Apple Releases Wireless Sound Streaming to Speakers - Apple AirPlay wireless media streaming remote

With Apple's release of iOS 4.2, not only does it bring multitasking to the iPad, but it brings Airplay and AirPrint into your lifestyle.

"AirPlay lets you stream digital media wirelessly from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to your Apple TV and AirPlay-enabled speakers. So you can watch movies and photos on your widescreen TV and play music through the best speakers in the house."

Apple released the "remote" app, which allowed you to control your iPods and iPads music directly from iTunes, but it required your Mac to be turned on. With Airplay, a hub continuously streams media from iTunes. Airplay can detect your mobile device as you walk into a certain room. This means you could be listening to your iPod as you walk into your room, and Airplay will detect it and begin streaming it to your speakers. If you still want your Mac in control, iTunes will let you select what music to play throughout certain speakers in your house. You can even set Airplay to play through every speaker in your house, at the same time! When you're listening to music, watching videos, or even taking a glimpse at those old pictures, you can choose to display them on the bigscreen.

The only catch with AirPlay is the hub. The hub is based in the new AppleTV 2.0 and the AirPort express. These devices run around $100.00 in stores, but

refurbished or discounted hubs can be found online for a fraction of that price. Stores will soon be filled with AirPlay compatible speakers, which could also become the hub to your entertainment. AppleTV lets you rent movies and TV shows straight from the internet. Now with AirPlay, you can watch, view, or listen to anything on your mobile devices or Mac.

With the newly added addition of multitasking, now you can stream media to a TV or speakers, but still surf the web or use an application while your media is being enjoyed. Apple has signed a contract with electronic manufactures to begin developing AirPlay compatible speakers. Apple has also agreed to allow some third-party applications to use the AirPlay feature. This includes youtube, pandora, and other popular media sharing paradises.

Still not convinced? AirPlay also allows you to disable vital features, such as audio or visual display. This means that you can be laying in bed watching a movie on your iPad, but have the audio booming through surround sound speakers. Apple is just making another step at improving the way you share your media. Speculations are still floating around for a complete controlling of your iTunes wirelessly by using Cloud computing, and is predicted to be released in the near future.