This Week's Sponsor:

Kolide

Ensure that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta.


Here Come The AirPlay Systems: Phillips, Pioneer, and JBL Announce New Products

2011 won’t be a year just about the iPad. Apple’s AirPlay will be saturating the market this summer with dozens of speakers, docks, and receivers designed to wirelessly stream your tunes in lossless glory. Today, Philips, Pioneer, and JBL have all announced speakers and receivers that all support Apple’s wireless sharing capabilities, and we’ve got press releases, prices, and more after the break.

Pioneer’s VSX-1021

First up, Pioneer’s VSX-1021 is a 7-channel home theater receiver has been announced for $549. I’m not terribly impressed that you’ll need a separate LAN adapter if you want to truly go wireless, but a simple ethernet cable on your LAN network could suffice if your Time Capsule or Airport Extreme is nearby. Specifically designed for the iPad, Pioneer offers specific apps such as iControlAV2 and Air Jam that act as remote controls for managing the VSX-1021 and your content. The receiver sports five HDMI adapters to hook into each of your five 50-inch TVs in your living room, and supports DLNA 1.5 for streaming FLAC, WAV, and your casual MP3 files to the receiver from a PC (and presumably DLNA certified Android smartphones). [via BusinessWire]

LONG BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., today introduced a new high performance audio video receiver that includes Apple’s AirPlay® for wireless music streaming. With AirPlay, Pioneer’s VSX-1021 7.1-channel home theater receiver becomes the hub for social entertainment, giving music lovers complete access, control, and playback of their entire iTunes music library with incredible sound quality. Once the VSX-1021 is connected to a home network through Ethernet or Wi-Fi using Pioneer’s optional AS-WL300 wireless LAN adapter (sold separately), AirPlay lets consumers stream their favorite songs to the receiver from iTunes on Mac and PC, or their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. AirPlay requires iTunes 10.1 or later and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.21.

To use Airplay, users can simply choose a song or playlist on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and then tap the AirPlay icon. The VSX-1021 will appear as an available device, and once selected, the receiver automatically turns on or switches to the Airplay source to start music playback. Using Apple’s Remote app on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch also enables consumers to browse and access their iTunes music library on Mac or PC. Apple’s Remote App is available for free from the App Store at www.iTunes.com/appstore/.

The Pioneer VSX-1021, the first of eight AirPlay devices planned for 2011, is available for a suggested retail price of $549.

It all began with a passion for music that Pioneer founder Nozomu Matsumoto hoped to share with the world. He started Pioneer in 1938 as a specialty speaker company, building products out of his garage. Today, Pioneer’s Home Entertainment and Business Solutions Group continues Matsumoto’s enthusiasm, developing award-winning audio and video home theater products including A/V receivers, Blu-ray Disc® and DVD players, and speakers. Long-standing partnerships and collaborations with the creative community have provided Pioneer unique insight in its quest to capture the purity of a movie or musical artist’s original vision into its broad range of home entertainment products. The company’s brands include Pioneer® and Elite®. More details can be found at www.pioneerelectronics.com.

PIONEER, the PIONEER logo and the ELITE logo are registered trademarks of Pioneer Corporation.
Apple, iPhone, iPad and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

1Compatible with iOS 4.2. May not be compatible with future iOS versions.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6636344〈=en

Philips Fidelio SoundSphere

For 799 euros, you could have the latest crazy speaker design from Philips, who plan to take on the luxury speaker space with their Fidelio SoundSphere. Assumably these speakers support AirPlay right out of the box without a need for a LAN adapter, and we don’t know whether those egg shaped tweeters will be corded to the base station or not. Expect both docking & AirPlay capabilities from Philips with more information in the near future. [via Pocket-Lint]

New Philips Fidelio SoundSphere uses Wi-Fi and supports Apple’s AirPlay®

Barcelona, Spain – Philips today unveils the merging of two of its most successful product lines, SoundSphere and Fidelio, in order to bring music lovers the ultimate, full-fidelity listening experience. Combining the impressive functionality of its docking speaker range Fidelio, the superior sound quality of the Philips SoundSphere technology and Apple’s AirPlay®, the Philips Fidelio SoundSphere docking speakers delivers authentic sound – while your device simply stays in your hand.

With Airplay, the Philips Fidelio SoundSphere docking speakers give you both an amazing sound and hassle-free access to all your music from iTunes.

The Sound is in the Design
The amazing sound quality of the Philips Fidelio SoundSphere docking speaker lies in its design. The curved design of the separate speakers with their unique free-floating tweeters on top of both speakers mean Philips Fidelio SoundSphere delivers sound in all directions for a deeper and wider audio impression with minimized interferences.

The Sound is in the Air
The Philips Fidelio Soundsphere docking speaker utilizes Airplay1 to seamlessly play music over a home Wi-Fi network from iTunes on Mac and PC, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. With AirPlay, you enjoy all your music via the brilliant speakers of the Philips Fidelio SoundSphere without plugging in cables or even docking your device.

The Philips Fidelio SoundSphere docking speaker integrates perfectly with your iTunes, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and gives you an authentic sound experience everywhere in your home through a unique combination of technology, design and functionality. Philips Fidelio SoundSphere will be available from May 2011 with a recommended retail price of 799 EUR.

JBL On Air Wireless AirPlay Speaker Dock

If this thing had a longer name, it might not be able to sell with all of those syllables. JBL’s AirPlay dock will be available later this Spring, featuring a built in LCD display, a clock with dual alarms, FM radio, and Halo acoustics the Master Chief could be proud of. The LCD will supposedly display artist, album, and song information even when a device isn’t connected thanks to AirPlay, but we’ll have to see how well it actually works once everyone gets hands-on. [via ZDNet]

For more information and to sign up for product updates, see JBL’s On Air Wireless product page.

Unlock More with Club MacStories

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for over six years.

In that time, members have enjoyed nearly 400 weekly and monthly newsletters packed with more of your favorite MacStories writing as well as Club-only podcasts, eBooks, discounts on apps, icons, and services. Join today, and you’ll get everything new that we publish every week, plus access to our entire archive of back issues and downloadable perks.

The Club expanded in 2021 with Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Club MacStories+ members enjoy even more exclusive stories, a vibrant Discord community, a rotating roster of app discounts, and more. And, with Club Premier, you get everything we offer at every Club level plus an extended, ad-free version of our podcast AppStories that is delivered early each week in high-bitrate audio.

Choose the Club plan that’s right for you:

  • Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with app collections, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, a Club-only podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
  • Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus exclusive content like Federico’s Automation Academy and John’s Macintosh Desktop Experience, a powerful web app for searching and exploring over 6 years of content and creating custom RSS feeds of Club content, an active Discord community, and a rotating collection of discounts, and more;
  • Club Premier: Everything in from our other plans and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.