Open up the start page
First open up the Start page of the streamer software by entering the URL http://player.local in a web browser. Unfortunately, most versions of Android OS are not capable of resolving a local web address. Instead you have to use the IP address of the streamer instead.
[Read the blog post about Android to find the IP address.]
Connect a Bluetooth speaker
When the Start page is open go to the Bluetooth page and scan for speakers/headphones...
The scanning will take quite a while – about 40 s. Also be sure that the Bluetooth speaker is on and that it is ready to connect. Often it flashes its lights and makes some beep noises when it is ready.
After a while and some notification a pop-up menu will show up.
In menu pick the speaker you want to connect to… [click on the name of the speaker]
...then the Player will become connected and the Bluetooth Page will also be updated with the new speaker connection.
When the speaker is connected it is shown on the Bluetooth page. You can disconnect the speaker by clicking on the orange cross button. You can always disconnect the speaker by turning it off. As soon as it is turned on again it will reconnect.
There can only one Bluetooth speaker or headphone connected at the time, but there can be many Bluetooth devices paired at the same time. The pairing of the speakers/headphones makes it very fast to switch between speakers and headphones.
In this last picture you can see that there is no speaker connected, but there are three speakers that are paired and that can be easily reconnected without scanning.The Network Music Streamer supports Bluetooth 5.0 for receiving and transmitting. That version is supported by most modern phones. With this version comes a wider range and increased transfer capacity which improves sound quality up to be like CDs. Bluetooth is backwards compatible, so you can use older devices, but they might not always be able to benefit of these latest features. You can also stream Bluetooth to the Network Music Streamer, how this is done is explained in another blog post. Streaming Bluetooth to the streamer when it is connected to a Bluetooth speaker works. The audio stream is then directly transmitted to the Bluetooth speaker and the amplifier is muted. If there is no Bluetooth speaker connected, the audio will go through the amplifier instead and the connected wired speakers will deliver the music.
A Bluetooth speaker is not a wired speaker
The characteristics of a Bluetooth speaker is of course a little bit different than the ordinary wired ones.
- Make sure that the Bluetooth speaker or headphone is on and that it is ready to connect. Often it flashes and make some beep noises when it is ready. It has also to be within a decent distance, not more than 25 m away. Also you have to figure out the Bluetooth name of the device (consult the instructions).
- As stated above, there can be only one speaker or headphone connected at the time. Some more advance Bluetooth speaker systems comes with two speaker units and have multiroom capabilities that solve multi-speaker setups.
- An already paired Bluetooth speaker will silently reconnect itself to the Network Music Streamer when it is turned on, if there was no previous Bluetooth device connected.
- Some devices like computers can be both a speaker or a sender. Be sure to get that right in the settings of the device.
- If you cannot find the wanted speaker after a scan (in the pop-up menu), scan again. Sometimes it takes a while for a speaker to announce themselves as Bluetooth devices. Note: that an already connected speaker (connected to another device) will not show up in the scanning result.