How To: Wirelessly Stream Music from iPhone to your PC

   There is a free program out there that allows you to wirelessly play your Music, Pandora or any other music app that supports Apple's Airplay feature from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch thru your computer's speakers or your living room's surround sound system via an HTPC.

Download Free "Shairport 4 Windows" Program
Version 1.0.7.3 (673kb - 12/08/2013)

I'm using Windows 7 (64bit):

STEPS:

1)  If you don't have iTunes installed, Download Apple's Bonjour Services for Windows and install it.

2)  Download the Shairport 4 Windows zip file and Save it to a location on your hard drive that you can find later (i.e. C:\Programs\Shairport\).

3)  Unzip the "Shairport4w.exe" file and double-click it to Open the program.

4)  Click the "Change" button.

5)  Under "Airport Name" type anything you want (i.e. Living Room, John's PC, etc.).
Note: This name will appear on your iDevice so you know where the music is going to stream to if you have multiple computers set up in your house each running Shairport4w or other Airplay devices.

6)  (Optional) Enter a password if you don't want anyone else to send music to this computer's speakers.
Note: On your iDevice you only have to enter the password once and it stores it for future connections.

7)  Click "OK"

8)  I recommend putting a check box in "Tray Icon", Start Minimized" and "Autostart".   This way anytime you turn on your computer it is automatically ready to start streaming your music from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

9)  Now when playing your Music, Pandora or any other app that supports Apple's Airplay feature, an Airplay icon like below will show up.

Tap the Airplay icon and select the location you want to stream it's audio to.

Enjoy !


Troubleshooting:

1)  If the Airplay icon is not showing up on your iDevice, reboot your computer to make sure that Bonjour services is running.

2)  Make sure your firewall is set to allow both Apple's Bonjour services and the Shairport program to pass thru.

3)  If you are using an HDMI cable to send both your audio & video from your PC to your TV or monitor or sound system, and you have your Windows power settings set to turn off your display after a certain amount of minutes, then you will lose audio as soon as this time limit is reached and it turns the monitor off.  This is because Windows powers down the video card which is also sending the audio thru the HDMI cable.

Solution: Either run a seperate audio cable from your PC sound card to your speakers or change your "Turn off the display" power setting to "Never" (found at: Control Panel >> Power Options >> Change Plan Settings).

Have a problem, question or comment ?  Let me know below.