I’m a home automation geek. I have a network of X10 devices throughout my house that are used to control lights, outlets, and security cameras. There’s one thing missing: multi-room audio distribution. That’s no easy task if your working with an existing home with the walls already in place or an apartment that frowns on extreme makovers. I’m guessing that covers most of us. Running audio wiring throughout your house and installing expensive audio distribution hardware is out of reach for most folks out there. It’s messy, complicated, and costly. What’s a geek to do?

Try this: iPhone (or iPod Touch) + Aiport Express = Wireless, high-quality audio distribution and remote control. By adding an airport express to my existing wireless network (which, admitedly, includes an Airport Extreme base station) I’ve added the ability to stream my iTunes library to a selected room in my home. Throw in the free “Remote” app from Apple and you have complete control over your media from anywhere within wireless range. If that sounds good, consider this: you can do this for up to 5 wireless extenders.

Perhaps this sounds costly: Airport Express = $99, iPhone/iPod Touch = $199-$299. 5 rooms would run almost $700. However, “inexpensive” 4-zone audio distribution controllers start at around $1000! Neither of these include speakers or wiring, but you can use a decent computer speaker system in most rooms or plug into an existing receiver/audio system (as I have).

The system works great: audio is clear and easy to control, plus you get the added benefit of better wireless coverage throughout your home. Setup through the Airport Admin application is incredibly simple and quick (compared to some of the archaic web interfaces out there). The only downside that I could identify is the relatively obvious white box hanging off of my electrical outlet. Most of the time this is hidden behind furniture, but this is still a small concern for most.

For more details, here is an article that covers the wireless distribution system (WDS) used by Airport.

Tags: audio, home automation, iphone

Fans of the Slingbox will really dig this.  Simplify media allows you to stream media from your Mac to your iPhone over the Internet, regardless of how your iPhone is connecting to the Net– that is, WiFi, EDGE, and 3G connectivity are all supported. Load it up and your media appears on the iPhone to browse and stream.  The first 100,000 downloaders of the iPhone application may do so at no cost, but when this puppy hits 100k on the appstore, the authors have promised to raise the price to $3.99.  Not a bad price–and much cheaper than a Slingbox.  Check out the video at TUAW.

Tags: 3g, appstore, audio, iphone, media, software, video