Been working a lot on the backyard these days, and do enjoy the music my neighbors play, but wanted something to produce my own tunes for those days my daughters want their pop played, or when I have a need for some jazz in the outdoors.
There are lots of decent, affordable portable solutions out there, but spending all my $ on the reno, I wanted something truly cheap and cheerful.
I already have all my music ripped, and I use LMS (Logitech Media Server) in my main system. We have many IOS devices, and I use iPeng to control the main system.
Paid for the streaming in app purchase, picked up a used iHome iBT4 off Kijiji and velcro'd my old iTouch 3 to the back. An LOD cable, and voila.
A mono streaming ghetto blaster, built in FM radio, rechargeable battery built in, and easy to carry around to wherever.
I can sync it with the big system, or build distinct playlists for it, and control it all from any IOS device in the house (or actually walk over to it and do it manually of course).
The iHome device can connect with Bluetooth too, so I could do it totally wirelessly, but I found that wirelessly streaming via wifi to the iTouch, then bluetoothing to the iHome created lag issues. The wires I already had from portable headphone use worked perfectly.
Not the last word for sound quality at all, but for a total of $50, it works a treat.
