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Wired: Apple’s AirPlay is a really big deal

Apple Online Store“The iOS 4.2 update brings one really big new feature to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch: AirPlay,” Charlie Sorrel reports for Wired. “IPad users might be overjoyed with folders and support for background processes, but the real star is the new music and video-streaming function. It will change the way you consume your media, and it will justify all the AirPort Express units you have dotted around your home.”

“You’ll need a device running iOS 4.2, and at least one of the following: an AirPort Express, a v2 AppleTV, a third-party AirPlay-ready speaker, or a Bluetooth audio device. Using it is as easy as you’d expect when Apple controls the whole infrastructure. In any app that uses the standard media-controls (iPod, Video, Spotify, YouTube) you will see a new symbol, a rectangle being penetrated from underneath by a triangle. Tap this and a menu pops up showing available devices,” Sorrel reports. “From this menu, you simply pick where you want to send the media currently playing on your iDevice and, after a couple seconds buffering the signal, it starts. Audio will play anywhere, and video and/or audio will play on the AppleTV.”

Sorrel reports, “AirPlay really is a big deal, and you should expect to see it built-in to more and more third-party speakers and components in the future. Not only does it give you an instant, multi-room audio setup without a computer, it also turns your iPhone into a pocket home-theater.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: The key to AirPlay is having at least one $99 Apple TV unit.

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