If you are at home and using another app (e.g. It only uses the phone when you do something like change track, search for something, change volume etc. Spotify Connect is a remote control, so the mobile ‘controller’ does very little the speaker streams directly from the Cloud. This will intensively use the battery, and you will notice the battery die quickly. This means that the audio you hear is being transmitted from your phone or tablet.
Bluetooth and Airplay are streaming technologies. If you are at home or office and are a Spotify user (particularly from a mobile devices), you should use Spotify Connect. It will be the only way to get a simple, reliable and easy connection as WiFi will be unavailable or time consuming to set up. Whether you’ve got no access to broadband or are stuck without WiFi, your phone will be able to play music through a Bluetooth enabled speaker, as long as it’s within range (usually within 10 metres).Īre you travelling, visiting friends or outside perhaps? Think Bluetooth. As well as being supported by a broader range of gadgets, Bluetooth connects directly with the device you’re streaming through, rather than having to take a detour through your WiFi network.
This inevitably changed with the development of better Bluetooth and AptX, which is capable of streaming CD quality music from a wide array of modern smartphones and other remote devices.įrom Apple or Android phones, Bluetooth is the simple way to play anything from any app. Early versions of Bluetooth were designed for small files, which meant that streaming music resulted in a flatter sound due to the limitations of the transmission speed and capability. It was one of the earliest technologies for wirelessly transferring data and remains an incredibly popular option to this day.
Control of your Spotify account follows you.īluetooth is a direct device-to-device communication system that can be used for many things, including audio.īluetooth’s birth was long before that of Airplay or Spotify Connect. You won’t be able to start playback to a remote speaker in another place, and you won’t be able to play in more than once place at once without a family account, but it’s very neat. Open Spotify on your phone and you will be able to see what is playing and even control it. This means that if you pop out, or even leave completely, the speaker will keep playing music.ĭid I leave the iron on? If you head out to catch a bus, and had left the music on, no problem. Your phone will just be a remote control. The speaker will be streaming music directly from the Spotify library in the Cloud. If you are using a WiFi speaker at home with Spotify from your phone, and are playing from Spotify, then it will not be working the same as Airplay. This is because of Spotify Connect, a system that is exclusive to Spotify that works across all Spotify devices. If you haven’t tried it yet, do - it’s really cool, and useful. on your laptop and phone at the same time), then you will have noticed that you can control the playback of one from the other. If you’ve ever used your Spotify account on more than one device (e.g. It is mentioned as an alternative to Airplay because although it too will use your WiFi network, but, it works quite differently. Spotify Connect is the leading music streaming service. Televisions often support this type of playback.
This is the same kind of process and system as Airplay, and has all the same advantages and disadvantages. No Apple device? PC/Android users may see devices on their home WiFi labelled ‘DLNA’ speakers. It also means you cannot wander away from your WiFi area, and expect the music to keep playing. If you’ve got super speedy, ultra reliable home broadband then this shouldn’t matter however, it becomes a problem if your WiFi regularly suffers from slow speeds and connectivity problems.
This is fine if you’ve got an iPhone and don’t plan on switching to Android any time soon, but those with gadgets made by other manufacturers won’t be able to make the most of Apple’s exclusive streaming technology.Īnother limitation of Airplay is that, unlike Bluetooth, it relies on a WiFi connection. The downside is that, like most Apple technologies, Airplay only works with Apple products for playing music. No sound quality is lost in transit, so when you select a song in Apple Music or an app, and select an Airplay speaker, you’ll hear it with the same resolution as the source recording. This is the same WiFi that connects all your household gadgets, from Apple TVs to Airplay-enabled speaker systems. It works by sending wireless audio over your home WiFi network. Airplay is a wireless streaming system created and owned by Apple.