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Honey Player – Play Music via AirPlay

on 10/11/11 11:49 PM

Tested version: 1.2.2
Latest version: 2.0.2 (Play 15)
Requires Android: from 2.0

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Summary

Oh, those good old Apple proprietary systems… AirPlay is a prime example of such a system, and those of you who have high-tech music stations may be well acquainted with it. Who needs a stereo system comprised of a CD player, radio, etc. when you can simply use streams?


The Honey Player lets you stream music via Apple’s AirPlay; this means that systems that are only compatible with Apple devices now also run on Android!
 

Features & Use

Section rating:

Test device: LG Optimus Speed / 2x
Android version: 2.3.4
Mods: Root


Test device: Mac with AirServer software instead of AirPort Express Server
Let me start by saying that I don’t have an AirPort Express, so what I did was run an AirPlay server that performs in the same way as AirPort Express.


First impressions: Honey Player looks a lot like the standard Android music player, albeit with a different design. The menu button harbours a ‘Volume’ function which lets the Honey Player search for available AirPlay loudspeakers within the network. Within seconds the smartphone’s internal loudspeaker and the AirPlay Server pop up on my Mac. One click and that’s all she wrote: we have a connection!


Let’s give playback a try... Music plays from my speakers within a mere second, and the quality is astoundingly good.
I want to scroll around within a song, so I tap on the title at the top of the display which opens up the ‘Current Playback’ window, which is very similar to the Android Player one. But instead of scrolling through the song the track starts playback from the beginning—strike one.


Playing other tracks doesn’t work very well either—playback for most OGG files does not seem to work, and some ACC files are played at a slower speed. That sounds terrible—strike two.
I also notice a funny cracking sound when switching from one song to the next.


The player also provides internet radio. There are lots and lots of musical genres to choose from, but unfortunately it isn’t possible to add you own favourite stations. That said, there are a lot of stations available and they are run very well.
I did notice a lot of trance stations within the metal category—curiouser and curiouser…

Bottom line:
I recommend Honey Player to those AirPlay users whose music collection consists solely of MP3 files. However, I’d wager a guess that this scenario is unlikely for most Apple users, seeing as Apple tends to favour AAC.


Should you require an app for AirPlay my suggestion would be to buy one from the App Center and check how it runs within the 24 hour time frame. If ever you’re not satisfied you can always return it (within 24 hours).
 

Screen & Controls

Section rating:

Controls for Honey Player are very intuitive and easy to use. The design is really nice, too.

Speed & Stability

Section rating:

Honey Player loads fast and doesn’t lag, but are some bumps when switching up between tracks. The app itself runs very smoothly.

Price/Performance Ratio

Section rating:

3,49 € is not exactly peanuts, and the Honey Player playback isn’t quite that smooth enough yet. There’s still room for improvement here!

Comparable Apps

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Developer

User picture User profile
Honey Player de

Germany

Enterprise Java and android developer

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Honey Player
It is finally there, the sweetest music player which uses AirPlay to stream your favorite (...)

