Stream Music

Stream Music Wirelessly to a Stereo

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Squeezebox Duet, our wirelessly streaming music hero. Photo courtesy Slim Devices

Imagine this: music in your den, your library, the kids room, the west wing, the galley, the bathroom, the Lincoln bedroom, and the underground bowling alley. Does streaming music throughout your modest home sound good to you?
Well, if you're the do-it-yourself type, you can install a Windows or Linux-based music server, hook it into your wireless router and then configure some sort of wifi receiver to transfer the signal to your stereo. It isn't impossible, but it also requires some serious technical chops.
Fortunately, if you don't mind paying a little money, there's a much easier way: Logitech's Squeezebox media player.
The Squeezebox Classic and the slightly newer Squeezebox Duet remove the tedious details of software hacking and make it easy to stream music from your PC, Mac or dedicated server to any garden variety stereo receiver.
Even better, SqueezeCenter, the software that powers the Squeezebox, should work with any software MP3 player. The software supports MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, WAV and more, so you aren't format-limited like you are with iTunes.
Now, we'll take a look at what the Squeezebox does and walk you through setting up your own home audio network.
This article is a wiki. If you have better jokes and ideas of ways to stream music to your stereo, press the edit button and type away.

Contents [hide] 1 What you need 2 Set up 3 Serving your own music 4 Plugins 5 Using iTunes and AirPort 6 Conclusion

What you need

1. A Squeezebox or Duet, obviously.
2. A wireless router.
3. A PC, Direct Access Storage (DAS) or Network Access Storage (NAS) device to store your music and run the SqueezeCenter software. Because The SqueezeCenter, which powers the Squeezebox and provides a web interface to control your Squeezebox, is just a bundled web server and collection of Perl scripts it doesn't require special hardware. It could be as simple as a hard drive or just about any reasonably powered network storage device will work. You can always use your PC too.
4. SqueezeCenter software (available for Win, Mac and Linux)

Set up

Once you have your new Squeezebox, plug it in and hook it up to your stereo. The device will walk you through the necessary steps to connect to your home wifi network. If your router happens to be next to your stereo, skip the wifi and plug the squeezebox directly into the ethernet port for more speed.

The view from the rear. Sexy. Photo courtesy Slim Devices

Once the Squeezebox is on your network, use the remote to select SqueezeNetwork. This will connect you to thousands of internet radio stations, music services like Pandora (free 90-day trial for Squeezebox users), Rhapsody and more. Use your Squeezebox remote to explore all the internet radio options.
I'm a big Pandora fan and spend most of time on the Squeezebox listening to my Pandora radio stations.
To use Pandora through the Squeezebox you'll need to head to the Squeeze Network homepage and create a free account. When you connect your account with your Pandora.com account (you'll do this from your account page at the Squeezenetwork website) Pandora will automatically upgrade you to a 90-day-free subscription -- no credit card required. Of course if you enjoy Pandora and want to keep using it you'll need to pay the $36/year fee once your 90 days are up.

Serving your own music

The internet radio and streaming features are all nice, but what about your own music collection? How do we get to it through Squeezebox?
The answer is simple, just install the SqueezeCenter software on your PC, Mac or NAS device. If you use iTunes to manage your music, SqueezeCenter can even read the same library and import all your existing playlists.
Head over to SqueezeCenter site and download the latest version of the open source software. Run the installer and point SqueezeCenter to your music collection. If you use iTunes, don't forget to choose the iTunes option in the setup dialog.
Once SqueezeCenter is running, head back to your Squeezebox and choose "SqueezeCenter" and you'll have access to all your music, as well as the radio options we explored earlier.

Plugins

Here's where SqueezeCenter gets really fun. There are hundreds of third party plugins available for SqueezeCenter. Want to send your current track to last.fm? No problem, just use the last.fm plugin. Want to change the look of SqueezeCenter? There are plenty of skins available. How about streaming music from your friends' muxtape mixes? The Demuxtape plugin does it.
Because the SqueezeCenter software is open source and there's a plugin SDK, the sky's the limit when it come to plugins. If you have ideas, head over to the suggestions page and add them in, who knows, maybe someone will build what you're looking for.

Using iTunes and AirPort

Squeezebox works with any stereo or computer and is adaptable to different players and audio devices. However, if you use iTunes exclusively, there's another wireless option for you.

Airport Express photo courtesy of the Apple Store

Apple's " Airport Express Base Station Wireless router plugs into the wall near your stereo, connects to your stereo through a simple 1/8 inch stereo connection, and allows you to stream music straight from iTunes. It even has a USB port to allow you to print wirelessly. Because it is a router, it will also extend your wifi range, so you can plug in your router in the downstairs bowling alley, plug in the Airport Express into the Lincoln bedroom and still get a wireless signal from the west wing.
In iTunes, go to Preferences and click on the Advanced tab. Somewhere down the window will be a checkbox labelled "Look for remote speakers connected with AirTunes." Check it, press OK and press play. By George (Harrison? Michael?), you've done it! You'll notice some other options there which allow you to control volume from iTunes and control iTunes remotely from novelty Apple audio products. Click away if you want to -- your mileage may vary.
Like Squeezebox, Apple's Airport Express ain't cheap. For $100 a pop, you're going to empty your wallet if you want to connect every stereo in the house. Also, if you're limited to streaming only music to Airport Express from iTunes. Luckily, Airfoil is an application which will stream anything else, including my beloved Pandora, to the stereo.

Conclusion

The Squeezebox/SqueezeCenter may not be the cheapest option when it comes to streaming music through your house, but it's certainly one of the easiest. If you'd rather spend your time listening to music than upgrading software and fiddling with your network, then Squeezebox is for you.

This page was last modified 11:14, 14 August 2008 by jpsalvesen. Based on work by howto_admin.
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Stream_Music_Wirelessly_to_a_Stereo