It was almost a footnote. AirPlay, the audio streaming protocol once known AirTunes, got only one minute of keynote time last week. But it surely might become as the backbone of Apple’s assault on the lounge.

What Does AirPlay Do?

At its most basic, AirPlay streams music from one Apple device to another. Extending the potential for its predecessor AirTunes, AirPlay can even stream video, photos, and metadata.

In short, connect your iPhone on your Apple TV and you may watch movies from your iPhone to your television. Connect your iPad on your stereo and play Pandora in your nice speakers. Load photos from your iPod Touch to an AirPlay-compatible digital photo frame.

While the sorts of media you could shoot around will definitely be constricted by Apple’s closed ecosystem, the number of devices which will be ready to speak AirPlay’s language are roughly limitless-provided approved manufacturers pay a license fee to Apple.

How Does AirPlay Work?

There’s an extended history of Apple music sharing, starting with the device discovery service we referred to now as Bonjour almost ten years ago. Bonjour lets compatible devices on an identical network say hello. ” I’m here,” says each computer,” And here’s what I will share with you.”

Bonjour is the explanation you will see all those other laptops once you’re sharing a coffee shop’s Wi-Fi network or other students using a dorm’s Ethernet network. Frequently, Mac OS X users use Bonjour to share files or iTunes libraries-or more accurately, they use Bonjour to let other computers know what protocols to take advantage of to share things, resembling the Digital Audio Access Protocol used by iTunes to share its music library with computers and audio streamers.

AirTunes sends an encrypted stream of packets that sync up every couple of seconds , in addition as some basic controls-play, pause, skip a track, the like. Although there aren’t actually any AirPlay devices out yet, it’s pretty reasonable to presume that they use a similar (or relatively) protocol. Except now AirPlay may send video, photos, and related metadata like titles, artist info, and playcounts between any AirPlay-compatible device.

Apple has partnered with a firm called BridgeCo to present the hardware that other electronics companies can use to integrate with AirPlay. Previously, the sole AirTunes hardware was Apple’s own AirPort Express Wi-Fi base station (and other Macs). One nice perk with partnering with BridgeCo: Their streaming system-basically some chips and a software platform wedded to Wi-Fi-also supports other standards like UPnP

When Steve Jobs demoed AirPlay at the tail end of the brand new Apple TV presentation, he moved a movie, Pixar’s Up, from an iPad’s screen to a television with an attached Apple TV. The iPad itself displayed a television icon inside the Video app rather than the video, while onscreen controls still functioned.

While we will’t know exactly how AirPlay video will work until we actually have devices in hand that support it-and the iOS 4.2 update that’s coming in November-it sounds as if that it’s actually streaming the content from the iPad to the AppleTV, not passing on a token to the Apple TV, authorizing it stream directly from Apple’s servers. Perhaps it does try this-or will in a future update-but the upshot is similar for now: You are able to ” beam” content from any support iOS device to any AirPlay device, but you won’t have the capacity to use your iOS device for other media playback. (Hopefully other functions like web browsing and apps will work while the content streams within the background.)

Why AirPlay Isn’t As Closed As It might Seem

Andrew Orlowski is anxious that AirPlay is solely another Apple try to sell a closed version of something that was previously open. That’s Apple’s iOS (and before that, iPod) business model.

But the adaptation this time is BridgeCo, the company with which Apple developed AirPlay. They’ve been around for years developing a streaming media solution that’s already being used by hardware manufacturers.

BridgeCo CEO Gene Sheridan told me this morning that the company really only makes one product, the ” Jukeblox Platform .” JukeBlox isn’t this type of thing you’re going to work out on a product bullet list or in a sticker on the side of a box at Best Buy. What you’ll find on those bullet lists are the things that JukeBlox enables: media streaming capabilities in quite a few formats, including UPnP, DNLA, and Windows 7 streaming.

