The raspberry pi is fully functional credit card-sized computer that is cheap enough ($25) that it can be used just for a single purpose. With this hack the computer imitates an airplay speaker, making it possible to send songs over to an old stereo wirelessly from your phone.
The Raspberry Pi generated massive hype in nerdy circles this summer when it came out and we’re beginning now to see some amazing hacks from this tiny computer now.
I’ve had mine for a few months now but I hadn’t got around to using it yet. So I’ve now decided to try to make something that I’ve wanted for a while: a product to bring my good but dated speaker system into the 21st century by enabling wireless streaming of music to it.
A possible way to do this would be to buy an Airport Express or an Apple TV and connect the audio out to the stereo. But then I would feel like overpaying for features like video streaming or wireless routing that wouldn’t be used. Besides, those products cost around £80. Airplay enabled speakers cost £200 at the low end. This raspberry pi creation should easily come in under £30.
Here’s a video of it in action.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4opWFboWro?rel=0]