The reason it exists primarily is so that music venues and museums and such can provide broadcast audio for accessibility and just in general without requiring people to use their janky headsets from the 80s. Once it exists and is actually in the hardware for the Bluetooth chips, the work to plug together a UI for it is relatively small for what looks like a big feature.
It also has some pretty good power savings over actually pairing a device, since neither device is looking for return communication to any significant degree, and it’s geared for not giving the headphones device control in the way that a paired device gets.
Overall it’s a good innovation, but not the most clear to market how you’ll use it every day.
Well, there was nothing stopping anything from doing it before, they just didn’t know there was a desire for broadcast, or for the broadcaster to be uninterested in the connection of the listener.
A lot of the protocol is about making sure that things are authenticated and private. You don’t want a second set of headphones connecting without your knowledge usually.
This also lets you broadcast audio encrypted, without drowning out other radios, and keeps the listener from being able to do normal pairing tasks like “download contacts”.
It’s obvious now, but that’s only after years of everyone walking around with small radio linked ear pieces.
The reason it exists primarily is so that music venues and museums and such can provide broadcast audio for accessibility and just in general without requiring people to use their janky headsets from the 80s. Once it exists and is actually in the hardware for the Bluetooth chips, the work to plug together a UI for it is relatively small for what looks like a big feature.
It also has some pretty good power savings over actually pairing a device, since neither device is looking for return communication to any significant degree, and it’s geared for not giving the headphones device control in the way that a paired device gets.
Overall it’s a good innovation, but not the most clear to market how you’ll use it every day.
It is also a feature that should have come with the first version of bluetooth. Two devices listening at the same time is a no brainer.
Well, there was nothing stopping anything from doing it before, they just didn’t know there was a desire for broadcast, or for the broadcaster to be uninterested in the connection of the listener.
A lot of the protocol is about making sure that things are authenticated and private. You don’t want a second set of headphones connecting without your knowledge usually.
This also lets you broadcast audio encrypted, without drowning out other radios, and keeps the listener from being able to do normal pairing tasks like “download contacts”.
It’s obvious now, but that’s only after years of everyone walking around with small radio linked ear pieces.
Batteries weren’t strong enough for wireless headsets when Bluetooth was first released