Can I wirelessly have audio from my laptop play on another computer?

July 14, 2008 1:59 PM

Can I wirelessly have audio from my laptop play on another computer?

I have an XP laptop and media center PC also with XP. They are both connected to the same local network and both have Bluetooth. Is there a reasonably simple way (without new hardware) to have the audio from my laptop play on the much nicer speakers of my media center without several dozen feet of cable?

<sub>Just to clarify: Not looking to share my audio library, I want to redirect the live audio out from my laptop.

Changing operating systems is not an option.</sub>

posted by Ookseer to computers & internet (12 comments total)

iTunes does this, you can share your iTunes library between different computers on a network (both running iTunes).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:13 PM on July 14, 2008

You can stream audio via Remote Desktop, though I think your laptop might have to be running XP Professional to have said functionality.

Admittedly, this sounds more kludgey to me than just using iTunes sharing, though.
posted by substars at 2:24 PM on July 14, 2008

I'm not sure if this will work with your hardware, but there are countless models of Bluetooth stereo transmitter/receiver units available. The transmitter plugs into the headphone jack on your computer (or anything else with a headphone jack) and it sends the signal to a receiver, which is usually plugged into a stereo. But if your media center computer has line-inputs, it might work. Do a search for Bluetooth stereo receiver, and see if anything looks like it will work.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 2:30 PM on July 14, 2008

Logmein Pro will play live audio from any linked computer.
posted by special-k at 3:04 PM on July 14, 2008

and, the two computers can by on different operating systems.
posted by special-k at 3:05 PM on July 14, 2008

Use VLC. Free, multi-platform.
posted by niles at 3:19 PM on July 14, 2008

You know what, that tutorial is for playing specific audio. If instead of opening files to play you choose your audio device from the DirectShow tab, it will stream whatever goes through your soundcard. You also probably won't need the web interface either. Feel free to MeMail me with any questions.
posted by niles at 3:21 PM on July 14, 2008

Seconding VLC.
posted by sunshinesky at 3:44 PM on July 14, 2008

I know about iTunes library sharing, etc, but it only seems to apply to music played through iTunes. Am I missing an iTunes setting somewhere that will let me stream output from any application, not just iTunes?
posted by Ookseer at 4:47 PM on July 14, 2008

Airfoil for $25.
posted by mahoganyslide at 8:13 PM on July 14, 2008

Slimserver will do this (and it will do it with or without the Squeezebox hardware it comes with).

It's free.
posted by notyou at 9:10 PM on July 14, 2008

No, iTunes won't mirror all your audio, it will only stream its own library across the net.

Be warned that any global, driver-level solution to this will almost certainly introduce a noticeable lag. It won't matter for listening to music but any video will be out of sync.
posted by chairface at 11:13 PM on July 14, 2008