Stream iTunes music to many PCs and/or Macs at the same time

Question

Let me explain what I am trying to achieve.

Everyone in the office listens to different music in his/her own iTunes with their own headphones so they do not bother anyone.

The thing is, I want to share the music that I am hearing with two or more coworkers. By sharing I mean (assuming my iTunes is the "master" and the other PCs are the "slaves"):

• Listening to the same song at the same time
• If the "master" pauses the song, all "slaves" will pause. When the "master" resumes the song, every "slave" starts hearing the song again where it left off.

That way, everyone is in sync and enjoying the same music! Is it possible to achieve this with iTunes alone? If not, do you now some kind of music streaming server that achieves this?

Hope its clear!

Answer 1

Get a copy of Airfoil for the sending machine and you will be able to send one audio stream to many devices. You can buy a single use licenses or get a discount if you buy multiple licenses, but the software is free to try and works for 10 minutes to be sure it does what you need.

There are free receiver software for Linux, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android as well as buit in support for AirPort express, Apple TV, and Boxee.

Answer 2

The latest XMBC version (XMBC 12) includes an AirPlay client on all platforms (OS X, Windows, Linux). Install and start XMBC on all clients (slaves) and then select them as AirPlay targets inside iTunes.

Potential drawback is that the XMBC application is rather heavy-weight. But it's free so give it a try.

Answer 3

+1 for Airfoil.

You can only stream from iTunes itself to AirPlay devices, so that's Apple TVs, AirPort Expresses, and others, but not to computers. You can use XMBC, as the other answer says, but it's a hassle; Airfoil is easy to use. It also streams to iOS devices.