AirPlay: A Superior WiFi Streaming Protocol

For the life of me I can't understand why Apple spends so little effort promoting AirPlay and Home Sharing. The latter is the software baked into iTunes and every iOS device that allows you to share all the media you own across all your devices via WiFi (or wired Ethernet). AirPlay is the hardware/firmware/software network infrastructure that makes it all happen. Put them together and sharing any media between any AirPlay-equipped device(s) is easy, seamless and reliable.
AirPlay is a proprietary Apple product originally introduced as AirTunes in 2004 as an audio-only standard. It took on its current moniker in 2010 after Apple added video support to the standard. Apple does license the protocol to third-party hardware manufacturers for them to use in their products in order to be compatible with Apple's iDevices. Most major manufacturers of home entertainment systems now offer AirPlay in at least some of their systems. It has become a widely-used protocol for sharing media across home networks thanks in no small part to Apple’s huge iOS sales.
The other major sharing protocol is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance), used by virtually everyone except Apple. The DLNA is an organization started by Sony in 2003 and DLNA certified hardware and software is by far the most prolific. So, why is AirPlay better?
Because it just works.
Like everything Apple makes, AirPlay is easy, automatic and reliable. With no configuration on my part, my iPhone and iPad see every AirPlay-enabled device on my home network. Streaming music or video to any of them is as simple as selecting one (or more) from a list. Easy.
My experience with DLNA has been the exact opposite. When trying to get my Playstation 3 to stream media from my PC, I continually encountered “communication errors” and a host of authentication issues. Sometimes, the server wouldn’t even show up on my network. This caused me to manually re-scan the network or reboot the Windows Media Player computer. I had a similar experience when I tried to stream from my “DLNA Certified” Seagate NAS to my new “DLNA Certified” Yamaha A/V receiver. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. This isn’t an isolated incident either. I’ve been trying to get DLNA to work reliably across my network for years now using a host of different “Certified” devices. I’ve also helped friends and neighbors with their systems with the same spotty results. I’ve all but given it up. I will say DLNA has gotten much better as the standard matures, but it is still considered a “tinkerer’s streamer” by most and you’d be hard-pressed to find a professional A/V installer who recommends it.
Sonos is another proprietary streaming architecture using what the Sonos company calls “SonosNet” in conjunction with your existing WiFi. Like AirPlay, it is very simple to setup and use and though I have no personal experience with it, all accounts say its audio quality is very good and very reliable. Here’s the rub: The only way to use Sonos is to buy expensive Sonos gear. That’s why I have no experience with it. The least expensive Sonos speaker is $199. More typical Sonos systems are in the $300 - $500 range, so cost can add up quickly, depending on how many zones you want. And Sonos is audio only.
Thank God I’m an Apple user. Aside from my Macs and iOS devices, I have six AirPlay receivers in my home: three AirPort Expresses connected to three different sound systems, a Yamaha A/V receiver and two AppleTVs. When I want to share something from my iPhone or iPad, I simply tap the AirPlay icon and select where I want the music (or video or photo) to play and guess what? It plays. It always plays. I can’t think of a single instance when something didn’t play.
The latest AirPlay update made it possible to stream to multiple AirPlay devices simultaneously. Now if I throw a party and want to stream a playlist from iTunes on my Mac to all the sound systems throughout my home I simply select them all and click "Play". The music plays everywhere in perfect sync. What makes this even cooler is the fact that I don't have to go anywhere near my Mac to do this. I use Apple's free "Remote" app on my iPhone to control iTunes on my Mac (including selecting all the AirPlay devices). Now I can sit by the pool and select music, adjust the volume, skip tracks and virtually anything else I could do when sitting in front of my Mac. If you're looking to impress party guests, this is a sure-fire way to do it. Just wait till a song starts playing and someone says, "Turn it up!" Whip out your iPhone and do just that. You'll be inundated with ooohs and aaaahs and questions like, "How'd you do that?"
Another really nice feature of AirPlay is the ability to adjust the volume of each destination system individually. Now, of course you can't control the remote receiver's volume knob, but you can control the level AirPlay sends to it. This comes in really handy when my drunken friends and I want to crank it up in the man cave without bothering our wives in the living room.
One of AirPlay’s features I find myself using the most is sharing media from my iPhone. How many times have you had several people crowded around you trying to see a photo or video you took or found on YouTube? Well, with AirPlay it just takes a couple of taps to send that content to your AppleTV. No more people breathing in your ear or otherwise invading your space while trying to catch a peek at what you're sharing.
It goes without saying, I’m one of AirPlay’s biggest fans. Some would say I just “drank the Cupertino KoolAid” and maybe there’s some truth in that, but I have given DLNA its day in court and it lost. I think much of this standards debate boils down to philosophy about “open” vs. “closed” systems. Much like Android, DLNA's greatest strength, its open architecture and resulting ubiquity is also its greatest weakness. Trying to be all things to all devices has resulted in fragmentation, complexity and inconsistency. AirPlay, conversely, is completely controlled by Apple and there's no one better at delivering seamless hardware/software integration. They've demonstrated their ability to deliver a superior user experience time and time again. AirPlay is no exception.