After talking to you about Chromecast and telling us how to use AirPlay on Windows some time ago, I had a crazy desire to see if it was possible to interface Chromecast and Apple Music on Windows and MacOS devices.
Useful Links :
ChromeCast – Apple Music – How to have Airplay (Video) on Windows
Apple Music, as we all know, is a well-known streaming music service provided on the iOS and MacOs platform but in reality also available on Windows and Android. Chromecast instead is a dongle (let’s call it gadget) capable of making any smart TV become smart.
Do the two devices get along?
No. I’m jokingly.
In fact, a few months ago on the network there was some rumor that provides for the opening of Chromecast for Apple Music (or the opposite) but for now nothing has been made official and, therefore, to find a solution to the problem we will have to resort to our wits.
After a few days of research here is the answer I gave myself:
Chromecast and Apple Music can communicate with the help of some software bridge. But the quality will not be the best… better than nothing, right?
Apple Music from iOS or MacOS to Chromecast
For the Apple ecosystem, the answer came with CastBridge.
It is an application to be installed on MacOs. There is the free trial that allows streaming without loss of quality for the first 10 minutes, then the audio will degrade. To go back to listening without disturbances we will have to purchase the full lifetime license for the price of 9.99 $ / 12 € (yes, the exchange is not favorable for them).
There are no configurations behind which to go crazy, just install the app and start it. As long as it is open on the Mac and the Chromecast device reachable, iPhone will detect Chromecast as an AirPlay point to transmit the audio to. The boring part is over.
We just need to remote control the audio of the iPhone to find it automatically on TV.
Don’t you know what Airplay is ?
Apple explains it to you in less than two minutes in this simple video:
Apple Support: “What is Airplay?” – Official video via Youtube
Find the tutorial step by step at the bottom of the article: scroll or click here !
Don’t you want to use iPhone or can’t? Read the next paragraph!
Apple Music from Windows to Chromecast
For the non-Apple ecosystem, the answer is AirFoil .
AirFoil is a software that will allow us to transmit audio from the computer to Chromecast directly. Once the app is started, we just need to enable the output to the device and you’re done. The input will be iTunes if we want to transmit from a PC or AirFoil Satellite if we want to send audio from our Android smartphone or iPhone (as an alternative to the previously mentioned CastBridge).
AirFoil is also paid for with trail available. The trial version will allow us to listen to audio without quality loss for the first 10 minutes, then the stream will be degraded. The full license price is $ 29 per single operating system. We will pay two licenses if we want both the Windows and MacOS versions to understand each other. There is currently a promo combo that allows the purchase of both versions for $ 49
You can download Airfoil on the official website: download the demo for: Windows – MacOS . AirFoil Satellite (to use smartphones as potential speakers and remote controls) is available on smartphone stores (you can use the buttons below):
Airfoil Satellite
Price: Free
Airfoil Satellite for Android
Price: Free
Summing up…
Do you want to use Airplay (audio AND video) on Windows? Follow this guide !
Castbridge: iOS -> Chromecast
- Download CastBridge on MacOs
- Open Castbridge
- Remember that CastBridge must remain open to function
- Make sure Chromecast is reachable
- Chromecast is on the same network as iPhone and Mac
- Chromecast is powered
- Chromecast can be used on TV
- Go to iPhone and choose Chromecast as the output device for Airplay, the name of Chromecast will be that of the configured room
AirFoil: Windows -> Chromecast
- Download AirFoil on Windows
- Open AirFoil
- Choose iTunes as the input software
- Choose Chromecast as the output device by clicking on the icon on the side in the graphical interface.
AirFoil: MacOs -> Chromecast
- Download AirFoil on the Mac
- Open the “AirFoil” folder and run only the “Airfoil.app” app
- Confirm opening even if it comes from a source other than the appstore
- Choose iTunes as the input software
- Choose Chromecast as the output device by clicking on the icon on the side in the graphical interface
AirFoil: iOS -> Chromecast
- Download Airfoil on the Mac
- Open the “Airfoil” folder and run both the apps present: both AirFoil.app and Airfoilsatellite.app
- AirFoil: choose Chromecast as the output device by clicking on the icon on the side in the graphical interface
- AirFoil Satellite: do nothing, keep the app open
- Go to iPhone and select your mac as Airplay output device
- AirFoil Satellite: verify that the player becomes that of iOS (the song being played will be the same), if it does not change try to start playing a song on Apple Music, Spotify or similar.
The guide shows how to play Apple Music from iPhone, iPad, Windows-based devices and MacOs-based devices to Chromecast but AirFoil allows you to do even more, we can use the guide adapting it to transmit any content from the aforementioned devices to Chromecast and beyond.
This procedure allows you to reach the goal without violating Apple’s rights on the songs in use by violating DRM codes and therefore operating – it is assumed – in a completely legal way.
The same is true for CastBridge but it imposes Chromecast as an output device. We can then choose any input application compatible with Airplay audio, for example Spotify (which, however, integrates Chromecast on its own). Just use our fantasy.
