Remote WIFI Speakers for W10

[fraso]

I've been helping my father with his music collection. His desktop computer runs W10 Home and he has iTunes for his iPhone 4. He would like to be able to listen to music in other parts of his house and outside. I know I can easily set him up with a Bluetooth speaker to play music from his phone but I would like to minimize my tech support.

I see that there is Chromecast Audio and thought he could play music from his desktop through his old RCA stereo console or another set of speakers. An alternative to Chromecast Audio is AudioCast.

Has anyone had any experience with WIFI casting to remote speakers from a W10 PC?

 

[FermeLaPorte]

You can always set up that by setting up a server.

 

[MoneyJohn]

Bluetooth won't work, In my experience, its iffy beyond 6ft of distance. I would not even bother outside. I have Chromecast audio as well but I am not impressed. My case may be unique as I live in an apartment complex and there are zillions of other networks. I have been unable to figure out the problem with chromecast audio issues.

Your best bet is to get something like SONOS or similar and have a small server (maybe using Raspberry Pi or similar). Set that server up on his phone. He can play his music through phone, stored on the server. If his music is available on subscription services then thats another option using SONOS.

Not the cheapest option but pls don't bother with bluetooth, esp if your father is not savvy with latest electronics.

 

[tmorris1]

Itunes will not work with ChromeCast Audio. Yamaha makes some nice MusicCast speakers, but they are expensive when not on sale. They are bluetooth, WIFI, and wired ethernet. They support Apple AirPlay which would be nice if he has music in iTunes. They also have DLNA, Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, XM, and a few others streaming services built in if you are interested.

 

[fraso]

My father is 80 and is still having trouble with the TV remote control. I have my own home network and I would rather not administer another one for my parents. Luckily, my father has no problems checking his email and playing music on his computer (through iTunes).

The AudioCast web site gives the impression that is straightforward to play music from a PC through iTunes but the reviews I've read about it suggest that the the process is sometimes wonky. Chromecast Audio seems to be more reliable but it works better with Android devices and I only found one app for it in the Windows Store (Delis Automatisering: Music Streamer for Chromecast Audio).

I contacted the W10 app developer and this was his response:
Originally Posted By: "Delis Automatisering"
You don't need a music player, the app takes care of that.

The app indexes all music files that are in the music library of your Windows 10 installation. All files found in the music library are listed below the search box.

If your files are not there then you have two options:

• Add the folder to the music library by right-clicking it in the Windows explorer and select 'add to library' - 'Music'.
• Or use the 'Add Music' button at the bottom of the app.

If the files are listed then you should select the Chromecast devices first, and then click a play button in the list to play a file or a folder. It works with iTunes too. The functionality is still basic.


It looks like I would need an app to run AudioCast but I couldn't find one on the iTunes or Windows Store. I contacted AudioCast but no-one has replied to me yet.

All I would want is for a device to play his entire music library on shuffle.

Originally Posted By: "MoneyJohn"
Bluetooth won't work, In my experience, its iffy beyond 6ft of distance. I would not even bother outside. I have Chromecast audio as well but I am not impressed. My case may be unique as I live in an apartment complex and there are zillions of other networks. I have been unable to figure out the problem with chromecast audio issues.

I was hoping that someone has already tried this and had good success.

 

[tmorris1]

Look at the Yamaha MusicCast Speakers. Models WX-010 and WX-030. They are ethernet, WIFI, and bluetooth capable. They support Apple Airplay or WIFI. If he is used to opening iTunes to play music on a PC, the Yamaha speaker will show up in the player and you select PC, Yamaha speaker, or both and the music will play.