OSDev.org

Ok, I work in a bar once in a while a we have a little problem.

We need some sort of arrangment which enables us to connect a laptop to our hifi by a wireless connection. playing music on then laptop but streaming it over the hifi.

When it was first sujested to me I thought: "Hey, no problemo." but as things usually turns out it wasn't that easy after all.

The solution I first thought of was simply getting a radio transmitter and reciever of some sort, but well, I haven't been able to find anything usefull.

Second solution was connection the hifi to a stationary mediacenter of some sort and then simply creation a computer-to-computer connection, but this is not only more expensive, but also a great deal more complicated as I would need some sort of software to handle the transmision of the music. Hell I would probably need to write it my self, and that is more than i can handle right now. I hate network programming.

Anyway, ideas and suggestions are more than welcome

EDIT:
Ok, i was able to find something, but it's a tad too expensive i think:
http://www2.computeruniverse.net/products/e90200768.asp

I would just buy a crap computer, ethernet it up to the wireless router, and run amarok on it. Amarok and a load of other music players allow you to control them via http.

The problem is that it is something that anyone should be able to use, which basicly means that they open winamp, mediaplayer or whatever on their laptop and then they play their music. It's ment to be usen mainly at private partys.

Anyway, I've found that I get something which should work fine af around 45 euros, which isn't that bad. Still not quite as cheap as I would had hoped though.

I have a sys like this for playing podcast around my house, in my case it works like this, i have a old PC with DexOS including DexOS's server, also on this PC is a MP3 player that play any MP3 on a USB fob, but it is controlled by the com ports, than this is connected to a FM transmiter, that send it to a hifi (radio), i use a DS with a browser on it to control it, from anywhere in the house.

But the part you neesd is a simple FM transmiter
see here:
http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.ph ... t_mode=des

If it was going to be all UNIX-based, I would have suggested the JACK Audio Connection Kit (google it). I'm not sure if they have a working port for Windows yet.

have one instance of winamp use the shoutcast plugin to send music, and have the other connect to your laptop and play the stream onto the speakers.

The thing is that connection a pc to the hifi isn't really a possibility. First of all because I don't have an old (or new) computer at hand, but allso because space is limited and allthough it would be possible to fit one in, it would be an inconvinience.

why not just put the laptop with the tunes on it near a mixer or whatever is controlling the sound system and plug in?

That is what we normally do, but the hifi, mixer, whatever, is behind the bardisk, and often we have a DJ (or private partys where people wanna run the music them selves) who needs access to it, but we can't have him being in the way all the time.

So why not just move the equipment? Well, it is expensive and we can't have it broken by some drunk spillin' beer all over it.

Anyway, I may have found a solution at a reasonable price, still way more than expected though.