Wireless Music Room-by-Room - possible?

[adt2]

We are in the process of designing a new home, and I'm trying to get up to speed on the current state of the art in home automation technologies. Today, I'm working on wireless audio.
 
What I would like is to walk into a room and have my phone play audio through the speakers in that room. When I leave the room, I'd like the audio to follow me - playing in whatever room I happen to be in. Similarly, other family members should be able to play their music wherever they happen to be.
 
Is this a thing? Does this capability exist? If not, what's the next-best solution? I'd like the option to play the same thing throughout the house (Christmas music, etc.), but for the most part everybody wants to listen to what they want to listen to wherever they are - Manilow in the craft room, Katy Perry in the daughter's room, Metallica in the son's room, and blues wherever I may roam. Ideally this would be totally automated: If I start music on my phone in, say, the master bathroom, and then put the phone in my pocket, when I go to the study the music fades out in the bathroom and picks up again in the study when I sit down to read my email. I'd rather not have to do a lot of fiddling on the phone to select a zone or source or target speakers or whatever.

 

[Neurorad]

Cool concept, not yet available commercially with something bought at a store.
 
If you wire for everything during construction, you'll be covered in the future.  But, by the time it's available off the shelf, your kids may have moved out.
 
I don't know what type of sensors would be used for this future tech, but I think category cables to key locations, buried behind walls, would do the trick.
 
If you want to roll your own, search cocoontech for RFID; some people have used it for dog monitoring, and such.  Future tech may use phone signatures, or perhaps facial/figure recognition.
 
If you have the cash now, you might be able to hire a pro integrator to cook something up.  IIRC, from a magazine article, Bill Gates had this in his new home, 10-15 years ago - music following individuals in the home.  Might have been a worn bracelet.
 
Heh, googled and found reference to Bill Gates' house, and his music system, at the Bill Gates' House wiki:
 
"Guests wear pins that automatically adjust temperature, music, and lighting based on guest's preferences upon entering a room."

 

[Neurorad]

A few phone calls to some Seattle custom AV integrators may help you identify some components used in Gates' estate.

 

[fabriziojoe]

If you want discrete sources for each zone you will need a system cable of that.
Sonos is somewhat wireless and leverages iOS devices to stream to a networked device. You would have a bridge that connects to your router and then a connect amp or connect. I would highly suggest a professional grade network switch with separate vlans for audio, data, phone, etc.
 
Another option is a full blow automation system. I personally use Elan g! and have over 16 discrete zones. There are multiple sources tied into the controller and I can play Pandora in the kitchen and my wife can play her iPod in the bedroom. There is currently not a ready-made solution that follows you although that would be very interesting.