Probably I was bored one day browsing E-bay stumbling on a few 2nd hand audio devices from my favourite brand being up for grabs for next to nothing. I thought it was a great challenge to see, if software could give them a well deserved revival?
This article discuss how you can use:
→ Software
→ Old ipads
→ Old Ipad docks
→ PC for hosting
…and obtain 2024 style Airplay!
I fell for Bang and Olufsen due to my Nordic roots and due to the brand’s cool design and good sound capabilites. Via its now discontinued subbrand BeoPlay, B&O was partnering with Apple making devices to be used in conjunction with Ipads, and I thought that was a good starting point to explore software options to bring them back to life, so I bought one of each of those:
Those devices are both from the time, when where was no Airplay and not even streaming services around, so I needed some software that could enable Airplay on an old Ipad1. Many years ago I used to use the now opensourced SqueeceBox ecosystem, and I recalled there was a few options of software players available turning an Ipad into a squeezebox, even it wasn’t really the squeezebox experience I was after, but rather an Airplay capability. After reading up on it searching around a bit, it seemed that the plugin Shairtunes would do the magic jointly with the Squeezebox (LMS) software.
Step 1 buy and install Squeezepad on an Ipad
SqueezePad on the App Store (apple.com) it isn’t maintained anymore but is very stable and cheap and can be used on several Ipads using the same one license.
Step 2: download and install LMS
Get it here: Getting Started with LMS — LMS-Community
Once installed and started, also start the Squeezepad on the Ipad — you should see the player presenting itself as a Squeezebox under players (top right drop down).
Step 3: Settings & plugin in LMS
go to settings. You’re not interested in the “core LMS” features to the left.
Navigate to Plugins and locate the plug in ShairTunes2 and tick the box to activate, and the LMS will normally restart.
Sometimes I’ve experienced the plugin’s helper needs to be allowed through the windows firewall to let the sound through
Step 4: Roon coexistence?
Pushing it even further trying using it from my already up and running Roon setup. Presto! This works out of the box, and I can activate my players in Roon and control them there. However, when trying to consolidate LMS onto the same PC as Roon, it doesn’t work, so it requires two separate PCs.
Famous last words:
It is cool to introduce new functions on old devices and as such upscale them. Players like these are easy to get hold of and are still good players while the Ipad only needs to serve the music, and even the original Ipad1(!) does that well in this setup. …With some twists:
You need to run some computer hardware 24/7
The software introduces some lagging in responses, for change of song/channel compared with native Airplay, but volume up/down works fast.
I’ve managed to run the players for weeks with out hick ups, but it is obviously, all these different apps are more exposed to instability than an embedded hardware Airplay device alone.