advertisement


New iPad, Spotify and Sh!t

RickyC6

RickyC6

Infuriate the frog-men
I have a new iPad landing here in the next few weeks, and one thing I fancy getting to grips with is the Spotify app. But what I'm not clear on is how do I get it to fire to my main system without the need for a cable?

I currently use a SBT which is OK but the remote apps on iPhone for it are generally a bit crap and I really don't like the SBTs built in Spotify app as it seems incapable of working out which tracks are in my region and which are not. And it just looks a bit poor.

So I want an iPad sized Spotify controller sending music wirelessly to my hifi. What do I need?
 
I may be wrong but I don't think you can do that. AFAIK you can remote control the Spotify app running on the SBT, or you need another way to stream music from the iPad itself such as an Airport Express (not expensive though).

The part I still find annoying is that the iPad Spotify can not stream files saved on your local network like the PC version can. I really want that as I play both local files and web content.
 
Hi, yeah i get and sympathise with your last point. That is annoying. Might have to stick to SBT for ripped music.

Sorry, how will an Airport Express help exactly?
 
The iPad can stream wirelessly to the Airport Express as a default option in the OS. they call it Air Play. So you just select the Airport Express as the output on the iPad and it streams over wi-fi to the little box plugged in your hi-fi.

It doesn't make the SBT do anything, it is simply an alternative. http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/#airplay
 
Worth doing IME as the iPad Spotify app is excellent. I probably use Spotify on the iPad into AE/Dac more than any other source these days.

Failing that, Squeezepad for the iPad is a nice free SBT controller and it integrates control over Spotify.
 
I use squeezepad. I'll add that if you're in need of help the support I got from squeezepad was first rate. Very impressed with it indeed.
 
RickyC6 said:
So I want an iPad sized Spotify controller sending music wirelessly to my hifi. What do I need?
Click to expand...

  • iPad
  • Airport Express or AppleTV
  • [optional]DAC/Volume control
  • Powered Speakers
set the Spotify app to "Extreme" bitrate
skip everything else or sell it or give it away
bliss
 
Heh thanks Fox. I will still be keeping the vinyl, CDs and cassettes I'm afraid. But yeah think I will try both AE and Squeezepad options and see which I prefer.

Thanks
 
I only use Spotify to check out albums before I buy them, so probably only use it for a few minutes every few weeks/months, so I really can't justify the expense of a subscription. Is there a way of getting Spotify to my SBT and into my main system, without the subscription? I have iPad, iPod, Windows and Mac systems on my network.
Apologies to OP for thread hijack!
 
Tenson said:
The iPad can stream wirelessly to the Airport Express as a default option in the OS. they call it Air Play.
Click to expand...

Unless I am mistaken the app has to support AirPlay explicitly. It is obvious that Apple's in-built apps do so, and some third party ones as well, but the AirPlay icon is nowhere to be seen in the Spotify app's screen shots.



As an aside, and hardly related to this thread: I run a NAS with music collection and iPad for control. The living room has an AirPlay-compliant Marantz AV-receiver. Ideally I would like to use an app on the iPad to control the streaming of music from the DLNA server (NAS) to the Marantz, but this has a few nagging issues, such as loss of track numbering in some albums and entire loss of control when the iPad goes to sleep or even switches to another app.
No such issues with AirPlay, it works quite well, but the iPad can then only stream music files from itself to the Marantz, defeating the purpose of the NAS.
 
To enable Airplay in iOS/Spotify/Whatever, double click the home button, slide to the far left at the sound out, select Airplay Icon. Choose your Airplay device. #RTF(riendly)M

 
I had a 2 day free trial of Spotify premium, but didn't really find it that compelling a proposition - especially since I few things I looked for weren't available. I didn't have any major issue with the SBT interface, but maybe I didn't use it enough to find the problems...
 
As my only source, it took a bit of a perspective shift. Like going back to radio and before hifi, enjoying what there is, not needing to control the media or own the music and accepting if something is not there then there are at least a million other things also worth listening to. Every night I make it a point to pull something from the pfm Spotify playlist. Connect with what we are liking, hear something unusual and new. Exploration.

It's not for everyone, sure, but for me it sure makes life a lot less stick-in-the-mud, simpler too... and interesting!
 
Werner I was under the impression that the latest iOS supported AirPlay as a feature of the OS so it could stream any app sound. Can anyone confirm?

As Fox says it is certianly possible from Spotify.
 
The above method works for any app that plays audio through the iPad/iPhone be it Spotify, old Rdio app, Safari

Some apps have an Airplay button implemented in the app itself like Soundcloud (see pic), MOG, Rdio's new app, iPlayer and so on, if its not explicitly implemented then doing it the way I showed in Spotify will work for anything without an Airplay button. Safari too so dubious services like Grooveshark via Safari and so on all work just fine.



Airpay is fast becoming iOS's killer app, Android cannot quite find what it is looking for here, fling was a disaster and canned, DLNA too cumbersome except to nerds.
 
You can do it with five fingers on the screen and push up and then left swipe the task bar as before. Double clicking home is the old way to multitasking and many people still use it they haven't learned the gestures for grab/swipe and five finger swipe in switching apps. It's not obvious, but hardly arcane, the system sound feature has been in iOS since v1.

Gestures are fast making the home button irrelevant. I think it's days are numbered.

AirPlay terrific thing. Designed to sell apple stuff of course but with it, no need for specialist music playback devices, I just grab whatever is nearest and use it. Not exactly freedom, but liberating nonetheless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top