Fred - you were connecting via a browser, which does not get any priority. If you used a streaming client the experience is better.
Newf - currently if Android users connect via a browser, an Apple device can connect and grab control. The Apple device can then play songs from iTunes that a user may have on the device. Without a client, Android cannot.
The setup at the 35th was a USB drive with music connected directly to one of the circuit boards. We connected to the Airplay hotspot, which allowed Android to web browse or Apple to connect. Android devices could browse the drive, remove songs from the playlist and stop/start the playback.
One interesting thing to note, even while an Apple device "owned" the Airplay, any device can connect via the browser and shut the entire system down.
A small script that I wrote that included a timer would reset the device whenever I opened any app on my phone, which provided a few laughs as one of the attendees always seemed to be trying to connect when it executed and he was harassed for stopping the music!
There were also numerous challenges trying to connect to the hotspot for both Android and Apple.
