Airfoil 3
One of my favorite Apple products ever has got to be the Aiport Express. I know it isn't sexy, but AirTunes (that's what Apple calls the technology that lets you stream your music from iTunes to a stereo connected to an Airport Express) is one of the best tech inventions ever. AirTunes, despite my unholy love for it, has some drawbacks: it only works in iTunes, and it only works for audio files.Enter Airfoil, which just hit version 3. Airfoil allows you to stream audio from any program on your Mac to an Airport Express (or multiple Airport Expresses) and keep all those streams in sync. That's not all, version 3 lets you stream audio from one Mac to another Mac that is running Airfoil Speakers (a mini app that comes with Airfoil), one upping Apple's solution. Airfoil also includes a new video player that allows you to stream audio from most video formats to Airport Expresses (or other Macs) which will make watching some of those HD trailers a much better experience.
Airfoil 3 costs $25, but is a $10 upgrade for all Airfoil 2 users (and if you bought Airfoil after July 16th, 2007 you get a free upgrade).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
David said 9:54PM on 1-10-2008
SWEET! I've been bummed that AirTunes is only limited to iTunes. This is great! I've been hoping there was something like this. Seems like Apple should just incorporate it into the Express anyway.
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Renan said 10:02PM on 1-10-2008
I like this Airfoil. =D
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thethirdmoose said 10:02PM on 1-10-2008
I just use my archos 605 and UPnP
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SSteve said 11:29PM on 1-10-2008
Video! Hoo-yah! And for only ten bucks.
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Adam Blair said 12:02AM on 1-11-2008
earlier versions of airfoil worked on other programs than itunes, I am not sure what exactly your ttalking about. I regularly used airfoil with safari and realplayer.
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Bob Thinker said 4:54AM on 1-11-2008
Is it me or is airfoil always delayed 3 seconds when using it to watch a movie. Any way to sync the output with the video?
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tob said 4:13AM on 1-15-2008
you'll probably never be able to sync audio and video. the streaming protocol used for airtunes doesn't include syncing capabilities, which are unnecessary if you just want to stream your itunes. btw, that's the reason why it always takes a couple of seconds when you choose your airtunes speakers in itunes and click on play. and i guess that's the reason you can only choose your airtunes speakers in itunes and not system wide in your audio prefs. i guess apple just saw no way to get then in sync.
unfortunately, tuaw doesn't bother to tell you even though i think this is obvious.
tob said 4:55AM on 1-15-2008
you'll probably never be able to sync audio and video. the streaming protocol used for airtunes doesn't include syncing capabilities, which are unnecessary if you just want to stream your itunes. btw, that's the reason why it always takes a couple of seconds when you choose your airtunes speakers in itunes and click on play. and i guess that's the reason you can only choose your airtunes speakers in itunes and not system wide in your audio prefs. i guess apple just saw no way to get then in sync.
unfortunately, tuaw doesn't bother to tell you even though i think this is obvious.
Gareth said 10:37PM on 1-11-2008
from the website:
With Airfoil Video Player, you can watch video on your Mac and send the audio to your remote AirPort Express, and have it all play in perfect sync.
pepito2k said 7:57AM on 1-11-2008
It would be really great if we could use Airtunes with the iPhone or iPod Touch.
I mean stream mi iPhone's music directly to the Airport Express.
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Mike Krus said 9:55AM on 1-11-2008
Airfoil is great because it lets you stream audio from other apps than iTunes. Great for streaming Pandora from Safari!
I wish there was a way to stream to something other than an Airport Express. Now you can stream to another Mac, but I don't think it would be too difficult for Airfoil to put out an MP3 stream that can be picked up by an iPod Touch, an iPhone or any streaming device (such as a SqueezeBox).
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blubber said 1:03PM on 1-11-2008
I use PandoraJam to listen and stream Pandora to an Airport Express. Cool to have a separate app, and not everything in Safari.
LD said 12:11PM on 1-11-2008
"Airfoil also includes a new video player that allows you to stream audio from most video formats to Airport Expresses (or other Macs) which will make watching some of those HD trailers a much better experience."
I don't understand this sentence. Ok, so it streams audio. How does that make "watching" any better? Or are you saying I can watch HD on my relatively teeny screen and get audio through my stereo in another room, delayed a couple seconds? I don't see the benefit of that either.
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Nate LaCourse said 2:30PM on 1-12-2008
If you just fire up a video in QuickTime Player/etc., the audio streamed over airtunes will always be a second or two out of sync with the video. Airfoil video player ensures that the streamed audio and local video are synced.
Mike said 2:05PM on 1-11-2008
Think it will work with Frontrow? I just wish Airport Express would work with Frontrow on my Macbook Pro. Then that would be awesome.
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BKD said 2:58PM on 1-11-2008
That's strange. My MacBook's Frontrow iTunes works with the Airport Express.
Is this thing really worth the $25? I don't quite see the full benefit of it yet. Especially since audio/video still won't sync properly.
R2B2 said 6:11PM on 1-11-2008
I tried installing the Airfoil Speakers app that comes with this on my hacked Apple TV, but it doesn't seem to work for me... anyone else try this or have better luck than me?
I also agree that a version of Airfoil running on the iPhone would be awesome - it would be like having one of those Sonos things only better (and cheaper). Hopefully when the real SDK appears stuff like this will be possible!
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Faxthat said 9:45PM on 1-13-2008
I am an Airfoil 2 user. I installed Airfoil 3 to test it and then tried to go back to Airfoil 2. I've been unable to get Airfoil 2 to work since trying Airfoil 3, so if you're an Airfoil 2 user and you've tried 3 and then succeeded with 2 after the fact, please let me know.
I'm using a MacBook Pro that has been trouble-free and leopard.
MartinB said 5:02PM on 1-13-2008
1. FrontRow in 10.5 does not work with Airtunes (thru iTunes) any longer, but using Airfoil to stream "system audio" is a workaround.
2. It's always been possible to stream audio from video via Airfoil but in order to overcome the "audio-lag" you had to use a program which could shift the sync of audio and picture. With VLC you could do exactly that. However now Airfoil 3.0 comes with its own video player which does the same under the hood. It's easier than adjusting VLC and it works great.
3. The virtual Airport Express program works great too. How ever iTunes does not recognize it as such. (But you can just hijack iTunes with Airfoil to make it work.)
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craig Morey said 4:11AM on 1-14-2008
Now when the iPhone SDK goes live, I could really do with a version of Airfoil on iPhone. It would be like using a hi-fi remote that *was* the hi-fi. And we're still waiting to be able to stream from other iTunes libraries to the iPhone...
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