When Apple first introduce the AirTunes feature film of iTunes , which lets you stream iTunes ’s audio frequency wirelessly to an AirPort Express , the most vernacular complaint was that you could n’t pullulate sound from other applications . In other Good Book , you could connect a stereo organisation or powered speakers to an AirPort Express , but the only matter you could listen to was euphony playact in iTunes . Not long after AirTunes was herald , Rogue Amoebasolved this trouble with AirFoil (; March 2005 ) , an practical software that lets you stream audio fromanyapplication running on your Mac — Real Player , Windows Media Player , your entanglement browser app , or even a biz .
That obstruction out of the way , the most common complaint about AirTunesthenbecame the fact that you could stream audio to only a single AirPort Express at a time . If you wanted to set up synchronized multi - elbow room sound playback , you needed to turn to consecrated music hardware such as Sonos’sDigital Music Systemor multiple Slim DevicesSqueezeboxes .
In January , Apple quietly released iTunes 6.0.2 , which added the power to stream sound recording to multiple AirPort Express Base Stations , but — again — it was limited to iTunes audio . In a bit of good timing , Rogue Amoeba had been working independently on a new version of their own product , and that same hebdomad bring out the $ 25Airfoil 2 (; currently at version 2.0.2 ) which — you guessed it — provide the ability to well out non - iTunes audio to multiple AirPort Expresses .
Like the original version , Airfoil 2 render a unproblematic user interface for choosing the audio reservoir and the destination AirPort Express(es ) . You choose the reservoir from a pour down - up menu at the bottom of the Airfoil window — include in the card are common audio program program ( RealPlayer , Windows Media Player , etc . ) ; Dashboard thingamabob ( such as those that play Internet receiving set ) ; audio devices ( credit line / mic - in , digital - in , USB audio recording , etc . ) ; radio devices ( such as Griffin ’s RadioShark ) ; and System Audio ( all audio playing on your Mac ) . you could also manually choose any app on your Mac ; option - clicking the menu displays many more pick , or you could choose the Other app item to navigate to the desired app . The top of the windowpane lists all AirPort Express Base Stations connected to the same local web as your computing machine ; chatter the transmit button next to each AirPort Express to which you desire to pullulate the source ’s audio . ( you could also stop or depart convey to any Express via Airfoil 2 ’s Dock menu — a handy way to make change without having to switch to Airfoil 2 . )
For canonical usage , that ’s all there is to it — after a slender buffering delay , the choose audio recording will begin to flirt through verbalizer connected to the chosen Expresses . Airfoil 2 , by nonremittal , mechanically keeps the remote speakers synchronise . you may see to it the volume level of each Express via Airfoil or , if you prefer , you may coif Airfoil ’s preferences so that it links remote speaker levels to your Mac ’s volume restraint . In either case , the Airfoil window displays an yield layer meter so it ’s easy to tell if audio is really being broadcast .
As with the original Airfoil , you’re able to easily stream audio from Windows Media Player , Real Player , MPlayer , QuickTime Player , or any other app program that create audio , include games , widgets , and WWW browsers . The latter lets you listen to Web programme of sporting events on your family stereophonic system — even in multiple rooms . However , just like iTunes ’s AirTunes , there ’s a slight delay between when a sound is produced by an coating and when it ’s played back through an AirPort Express , so do n’t gestate to watch a videodisk on your data processor while make for the audio frequency back through your stereo . ( Actually , as I mentioned last twelvemonth , this is possible with a bit of tweaking : The freeVLC media playerhas an audio offset feature that allow you manually sync the audio frequency and video of a DVD ; the Airfoil Help organization offer details on set up this up , or a brieftutorialis available in the Rogue Amoeba forums . )
Airfoil also offer a figure of additional feature . A welcome advance is that unlike its forerunner , version 2 piece of work with word - protect Express Base Stations . A built - in equaliser and equilibrium and book - overdrive controls allow you tailor the sound move to remote speakers . you may force Airfoil to desist from actively synchronizing audio when playing to multiple removed talker ; this can be useful when you need audio to be streamed without any manipulation ( for example , when watching video , which requires that the audio frequency and telecasting be perfectly synchronized ) . you may also choose to listen to audio on your computer while it ’s being transmitted wirelessly ; however , note that local and remote audio will not be synchronise — audio played through remote speakers will be delayed by two to three sec . Finally , a number of ripe configurations touch to gap filling , stream indexes , buffering , and more are available for tweak Airfoil 2 ’s carrying into action and behaviour .
On the other hand , Airfoil 2 has a few limitations . The most substantial is that if your place wireless web utilize 802.11b alternatively of 802.11 g , you may see skips and stalls ; the dull 11b communications protocol may not be able to handle streaming to multiple Express Base Stations . Another is that Airfoil does n’t back up Fast User Switching , mainly because of the path audio is handled between accounting in OS X. at last , as with the previous version of Airfoil , Airfoil 2 has a pocket-size queerness in the room that it interact withalready - runningapplications . Here ’s how I explain this issue last year :
Still , Airfoil 2 is a unparalleled merchandise that get the better of several limitation I noted in my review of the previous version and makes Apple ’s AirPort Express a legitimate option for get your audio all over your house .
