Home audio & video forum: Want to play music files from computer on home stereo.

I use iTunes and I have it connected to my receiver with an Airport Express. It works brilliantly. I also have an iPod Touch with the free app you speak of (I think it's just called Remote or iTunes Remote), and that also works brilliantly. I have a 2 zone Yamaha receiver in the TV room that receives iTunes wirelessly, then I have wires that go from the Yamaha to the backyard where I have a second small receiver and it can receive iTunes too. With the iPod Touch, I use the app to control iTunes and it allows me to see the entire music library and all of the playlists. The only issue I have is with the Airport Express. I use an AT&T 2Wire wireless modem so I can use my iPod, but I can't get the Airport Express to join the 2Wire modem. The workaround is that on the Mac, I can choose "Location", and that allows me to either use the 2Wire or the Airport Express, but I can't use both simultaneously. No big thing. It just means that if I am using iTunes wirelessly on my Mac, I can't use the Internet on my iMac, which uses the hard-wired 2Wire modem. But, the iPod Touch can still access the Internet wirelessly, which is a good substitute.

Airport Express seems like a perfect solution. How does Airport Express connect to your receiver? What type of input is needed on the back of the receiver? Would it work on an older receiver?

you can even copy and paste the stream URL if its not already listed.

and has a variable line out audio jack (3.5mm stereo headphone). All you need is a 10 dollar mini headphone to RCA cable converter to plug it into the red and white RCA style audio inputs of any audio receiver made in the last 35 years.

If you want the airport express to extend your network (for two way traffic in stead of just one way audio streams) it really does work best in conjunction with another airport express (or airport extreme) acting as the router. But I'd just buy one for the time being and see how you like it.

The free Remote app for the iPhone/iPod Touch really makes it all come together though. It gives you control over all the airport express zones you have set up (you can have up to 10 I believe) as well as album art, song scrubbing, volume, star ratings etc. It like a poor man's Sonos.

Just dig around on the web a bit and stay with a reputable lower end brand (Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, Sony, etc) and you should be fine. Occasionally you might find a deal even on a 5.1 receiver (which can be used in 2 channel stereo mode as well) like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V363BL-5-1-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B0013ZGOYM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260051100&sr=8-2