Media Streaming Apps With Multiple Users in mind

[Honis#WP]

Hello everyone,

A friend is about to move in with me and we need to integrate our tech. He's been using AirPlay and his iPhone to control where and what is streaming throughout his apartment. I'm much more conservative with music listening but wouldn't mind the ability to have a song I'm listening to follow me from room to room using better speakers than my Epic 4G. AirPlay is great and all, but I don't want accidental blasting of music throughout the house. I also don't want to be required to carry my phone everywhere in my house to control some speakers. After talking with my friend we agreed the following setup would work out well for the both of us.

One device per room (tablet of some sort). As we enter the room we select our name from the list. At this point the music streaming to where ever we were before is now transferred to the room we're in now. We don't care if the music is left playing in the last room we entered just as long as it can be stopped/changed to a new user as they enter the room. Besides basic audio controls other features like remotely turning off/on streaming to other devices is not required. Requiring a central PC server isn't a problem either.

Is there a media app for Android (preferred), iOS, or even WebOS that has a user based streaming setup?

I'm also open to suggestions. The only real requirements are that music playback is continuous per stream, support for multiple different streams, and is on a common touchscreen device (phone, tablet, mp3 player, etc.)

 

[Honis#WP]

If anyone finds this thread here's what my roommate and I are going to try:
Going Gingerbread+ tablets only in common areas (kitchen/dinning room, living room, bathroom, den, front/back porch).
Setup a media server for each user. We're deciding between Plex and XBMC still. Both servers point to the same media.
On the tablets, root and install SwitchMe. Setup SwitchMe for quick switching using lock screen. Setup for however many users are in the house.

So far I think this will work. When you switch users using SwitchMe, the media client is [forced] closed for the current user. Changing users is almost as easy as the default unlock for my Galaxy Tab 10.1. With a very bare home screen clicking the media is simple, launch is quick and selecting what you're playing shouldn't be slow either.

Still more overhead than I would like but it will have to do for now.

I've also considered making a "channel" per user on the server that all of the media clients can connect. Just fire up the client, select your channel and you're rolling but I have zero experience setting that up. Links for doing this with Plex, XBMC, or another media streaming program would be great.

 

[joggy]

I've also considered making a "channel" per user on the server that all of the media clients can connect. Just fire up the client, select your channel and you're rolling but I have zero experience setting that up. Links for doing this with Plex, XBMC, or another media streaming program would be great.

I applaud your effort. While I can't offer much in how to accomplish what you are trying to do, AVS Forums might be able to help with Plex, XMBC etc.

Good luck...sounds like it could be an awesome setup when done right!