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Market Comments

A Google User, May 3, 2013
Gear4 airzone Works, sometimes. Unreliable at best.
A Google User, Apr 28, 2013
Average Its easy to install and connect to airport express, it also detects all the music on the hard drive which is useful. There are however times when the application keeps crashing and refuses to play the song / album.
A Google User, Apr 24, 2013
It crashes I just wanted to play a specific song from my phone and the app keeps crashing while browsing local files. It also gets stuck quite easily.
A Google User, Apr 24, 2013
Galaxy s3 zeppelin air Wanted this for streaming from my s3 to zeppelin air It works and the only app ive found that does Can stutter occasionally but I believe this is because my hub is bt home hub 1 Very pleased otherwise
A Google User, Apr 22, 2013
Works perfectly They only airplay app that I have ever seen... and it works well.
A Google User, Apr 21, 2013
Works with Shairport Works fine with Shairport 1.0-dev, so you can build Airplay speakers out of your Raspberry Pi, old computer and similar. Happy with purchase. :)
A Google User, Apr 21, 2013
Works but skips The sound Skips about once every two seconds when playing to airplay speakers. Do not buy until improved. Future versions should have smooth streaming and functionality to stream audio from selected apps to airplay.
A Google User, Apr 20, 2013
Keeps cutting out So I paid for an airplay app and it does airplay to my soundbar through my airport express. For about two minutes if I am lucky. Got a galaxy s3. What a brilliant concept. Love the internet radio streaming as well. But if it doesn't work it is broken and I should get my money back until the app works consistently. Wanted to give it more stars but not impressed. Back to streaming from my macbook or ipod.
A Google User, Apr 11, 2013
Streams well but the media browser is a hot mess This app definitely successfully streams to airplay which is first and foremost what i bought it for. It seems to the be the only app for android that does this. The guys who make Airfoil claim its impossible so, kudos for that. It cuts out from time to time and, every once in a while, it'll get a weird time stretch sound or double up the audio playing, but it doesn't cut out any more or less than itunes does on any of my comps. The file/media browser is atrocious though. Quite often i'll select a track from my collection and it will play something entirely different. Also, if you select an artist from the artist list and then decide you want to hear something else from your general song collection, when you hit the song tab it only shows you songs from the artist you had already selected. And the browser function doesnt work. You can can browse to your various music folders and see all the files but when you try and select one to play, nothing happens. In short, if you must stream from your android device to airplay then this is the only way to do it. Is it worth the price though? It pales in comparison to poweramp as a music player and they seem to be at the same price point.
A Google User, Apr 3, 2013
No spotify How hard can it be to get this working with spotify. I have over 5 supposedly airplay enabled apps and none of them work.
A Google User, Mar 29, 2013
Ok it works with a airport express BUT ... So it's not particularly cheap though it does actually succeed in allowing you to play local music to remote speakers via an airport express/airplay. BUT, as an actual media player it's so so awful. Cover art already embedded into your mp3 files? Well we might be shown sometimes but only as a tiny weeny thumbnail (on tablet). Want intuitive design & controls? Forget that too. Want to see all the tracks you've just added to a playlist? Well you can't! It's a bit like an East German mediaplayer circa 1987 before the wall came down...
A Google User, Mar 28, 2013
Excellent Application works great! Connecting to my airport without any problems. Well worth buying it. Using it on Galaxy Note 2.
A Google User, Mar 23, 2013
Totally sucks. Atrocious support too. Buggy, flawed and a total waste of money. Emails and phone calls for support have never been answered.
A Google User, Mar 13, 2013
Not perfect but good
A Google User, Mar 9, 2013
Garbage This app has constant problems. Never has connected to airplay and in many case does not even play through the built in speaker on the phone. I have a Droid X. Also crashes every time I open and try to select a song or change from phone speaker to airplay speaker. All in all great concept but poooor execution! Hate that I wasted 5$ on this for sure.
A Google User, Feb 28, 2013
Works - sometimes --Update : Seams to be working better. The browser makes my device crash (galaxy nexus). Otherwise, airplay is working Please update to the promised 2.0 because streaming to my PC is great. Add search function. Add play all and shuffle
A Google User, Feb 26, 2013
Good Grief! Rubbish. I seem to spend my life giving my hard earned money to people who claim all that glitters IS gold. This gold bar plays for about 10 seconds then just stops. That's on all 3 of my different Android devices. Don't waste your time. If you do, there's always the 'refund' button!
A Google User, Feb 20, 2013
connects fine to my airplay devices There aren't too many players which actually connect to pretty much all airplay devices (not JUST appletv) and fewer still which allow you to connect to an AppleTV with a password. This app appears stable on my samsung galaxy s3 and has some nice features like pause on phone call. Connecting to other music services (pandora, spotify, etc) would be a nice to have. Connecting to other network music sources would be great to have (DNLA, iTunes server, etc)
A Google User, Feb 17, 2013
Has potential The reason I'm giving this app an extra star is that this is the only app which plays reasonably good to airport express. This version has definitely improved. I believe it can be improved still.
A Google User, Feb 16, 2013
Exactly what I wanted I needed an app to send music straight from my phone to airport express. This allowed me to without any hassles. Also has a nice clean interface. I Also bought doubletwist player. It required you to download something on to your computer. Ain't nobody got time for that. I definitely prefer honey.
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