AirPlay Direct anyone?

[scene]

I've just seen an article about Apple developing "AirPlay Direct", which will stream music from its devices to enabled systems without the need for a WiFi network - i.e. point-to-point - apparently it's rumoured to be going to be launched on September 12, with the new iPhone.

Articles here at the Telegraph and TheRegister

The latter one refers to the Telegraph article, but also rightly points out that the "AirPlay Direct" name is already owned by a third party...

Wonder what Apple will call it? And how successful it will be?

 

[cheeseboy]

The latter one refers to the Telegraph article, but also rightly points out that the "AirPlay Direct" name is already owned by a third party...

Wonder what Apple will call it? And how successful it will be?

Never stopped apple using registered trademarks before, then just throwing tons of cash at the company to buy the trademark, or suing them out of existance.

As for how sucessful, that totally depends on how many hi fi manufacturers pick it up I guess...

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

Unless Direct is more stable than Airplay, don't really see any tangible benefits as I only use Airplay when in proximity to my WiFi network.

 

[scene]

The latter one refers to the Telegraph article, but also rightly points out that the "AirPlay Direct" name is already owned by a third party...

Wonder what Apple will call it? And how successful it will be?

Never stopped apple using registered trademarks before, then just throwing tons of cash at the company to buy the trademark, or suing them out of existance.

True - Apple have never been backwards in getting what it wants...

 

[scene]

Unless Direct is more stable than Airplay, don't really see any tangible benefits as I only use Airplay when in proximity to my WiFi network.

True, there are some people who don't have Wi Fi, who might find this appealing, but 802.11a/b/g/n/x based systems are pretty ubiqitous, and a lot of ISPs supply Wi Fi enabled modems/routers. Also, if it uses the same frequency ranges as 802.11a/n or b/g then it's going to suffer from the same interference issues.

Unless they're planning to use White Space WiFi...

 

[The_Lhc]

They'll probably just use Bluetooth frequencies and then sue everybody that's already made Bluetooth audio players for nicking their idea.

Maybe.

 

[Andy Madden]

It would seem sensible, as not everyone wants or has a home network. This would also help cut out a lot of the current faffing that needs to be done when setting up some AirPlay products. It's probably worth pointing out that this is already available in some devices from the likes of LG - they use a feature called Wi-Fi Direct...

 

[scene]

It would seem sensible, as not everyone wants or has a home network. This would also help cut out a lot of the current faffing that needs to be done when setting up some AirPlay products. It's probably worth pointing out that this is already available in some devices from the likes of LG - they use a feature called Wi-Fi Direct...

And Apple are supposed to be using a BroadCom chip with Wi-Fi Direct on-board (the BCM4334), so it's probably a done deal.

And called "AirDirect"

 

[scene]

They'll probably just use Bluetooth frequencies and then sue everybody that's already made Bluetooth audio players for nicking their idea.

Maybe.

 

[bigboss]

It would seem sensible, as not everyone wants or has a home network. This would also help cut out a lot of the current faffing that needs to be done when setting up some AirPlay products. It's probably worth pointing out that this is already available in some devices from the likes of LG - they use a feature called Wi-Fi Direct...

And SonosNet? :?

 

[scene]

It would seem sensible, as not everyone wants or has a home network. This would also help cut out a lot of the current faffing that needs to be done when setting up some AirPlay products. It's probably worth pointing out that this is already available in some devices from the likes of LG - they use a feature called Wi-Fi Direct...

And SonosNet? :?

True - but SonosNet uses the crowded 5GHz band, and gets interference from all those pesky 802.11b/g routers (I'm looking at all those BT HomeHub users out there ).

I'm assuming that Apple (if their using WiFi Direct toting Broadcom chips) will be using that space as well. So we've got the perennial problem of WiFi (sorry: wireless) it's lovely to use, but suffers from its own popularity and the biggest issue with WiFi is WiFi...

 

[Anonymous]

I can't see how to ask a new question so i'm here....I have a Marantz MCR603 and can play itunes from my computer using Netgear Powerline 200 homeplugs. I'm sure when I first got it I could play songs from my iphone 4s through the Marantz too. Now though the iphone asks me for a password for Netgear78. The larger plug of the two Homeplugs has a password on it but this doesn't work. My wifi router is also Netgear but the Marantz isn't wireless anyway.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Now though the iphone asks me for a password for Netgear78. The larger plug of the two Homeplugs has a password on it but this doesn't work. My wifi router is also Netgear but the Marantz isn't wireless anyway.

The Marantz may not be wireless, but the means of accessing it to play via AirPlay will be your Wi-Fi router, and then via the Homeplugs to the Marantz. So you need your iPhone to be connected to your wireless network, which is suspect is the password the phone is asking for. That'll be whatever you set the password to when you set up your wireless network or, if you didn't set up a password, the one printed on the bottom of your router.

BTW if you haven't set up a password, I strongly suggest you do: otherwise you're giving access to your home network – and thus your computer(s) to anyone in range of your wireless network. And that probably means the neighbours, passers-by in the street...