(Post title courtesy of Craig Finn of The Hold Steady - playing next week at the Taste of Randolph street festival!)
In one of my first posts on this blog, I noted that we wanted "AirPlay Everywhere", including the patio. I wasn't exactly sure how do to that on a permanent basis, however - I didn't want the "solution" to be dragging an outdoor speaker around with me.
Well, our house has a feature that has made this issue moot. AirPlay project - partially completed!
When the previous owners built this house, they had an infant and a toddler. So, they had the entire place outfitted with a whole-home monitor-speaker system. The "monitor" aspect is not particularly useful for us with our 5-year old, but the "speaker" aspect comes in handy.
We noted right away that the main control box for the system has an AM/FM radio and a CD changer. Even more promising, the system has an AUX input, which is fed by the composite outlet on the same wall.
Even more promising, the system has a speaker on the patio.
One Airport Express later, and we have our patio completely AirPlay enabled!
I'm able to stand outside and select anything from our iTunes library, and have it immediately play through our patio speaker. (First song: "Something", by George Harrison and the Beatles. I just moved into this neighborhood, it's 8PM, and I'm not going to rock out just yet.)
It's a small Apple-enabled-home step (practically "noticing a preexisting feature") - but it's the first one we've really finished, so I'll take it!
I also picked up a second A1284 Airport Express yesterday on eBay for $60, and was able to pick it up locally here in the Chicago suburbs. So we'll soon have a second AirPlay-enabled area - and a third, if you count the AppleTV.
In one of my first posts on this blog, I noted that we wanted "AirPlay Everywhere", including the patio. I wasn't exactly sure how do to that on a permanent basis, however - I didn't want the "solution" to be dragging an outdoor speaker around with me.
Well, our house has a feature that has made this issue moot. AirPlay project - partially completed!
When the previous owners built this house, they had an infant and a toddler. So, they had the entire place outfitted with a whole-home monitor-speaker system. The "monitor" aspect is not particularly useful for us with our 5-year old, but the "speaker" aspect comes in handy.
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| Primary Monitor/Speaker control panel |
Even more promising, the system has a speaker on the patio.
 |
| Patio Speaker |
One Airport Express later, and we have our patio completely AirPlay enabled!
 |
| Control Panel, with Airport Express and composite inputs |
It's a small Apple-enabled-home step (practically "noticing a preexisting feature") - but it's the first one we've really finished, so I'll take it!
I also picked up a second A1284 Airport Express yesterday on eBay for $60, and was able to pick it up locally here in the Chicago suburbs. So we'll soon have a second AirPlay-enabled area - and a third, if you count the AppleTV.
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