Internet Radio, play on demand services and MP3 files - steaming to hi-fi

hawardn:

Why is there apparently such a lack of options to stream whatever I can get on the computer (internet radio, personal MP3s and Spotify / LastFM on-demand services) to my hi-fi ? Seems to me that there's only the £600 Sonos or the £200 Squeezebox neither of which  support all my needs and so don't offer the right value for money......and neither look like a 'traditional' radio tuner which is, in essence, all they are.

No they aren't. 

hawardn:

neither of which  support all my needs .

What are you trying to achieve?

Airport Express + Airfoil...

I'm trying to be able to hear anything I can hear on my computer through my hi-fi  ... so I have internet radio, on-demand services and MPs3 files on my computer but no one solution that allows me to play these through the hi-fi.

well as some of the applications you mention need downloaded software to be installed on your PC you are a bit stuck.

 

some will do most of what you ask though. (Spotify will be your biggest problem).

JohnDuncan:

Airport Express + Airfoil...

. thanks, but this seems to only solve the Itunes part - does it also support  internet radio / on-demand services ?

hawardn:

I'm trying to be able to hear anything I can hear on my computer through my hi-fi  ... so I have internet radio, on-demand services and MPs3 files on my computer but no one solution that allows me to play these through the hi-fi.

Sonos and Squeezebox both provide internet radio and allow you to access your stored music on your PC. You can also access millions of tracks for £5 per month with Napster.

I went to the trouble of ripping 100s of CDs onto my PC but since subscribing to Napster its much easier to access the music directly from Napster. You dont even have to switch your PC on to do it. So my stored music and CD player are almost redundant - I was buying severals CDs a month but now I just use Napster.

An Airport Express allows you to stream iTunes but, if you download Airfoil, you can stream anything else - including iPlayer and Spotify.

Airport Express plus Airfoil and you can stream anything running on your PC it's what I do to stream Napster, Spotify Itunes (for my ripped CD content), or you can choose another media player, Real Media (mostly BBC Radio 4)  Winamp you name it.  Airfoil just "hijacks" the audio stream and routes it to your Airport Express(es) job done.  Very easy very simple, very cheap and into one of the optical inputs of my Onkyo AVR sounds pretty decent to me.

Apart from spotify the squeezebox can do all of those things.  I believe they are working on adding proper spotify support. (there is a workaround that lets you use spotify with a squeezebox at the moment, but its not straighforward)

You could take a look at this :

http://www.3wisemonkeys.co.uk/proddet-withship.jsp?id=1759&cat=36

2oldnslow:

...or you can choose another media player, Real Media (mostly BBC Radio 4)...

BBC Radio 4 (along with all BBC radio including our local station) is available on iPlayer without ever having to go anywhere near Real Player any more. (Thank goodness.) 

BBC iPlayer now uses AAC and sounds way better than in the bad old days of Real Player.

I suggest you rid your computer of all Real Player software as soon as you can. It is hateful stuff. There is plenty of advice on the internet if you get bits left behind after removal. Real traditionally make it quite difficult to remove everything in one go and (depending on version) loads down a whole raft of additional software/adware/nuisanceware without you necessarily being aware of it.

 

i was looking at the same issue

The Teac T-H380DNT DAB/AM/FM Internet Radio Tuner looks like a hifi tuner and would appear to do the job, offering both wireless and LAN connectivity as well as a being a proper DAB/FM/AM tuner, http://www.teac.co.uk/products/reference-T-H380DNT.php has anybody got any experience of it? available from Superfi for £239

 other solutions are the Philips NP1100/05 Network Music Player from as little as £58 on amazon

does anybody have experience/views of these products?

(i expect there are other approaches such as access all that you get on your pc instead via an iphone or another smart internet connected phone and connecting that up to your hifi via usb port or dedicated iphone docking connections.or via bluetooth-avoiding the PC entirely)

 

ps as you dont specify that you want to stream wirelessly, why not just use..a cable from one of the output ports of your pc eg if you have an HDMI output or simply a 3.5mm headphone line out? or is that too obvious?

I feel this thread needs to be answered more, and maybe even answered by What HiFI professionals in the magzines next issue. There is so much loose data flying around.

 

Can it really be that expenseive to stream audio from a pc to my Hi Fi, without directly plugging it in?

 

To me sonas seems top end, squeeze box mid end.

 

where is the budget option?  I feel that this is the future, napster/spotify. There will soon be a service and product to make everything easier. But im like the OP here there are surprisingly hardly any options.

 

Im currently looking into Napster. it seems a incredible service , £5 = 5 songs and umlimited supply of music...by by cd collection by by CD player...but. What is the quality of these tracks like?