Apple's AirPlay may be nice, but it essentially locks you in with the Apple TV receiver. While personally I tend to use StreamToMe to stream any content from my computer to my iPhone or iPad, there are a few alternatives that let you stream things out of an iOS device into a computer or another iOS device.
For music, the new version of AirFoil Speakers Touch can act as an AirPlay audio device, letting you stream iTunes or any iOS device's sound into another iOS device. It's pretty inexpensive at $3. That way, if you have some cheap speakers for an iPod Touch, you can easily stream iTunes wirelessly into it.
For video and mirroring the entire view of an iOS device on a computer, here is the spectacular AirServer. This works great if your computer is connected to an HDTV. It's not only pretty cheap at $15, but I often used it to stream a YouTube video or even a game to my TV, all without having to buy a separate $100 Apple TV receiver.
Published on May 5, 2012 at 21:41 EDT
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