That implies that all AirPlay-enabled hardware also supports the industry’s previously preferred streaming formats. So whenever you’re this sort of individual that wouldn’t use an Apple product in the event that your life relied on it, it’s possible that more AirPlay products will mean more options on your preferred media streaming platform.

Even better, at the very least one manufacturer has already announced a firmware update to be able to add AirPlay support to a product already on the shelves. It’s hard to grasp if a firm is selling a product already using BridgeCo’s hardware (and thus ready to be upgraded by software to AirPlay), but hopefully those who are will release new firmware in preference to leaving older customer behind.

Tantalizingly, this also signifies that within the current implementation of JukeBlow, software updates are relatively trivial. Which means that it could be possible for Apple to extend the capabilities of AirPlay-screen sharing, as an instance-without fracturing the support among older devices.

The wild card, as usual, is Apple’s willingness to play nice with non-Apple standards. Since Apple has to approve the licensing for every AirPlay certified device-identical to the lucrative ” Made for iPod” scheme of years past-they are able to, in theory, require manufacturers to disable any streaming protocol except AirPlay.

I think Apple might refrain for two reasons: Third-party manufacturers still ought to sell their hardware-the more capability a device has, the easier-so I expect there may well be some keep at bay if Apple becomes too covetous; Device-to-device streaming isn’t exactly a daily occurrence for most consumers. Apple, with millions of iOS devices already in hands of consumers, may not deserve to disrupt other streaming standards if AirPlay becomes the dominant format quickly. History implies a stronger than average chance.

Still, will probably be hard to fight Apple if they turn the screws. As BridgeCo’s Gene Sheridan said to me, ” To simply participate inside the Apple ecosystem is a large opportunity by itself.” There are companies available in the market making millions just by selling Apple accessories. Being first within the AirPlay market-docks for content-could be worth billions.

What a Future With AirPlay Looks Like

Did you know iTunes 10 enables you to plug any iPod or iPhone into anyone’s computer and play music right off the device? (It used to aim to sync with iTunes, causing much consternation.)

That’s no accident. Taken together with the parts of AirPlay already shown, it’s becoming clear that Apple is becoming less eager about treating the media on its devices as something they need to carefully guard. Granted, they wish you to buy or rent that media from them. (That’s one of my biggest questions on AirPlay: Will I be capable of push non-DRM content around without issue? What about video from players rather than Apple’s? What about content from Macs?)

But it feels like Apple is organising the likelihood to share the content in your iOS device with just multiple clicks, not just at home, but anywhere.

Want to reveal your mates your vacation photos? Provided that you’re on their Wi-Fi network, you have to be ready to throw them up on their HDTV via Apple TV. (Or directly to the TV, once someone makes an AirTunes-licensed HDTV.)

Want to observe an episode of Mad Men you simply rented again at your girlfriend’s house? Hit play in your iPhone and send it the digital photo frame that sits on her desk whenever you play Angry Birds.

Or maybe it’s a party, the host’s music sucks, and you need to play your individual mix on their speakers. Need to be easy.

Of course, Apple could-and will-put a pairing passcode on AirPlay devices. But they must also allow an ” open” mode for AirPlay devices comparable to an open Wi-Fi network. If someone is already to your Wi-Fi network, it’s fair to presume you are able to hunt them down and sock them within the jaw if they maintain playing awful music on the speakers to your bathroom-when you get off the can.

Apple TV Is A Hobby, But AirPlay Isn’t

More than anything, it’s clear that Apple TV is purely a hobby because that’s all Apple needs it to be to win inside the front room. Sure, it has a straightforward interface with a straightforward remote; little need to make it completely useless without an iOS device-just better if you do. But in due course it doesn’t have to be anything than just another AirPlay-compatible device in a global where anything of the realm’s electronics speak Apple.

Imagery by our contributing illustrator Sam Spratt . Try Sam’s portfolio and become keen on his Facebook Artist’s Page .

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This post is tagged: compatible devices, digital photo frame, discovery service, ethernet network, history of apple, itunes libraries