Today we’re going to look at getting music out into the back yard using wireless equipment. Hands down the easiest way is to simply take your smartphone outside with you and log into some music app and [lay files off of the device. Of course, smartphones are not well known for their high-quality speakers, so a simple upgrade would be Bluetooth headphones, which run around $50 and up.  The good news is that if you receive a call, the headphones will switch from music to the call, which makes life easy. The downstroke is, you’re the only one who can listen. Again, an easy fix is to get a Bluetooth speaker. Costs here range from about $40 and up. The downstroke here is that you have to remember to recharge the speaker, otherwise you end up losing sound at an inopportune moment.

One big challenge in all this is how you connect your smartphone to the internet, presuming you’re going to be using an online music app like TuneIn as your primary source. Good quality MP3 streaming audio downloads at 320k, which can bulk up your data use substantially fairly quickly. If you’re one of the lucky consumers who has a 10 Gig data plan really don’t have to worry too much, but as most of us are on 1 or 2 Gig plans, you should make sure that you have a decent Wi-Fi signal in your back yard, and then make sure that your smartphone automatically switches to your home’s Wi-Fi signal when in reach. The absolutely cheapest way of doing this it to make sure that you have the latest router from your provider, and if that doesn’t work out, add a Wi-Fi extender somewhere hear your back yard. Total cost around $50 and up.

Personally, I love sitting outside and listing to Whistle FM, just remember the sunscreen.