FAQ : AirPlay -
Use
Find answers to your questions on daily use and
functionality of your new AirPlay speaker, including integration
with your TV.
AirPlay in daily use - comments and
recommendations
How to AirPlay enable ALL your applications on a
Mac or PC with AirFoil
How to AirPlay from ALL your
applications on your iDevice
How to AirPlay to more than
one speaker from your iDevice
How to integrate AirPlay with your flatscreen
TV
If you're having problems and need help
Troubleshooting
1. AirPlay in daily use - comments
and recommendations
Using AirPlay you can stream your music from iTunes - both on
Mac and PC - or you can use your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.
This means that you have your entire music library in the palm of
your hand. And if you have more than one Libratone product, with
iTunes on a Mac or PC you can stream to them all simultaneously to
fill your entire home with sound. You choose which unit you wish to
activate and when.
When you have a version of iTunes that supports AirPlay and at
least one other compatible device, you'll see the AirPlay icon (a
rectangle with a triangle pushing into it from the bottom) appear
in the bottom right-hand corner of the iTunes window. This allows
you to select a device to stream audio or video to via AirPlay. As
long as your computer and the device you want to connect to are on
the same WiFi network, you'll see the names you've given the
devices in the menu that appears when you click the AirPlay icon.
Select the AirPlay device you want the music to play through in
this menu and begin playing music and you'll hear it playing
through the device you selected.
Sometimes AirPlay can lose the connection between
your speaker and your device. To fix this you normally only
need to either restart your iTunes/iPod player (close and restart
the player, do not just minimize it) OR select and de-select your
AirPlay speaker in the AirPlay menu on your device. In many aspects
the AirPlay technology is still in its infancy (especially on iOS) and thus these things do happen
once in a while, but are normally very easy to correct.
Please also note that WiFi connections
may suffer from minor audio dropouts from time to time due to other
devices in your home influencing your WiFi network
traffic.
2. How to AirPlay enable ALL
your applications on a Mac or PC with AirFoil
Apple's AirPlay is confined to the use of iTunes on a Mac and a
PC, ie. your other applications are not AirPlay enabled by default.
This means that audio applications, games and streaming
services such a Spotify, Pandora etc. will not be able to initiate
an AirPlay stream to your AirPlay speaker.
There is however a very elegant solution to this problem in the
form of AirFoil, a third-party software utility that enables ALL
your applications on your Mac and PC to stream AirPlay audio to
your Libratone AirPlay speaker. The company behind AirFoil
is Roque Amoeba, and their website with all the details is here. The cost of AirFoil is approx. 25 USD,
and you can buy it directly at Rogue Amoeba's website.
When watching movies on your computer you should use the Airfoil
Video Player (included in the license fee for AirFoil). This
ensures that local video and remote audio always stays in
sync. The player supports many video formats, including Flash and
Silverlight web video, as well as basic DVD playback.
3. How to AirPlay from ALL your
applications on your iDevice
Your iDevice is AirPlay enabled when you run iOS 4.2 or
later. This means that any application on your device can utilize
AirPlay streaming of audio to your Libratone speaker. If your
favorite application does not offer an AirPlay icon directly inside
the application, there's an easy way to select this through an iOS
shortcut:
- Make sure your AirPlay speaker is powered on, set up and
connected to your WiFi network.
- Tap the Home button on your iDevice twice to access the
taskbar on your device.
- Swipe right twice in the taskbar to reach the sound adjustment
window.
- Select the AirPlay icon now available in the taskbar.
- Select the AirPlay device you wish to AirPlay audio
to.
- Go to the application you use for audio streaming and start
playing.
- Enjoy :-)
Remember you need to run iOS 4.2 or later for AirPlay to be
enabled on your iDevice.
4. How to AirPlay to more than one
speaker from your iDevice
The Apple AirPlay protocol presently allows for the following
use of several speakers:
1. On an iDevice (iPad, iPhone and iPod
touch) you can stream to one speaker at a
time. This is an Apple limitation in the iOS
operating system running your iDevice, and thus applies
to any AirPlay device you connect to.
2. On a Mac or
a PC with iTunes you can stream music
to up to 6 speakers at a time.
A workaround is to connect several speakers to iTunes on
your computer over AirPlay (using the "Multiple Speakers"
feature), and use the free "Apple Remote" App for your iDevice
to control iTunes on your computer.
This way your computer controls the speakers and your
iDevice is your "controlling device" for your music streaming and
you
can have several speakers playing at the same time. This of course
requires you to have your computer turned on during playback, but
it's a handy workaround enabling multiple speakers
playing music under the control of your iDevice.
5. How to integrate AirPlay with
your flatscreen TV
Libratone AirPlay speakers are designed to take the puny
sound of your TV set and turn it grand. Connect your TV and a
Libratone speaker with an analog minijack cable or a
digital miniplug cable and bring new life to your TV experience. If
you have an Apple TV connected to your television set and
a Libratone speaker, you can AirPlay both video and
sound.
When using the analog minijack connection to your Libratone
speaker you normally control the volume on your speaker using your
TV's remote control, but you can also use the free Libratone App
available in Apple's App Store. When using the
digital miniplug connection to your Libratone speaker you need
to control volume using the Libratone App, as the majority of
modern flatscreen TV's don't offer volume control on their digital
output connections.
6. If you're having problems and
need help Troubleshooting
If you get stuck in the use of your Libratone Airplay
speaker our Trobleshooting section is the place to look
for help.
Please visit the Troubleshooting FAQ pages here.