A great use for that old Android phone

Generations of technology quietly accrete here. While I've got a long way to go before I ever catch up with Byte's Jerry Pournelle, who in the heyday of the magazine seemed to be commissioning a new computer in Chaos Manor every month, nonetheless, in a household of just two people (one of whom is most definitely NOT a technophile), we seem to have accumulated two desktop computers, four laptops, and four Android phones, two of which are now the previous generation of technology (an HTC Desire and Desire Z, since you ask).

I could sell them, for a risible price. But they are perfectly functional little machines and the other day I found a really good use for one of them.

I've been fiddling around with home media servers for a while. Pressing an old Asus EEE into service as a slave server to a downstairs IBM Thinkpad containing my music library did work - but any time the wireless router lost power - and power cuts are quite common out where I live - it was necessary to tediously reboot the EEE to regain connectivity.

The other day, while browsing Amazon, I came across a very interesting little gadget. The BTR006 bluetooth receiver is about the size of a USB plug, and connects to any stereo line input. It has a tiny weeny little rechargeable battery built into it and - although a charger isn't supplied - works with any standard 5V micro-USB charger. And it costs under 15 quid.

So. Plug it into the bedroom stereo. Then pair one of the old Android phones with it. And then, use the marvellous ES File Explorer (free) software to connect to the downstairs laptop over wifi and then stream from the phone to the bluetooth receiver. You can control volume from the phone, select tracks, pause, etc. etc. Just remember to set the screen timeout off and then plug the phone into a charger, otherwise when the screen blanks, for some reason, it tends to stop streaming.

Downstairs, I added a cheap, long-range (30M) bluetooth adaptor to the main music streaming laptop. This allows me to remote control the main stereo. One very useful feature of this is that when learning a piece of music I can now sit at the piano in the lounge and use a phone to control the stereo. Very handy, and it works remarkably well, without any dropouts or glitches. And much cheaper than the dedicated solutions you can purchase.