Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, First Look, App Review
First Look: Airfoil Speakers Touch
I'd never gotten the opportunity to use Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil prior to today, and then I found out about Airfoil Speakers Touch (link opens iTunes). Airfoil allows you to stream audio from your Mac to other devices including Apple TV, Airport Express, other Macs on your network and now the iPhone and iPod touch. We looked at a similar application not too long ago, but the definite upside to Airfoil Speakers Touch is that you don't have to go through the mess of installing a separate server application -- especially if you already own Airfoil.Using Airfoil Speakers Touch is extremely simple. I opened Airfoil on my Mac for the first time and it showed my laptop and Apple TV on my network. I then launched Airfoil Speakers Touch on my iPhone and it added the iPhone as an available streaming device. I selected iTunes as the source of my audio and clicked on the icon next to the iPhone on the Airfoil application. A quick restart of Airfoil (its Instant Hijack plug-in will bypass that) and I could stream music from iTunes through the iPhone. On the iPhone, a small image of my MacBook (complete with an image of my current desktop) appeared.
The application works beautifully. I left the laptop in my bedroom and carried my iPhone around both inside and outside of the apartment until I left the range of my wireless router. The sound is crystal clear and it turns the iPhone (and 2nd-gen iPod touch) into a great portable speaker.
However, there are a couple of drawbacks. If you exit the application on your iPhone, it will cut off the streaming. Because of this, there's no way to jump over to the Remote application and remotely control iTunes. So if you want to utilize your device as an Airfoil speaker, you need to have a playlist set up in advance since you can't change tracks from within the application itself. I'm hoping remote features will be added some time in the future. It would really make this a killer app.
Airfoil for the Mac is $25, and a free demo is available. It requires OS X 10.4 or above. Airfoil Speakers Touch is a free download through the iTunes App Store.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jason Boehle said 2:11PM on 4-17-2009
Not much point in the iPhone app until there's a way to control iTunes built-in.
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Victor Agreda, Jr. said 2:47PM on 4-17-2009
Given the fact that you can stream practically ANYTHING (Safari, AOL Radio, GarageBand, etc.), yeah, there's a lot more than just iTunes streaming in this app.
Herv?. said 6:27AM on 4-18-2009
Remote Buddy has done just that for years (allowing you to control mac's itunes, and streaming the resulting music to you ipod/iphone)
djfred said 2:23PM on 4-17-2009
I've tried installing Airfoil twice and each time the app worked flawlessly to stream music to my speakers but did something to my Ipevo skype phone that makes it crash every time I try to start it. It's something to do with the sound settings but the only way I've found to fix it so far is to do a clean Leopard install.
Which is pretty dramatic for something that plays music over a wifi connection.
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LD said 2:24PM on 4-17-2009
"but the definite upside to Airfoil Speakers Touch is that you don't have to go through the mess of installing a separate server application"
Um, yeah, you do. You need to install Airfoil on your Mac.
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Deon Robinson said 2:30PM on 4-17-2009
If your iPhone is jailbroken, you can install an app called "backgrounder". And, as the name implies you can run any app in the background. So you can run airfoil touch in the background and use Apple's iTunes remote to control iTunes.
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Johnny said 2:33PM on 4-17-2009
The only downside to Airfoil is the lag. It is generally a full second (or two) behind the video which makes it useless for that. I don't use my Airport Express anymore so I haven't tried in a while, but has Apple ever added support for AirTunes working with video or has Airfoil improved in lag time?
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timbo said 2:55PM on 4-17-2009
Yeah, try the Airfoil Video Player which is now part of the Airfoil package. Works a treat.
Sabi said 10:35PM on 4-18-2009
timbo i myself use the airfoil video player,
you can also set up vlc's audio to match the lag, if you do a google search you can see how.
It works perfectly for me for all videos so far after using Perian for plugins
so i can play HD MKVs with audio over the air.
great stuff i recommend it to everyone with a airport express reall ymakes it much more useful
JoshK said 2:43PM on 4-17-2009
Maybe I'm not getting it but can't iTunes stream audio to the AppleTV already? AirTunes is definitely built in. SO besides streaming to another Mac (which you can share your iTunes library with) what's the point? I am not trying to be condescending and I appreciate and clarification to what the point of this app is.
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Victor Agreda, Jr. said 2:49PM on 4-17-2009
See my comment above. Note Megan's screenshot: she's streaming Safari audio to the device... Apple doesn't let you do this out of the box.
ndukyh said 2:49PM on 4-17-2009
I don't get it--why would you want to play music from your computer to your iPhone speakers if you are within WiFi range of that computer?
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Mo said 12:16PM on 4-22-2009
Because "WiFi range" can be quite a long way away.
timbo said 2:59PM on 4-17-2009
When you select the music source, the app displays your Mac hardware as well as what's on your desktop (with relevance to the source). Nice touch.
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iest said 2:59PM on 4-17-2009
I don't see why anyone would pay $25 to use this app when they can get AirPhones for $4.99.
I use airphones all the time when I'm chilling in my room listening to music and don't want a massive long cable from my laptop to my Hi-Fi. It works pretty well. Only problem is it seems only to stream using mono... Apparently this will be remedied in a future update though.
Still - $25 is a more money... is it worth it?
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milkmage said 4:06PM on 4-17-2009
this app is free. it's $25 for airfoil.
airfoil lets you play any sound from your mac over your wireless speakers, AirPhone does not.
iest said 6:44PM on 4-17-2009
No, Airphones does exactly that. It allows you to play all sound from your mac through your wifi network to your iphone/ipod touch. It's an external sound output device that gets added to your sound output preferences.
I realise the app from the app store is free, but it's a bit pointless if you have to have AirFoil as well to make it work... which costs $25.
Alan said 11:15PM on 4-17-2009
It's a nice bonus if you're already a AirFoil user - like me! But seriously, if you need what Airfoil offers, it's a great solution. I've been using it for a couple of years now.
markg90 said 11:57AM on 4-18-2009
Airphones streams mono, Airfoil does stereo.
Still worth $25? No, but it's better for the users who already own and use Airfoil.
SCOTT said 1:50PM on 4-22-2009
I don't get it...what is all the up rising over this app...
the fact is...AIRFOIL is the KING of AUDIO STREAMING for MACS
and if you don't know that you are a complete idiot...I don't use AIRFOIL as much as I did when I first bought it but it was worth every penny I spent on it...$25 is nothing for what this program gives you
and the ability to stream video where the sound and video match is amazing...it's not AIRFOIL's fault that apple has this lag for AIRTUNES that should really not be there...but oh well
now that there is this new app I plan on using my AIRFOIL more...now I can be watching a video and keep it playing as I go to the bathroom etc...and have my iphone keep me with the program
great job Rogue Amoeba...as usual