Airfoil 3 audio utility

Rogue Amoeba on Thursday released Airfoil 3, an update to its software utility for AirPort Express users. Airfoil allows users to send virtually audio to Apple's AirPort Express, from media players such as RealPlayer and QuickTime to audio websites (e.g., Pandora, Last.fm). Version 3 lets users transmit any audio to multiple AirPort Express units, providing "perfect" synchronization between units, the company claims. In addition, audio can now be played through local computer speakers -- in sync with remote playback. Version 3 also enables any Mac to be used as a "virtual AirPort Express" using the included (and free) Airfoil Speakers application. Airfoil Speakers allows any Mac to appear in Airfoil as a standard output, enabling audio to be synchronously transmitted to any Mac.

The company also says the update addresses sync problems with video-based playback.

"Because of inherent latencies in the AirPort Express, using Airfoil 2 with a video source resulted in local video that was jarringly out of sync with the remote audio," the company said. "No longer, however, thanks to the included Airfoil Video Player. Airfoil Video Player handles playing video locally in sync with remote audio, for the perfect viewing experience. Airfoil Video Player supports the most popular video formats, and even features preliminary DVD support."

Airfoil 3 also offers many other improvements, including full Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) support and Instant Hijack, allowing audio to be pulled from already-running applications. It also brings several interface improvements and simplified preferences and more.

Rogue Amoeba will be showing Airfoil 3 off at Macworld Expo next week (booth #2738 in the South Hall). It is available immediately for Mac OS X 10.4 and up and costs $25 ($10 upgrade). The trial version will overlay noise on all transmissions longer than 10 minutes.

by MacNN Staff