I want to transmit wi-fi mp3’s from this drive to a speaker that receives wi-fi. When I read about wi-fi speakers they all talk about DLNA, Airplay, etc. I assume that this Passport Wireless drive simply transmits a file as a wi-fi signal and doesn’t have or need DLNA etc.? Thank you.
not an expert on this … but it seems you do need DLNA
Douglas, I need more info and clarity from you before I can understand exactly what you are really wanting to do using the MPW, so some questions for you:
I am thinking that another way to ask your question could be to ask, “How do I get mp3 files stored on the My Passport Wireless (aka MPW) to play on a wi-fi external speaker?” Is this the basic questions you are asking? If so, I want to say that the expression, wi-fi speaker, is not in common usage. Speakers that use Wi-Fi to receive music are most often called Bluetooth (aka BT) speakers. Although, Bluetooth is a particular type of Wi-Fi signal that devices (like BT wireless speakers) can receive and play the music file that is transmitted to it. I also think you are saying Wi-Fi when the word you need to use is “wireless” in this discussion.
Also, the MPW does not “simply transmit a file as a wi-fi signal”. Here is how this all works:
The first thing to be done is the MPW with music files on it needs to have its wireless signal connected to by a mobile device, such as a phone or tablet. Once the phone is connected to the MPW wireless signal, an app on the phone is used to access the files on the MPW. WD makes a free app for doing this called My Cloud.
So, when I turn on my mobile phone, connect the phone to the MPW wireless signal, and by using the app, I can connect the phone to the MPW’s internal file storage. I can then peruse the files on the MPW and play a music file stored on the MPW into my phone.
If I then want to play the music on my Bluetooth speaker instead of the phone’s speaker, the phone and speaker must be connected together via the Bluetooth Wi-Fi connection. So, in this way music from the MPW gets played on the speaker, but the MPW and speaker are not connected directly to one another, instead, the mobile phone with app is used as the intermediary device to make the connection of what is on the MPW and then played on the speaker.
So, if this what you are wanting to do, don’t be concerned about DLNA or AirPlay; neither are involved here; only the MPW, the phone (or tablet), the app and the speaker are the only players in this scenario.
BTW, do you have a Bluetooth speaker? If so, then you know how BT works with your phone, and now all you need is a MPW with your music files in it to hear your music on the BT speaker.
I hope my comments answered your initial question, but if not ,let me know.
Thank you. I have several different size BT speakers, I transmit to them from my phone and from my PC.
I have a MPW filled with mp3’s. I would like to transmit them to a speaker that receives Wi-Fi–without an intervening device such as a phone or a computer. There are numerous speakers on Amazon that claim to receive wi-fi (and often also BT but I don’t care about BT in this discussion). But their descriptions include references to things like DLNA, Airplay, etc. So for the MPW to meet my desire to transmit to a wi-fi speaker, evidently the MPW must include DLNA or Airplay or whatever–which I do not see mentioned in the MPW documentation. From your excellent reply, I deduce that my desire to have direct MPW to speaker via wi-fi and not BT is not possible. I suppose I am still confused, I appreciate your help, thank you.
>>> I have several different size BT speakers, I transmit to them from my phone and from my PC.
Do you also transmit music files on the MPW to them by using the WD My Cloud app?
>>> There are numerous speakers on Amazon that claim to receive wi-fi (and often also BT but I don’t care about BT in this discussion).
Do you own any of these speakers? Or, which ones interest you based upon what you have read at Amazon? Please include Amazon links to the speakers so I can look into this for you.
>>> From your excellent reply, I deduce that my desire to have direct MPW to speaker via wi-fi and not BT is not possible.
This why I want to look into the speakers you mention so to see what is and what isn’t possible to do. I imagine these speakers need some sort of Wi-Fi receiving circuit, built-in amplifier, and a way to look into a drive (MPW) and use the contents for much of anything to happen.
As for my setup, (just so you know how this stuff is generally done, with or without a MPW) When I first got my MPW, I used it as a mini NAS by connecting it wirelessly to my home network. Once part of the home network, all kinds of devices could see and access the media contents in it, including phones, tablets, WDTV media player and Roku media player, to name a few. I also take it along with us on vacations. A year or so later I got a “real” NAS; I got a WD My Cloud which has hard drives in it and connects to the network, not to a device like a PC. Now, all my media (including media that’s on the MPW) is being stored on it and it can be accessed by all our devices which include ones previously mentioned, as well as Chromecast devices and FireTV Stick, and the media can be played and the audio often goes to the stereo system that is connected to the TV, so we can have any of this media available for many wired and wireless devices that we can enjoy our media on.
But, in no case do we have a wireless speaker to transmit to unless it is a BT speaker. Even if there is such a thing, I don’t need it because the stereo system (or BT speakers) get the job done beautifully.
We even now have a houseful of Amazon Echo devices that includes the original Echo, the new Dot and new Tap, so now the Dot can feed audio direct to the stereo, and with apps, we can send music to the Tap (which besides being an Echo device is also a BT speaker). If I wanted to, I could send from either the MPW or the My Cloud. Today, my MPW is relegated to being a device to use away from home, only.
OK, so let me know about the speakers you have been considering so we can see what tricks they can and cannot do with the MPW.
Oh, another thing to know about the MPW. It is interned to mostly be a wireless drive or occasionally connected to a PC, but in no case should it be connected to a Smart TV or any other device (e.g. a speaker.) because damage can occur,
