I felt compelled to write something about iPeng, because it has finally enabled me to reach the home audio happiness I've been seeking.
http://penguinlovesmusic.de/
One of the reasons I bought my iPhone was for iTunes Remote. I have a music server that's connected to two different rooms in my house. Prior to the iPhone, the server was running Firefly, and the clients were either a Roku Soundbridge or my PS3.
That was less than ideal, as I'd rather be able to sit on the couch and control the music directly, like a Sonos, but minus the cost.
iTunes Remote fit that bill very well.
Unfortunately the one problem I have with the setup is iTunes itself. I'll spare the political details, but in short:
- I wanted more file formats (WMA, native FLAC, etc)
- I want a single button to rescan my entire library, quickly.
- A plugin architecture would be nice.
- Not have to use iTunes. (ok, so a little political)
Now on the server-side, this is easily accomplished with SqueezeBoxServer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeezebox_Server
And use SqueezePlay (on the same machine) as a software renderer, meaning you don't need to own a hardware SqueezeBox unit to use the server software:
http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SqueezePlay
iPeng adds the remote control ability. It also give you quite a bit more. I can now play (and control) Pandora, and have it piped through my stereo. I also have a subscription to Napster online, so I can browse and stream anything and everything from the library.
To get the online services working, you need an account at mysqueezebox.com. And Pandora control only works for the paid version; but that's a Pandora restriction.
I'm running this on an old Athlon XP (running WinXP) system, so the requirements aren't that stringent. The audio is sent via a Xitel Pro HiFi. I don't think they make that anymore, but it's a USB device that will let you output to optical, coax, and RCA simultaneously.
I normally don't gush over a single app, but I'd urge anyone who is into home audio to give it a try.
http://penguinlovesmusic.de/
One of the reasons I bought my iPhone was for iTunes Remote. I have a music server that's connected to two different rooms in my house. Prior to the iPhone, the server was running Firefly, and the clients were either a Roku Soundbridge or my PS3.
That was less than ideal, as I'd rather be able to sit on the couch and control the music directly, like a Sonos, but minus the cost.
iTunes Remote fit that bill very well. Unfortunately the one problem I have with the setup is iTunes itself. I'll spare the political details, but in short:
- I wanted more file formats (WMA, native FLAC, etc)
- I want a single button to rescan my entire library, quickly.
- A plugin architecture would be nice.
- Not have to use iTunes. (ok, so a little political)
Now on the server-side, this is easily accomplished with SqueezeBoxServer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeezebox_Server
And use SqueezePlay (on the same machine) as a software renderer, meaning you don't need to own a hardware SqueezeBox unit to use the server software:
http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SqueezePlay
iPeng adds the remote control ability. It also give you quite a bit more. I can now play (and control) Pandora, and have it piped through my stereo. I also have a subscription to Napster online, so I can browse and stream anything and everything from the library.
To get the online services working, you need an account at mysqueezebox.com. And Pandora control only works for the paid version; but that's a Pandora restriction.
I'm running this on an old Athlon XP (running WinXP) system, so the requirements aren't that stringent. The audio is sent via a Xitel Pro HiFi. I don't think they make that anymore, but it's a USB device that will let you output to optical, coax, and RCA simultaneously.
I normally don't gush over a single app, but I'd urge anyone who is into home audio to give it a try.
