How do people play music at parties these days?

[origamiwarrior]

I feel such a dinosaur. Can't believe I'm asking this. It's my 40th birthday next month and we're having a big party at home. I don't want to hire a DJ (as I'm not convinced people will want to dance!) but I definitely want music. I'm really technologically behind the curve.

I would ideally like to create a playlist online ahead of the party, but also have it so people at the party can choose to play anything they want. What do I need (app wise, speakers wise, subscription wise) to make this happen?

The equipment I have is a Bose SoundDock (series 1) which docks an ipod (no other inputs as far as I can tell). I have a laptop and android phone. Can any of this be used? Happy to throw a bit of money at the problem.

[Creatureofthenight]

Do a playlist on the iPod. Job done.

[Creatureofthenight]

Oops sorry pressed post too soon!
I would be highly reluctant to let guests mess with the music, there's usually someone that wants to take over!

[FakeFakeRecordsRecords]

We plug our laptop or iPad into the Bose.

Create a playlist to just play on shuffle, or, if you want to go a bit further, there's an app called 'djay' where you can drag songs onto either side of a 'djay' deck and it mixes them together. So, if you have some guests with good taste, you can let them DJ for a bit.

[Mrsmulder]

We downloaded and subscribed to spotify for a recent party. You can put a playlist together but also have the option to play other songs from a large catalogue

[origamiwarrior]

Thanks everyone (sorry for delay in coming back to thread).

Think we are going to give up on the ipod (screen has just gone squiffy) and move to spotify.