TV to my television too.