Apple Releases iOS 11.4 with Messages in iCloud and AirPlay 2

Re:Apple Releases iOS 11.4 with Messages in iCloud and AirPl... by narrowtux on Tuesday May 29, 2018 @01:55PM (#17181457)

That's possible because your computer sends airplay streams to all airport expresses at the same time.

However, you can't really do that with a phone, since it eats battery and needs a stable wifi connection.

AirPlay 2 solves that by allowing the phone to buffer minutes of audio to one speaker, which then distributes that buffer to the rest of the speakers.

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Re:Apple Releases iOS 11.4 with Messages in iCloud and AirPl... by dbbk on Tuesday May 29, 2018 @05:00PM (#17182877)

And the other protocols, like Spotify Connect, Chromecast etc, just send the URL of the stream and make the speakers themselves handle it. It's such a better approach that I'm baffled AirPlay 2 still has not adopted it.

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Re:Apple Releases iOS 11.4 with Messages in iCloud and AirPl... by asadlionpk on Tuesday May 29, 2018 @07:44PM (#17183717)

Doesn't that mean speakers open a separate request, consuming double the bandwidth.

I just remember that chromecast's protocol was actually unusable on a slower connection.

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Re:Apple Releases iOS 11.4 with Messages in iCloud and AirPl... by millstone on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @12:00AM (#17184952)

How does this work if the stream isn't a URL? I often use AirPlay with files on my password-protected SMB share.

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Re:Apple Releases iOS 11.4 with Messages in iCloud and AirPl... by dbbk on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @06:31AM (#17186517)

It could fallback to the current behaviour just fine.

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Re:Apple Releases iOS 11.4 with Messages in iCloud and AirPl... by tinus_hn on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @07:30AM (#17186798)

Of course AirPlay and AirPlay 2 support this, if the application sending audio supports it.

The problem is synchronizing the streams, not the bandwidth used by an MP3.

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