All Aboard the Airport Express

I was brainstorming right after I read the announcement, and I thought that my Palm would make a great remote. S.E. Clicker combined with my Tungsten T will allow me to remote control from anywhere on my main floor (bluetooth range kinda sucks). I was thinking that you could probably hack something with AppleScript to work with the Tungsten C (or any Pocket PC device with WiFi). You would just need some type of shell to connect to your Mac.

This really is a great product. I had built a home theater pc for much of these same reasons, and will continue to use it, but will definitely look into this little device. THe cost is so low for what it does, heck, I'd almost get it just to extend the range of my AP. I could walk around with my Powerbook and control the music, or I could use my SE Z600 bt enabled phone and use SE Clicker as previously mentioned to control the tunes. The possiblities are really great with this product... Well done Apple!

As Jon says, you can use a bluetooth device as a remote. For me, that's a Nokia 3620 with the Sailing Clicker (http://homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Clicker/)

I very nearly almost plunked down my hard earned $120 this very morning as well. Until I read about how the AirportExpress actually works.

Rather than allowing a single (or, as I desired, multiple) AirpotExpres(ses) to exist as nodes on your WiFi network, they act more like targets. From iTunes, you pick a target you want to play to, and start streaming -- the music is encoded as Apple Lossless on the fly and played. Actually, pretty elegant way of dealing with myriad file formats.

Except that it's unclear as to whether or not this allows for playing multiple streams throughout the house. Can I listen to Miles in the kitchen while the gf listens to Shirley Horn in the living room? Don't know, and from what I've read, probably not. Also, the lack of a remote control of some sort really dampens my enthusiasm. Yes, this screams for a small wifi enabled handheld device of some sort, but until then, my $120 is staying put.

As for a WiFi enabled iPod, I can't wait, though I'm more excited about building ad-hoc music networks on the bus to work than I am about co-opting a solution that already works in my house. But I also live in a city that has a worthwhile public transportation system ;^) (sorry ATL...)

that's an interesting article. i'm really interested in knowing what the load on the machine is to decompress, compress, then encrypt audio. as it stands itunes can chew up a decent amount of memory during it's use. while running something like this on a g5 is probably hardly noticable, i'll bet a pc will show it's "inabilities" fairly quickly. though, most likely itunes 4.6 will look at the file, and if it's compressed using the lossless compression, itunes will simply encrypt the stream and then send it forward to the device. it's also interesting to not that not even a month ago the com sdk was released. i haven't had a chance to play with it, but i'll be interested in seeing what else is created.

I think you have found what is commonly referred to as a "synergistic satisfier" see http://www.environmental-center.com/magazine/inderscience/ijsd/art2.pdf
Go apple!

While I am still trying to figure out how can the AirPort Express feed music signal to my rather no-tech stereo, I figure out that for those of us with a Bluetooth phone and Salling Clicker, that's a feasible way to obtain remote-like capabilities with iTunes, although the stability of a Bluetooth connection leaves something to be desired with my now-ancient t68i.

Salling Clicker Rocks!

Man, this is like watching an army mobilize for an attack. Each piece is coming together, and is cool in its own right, but when the entire force is put together, it will be difficult to contend with.

And I think it's not just audio around your home, but video as well. Just a matter of time.

Add wi-fi to the iPod and you essentially get the equivalent of the new sonos system: http://www.sonos.com/products/

Their controller is clearly based on the iPod, but they want $1200 for a two room system. Apple's system would come in at around half for two zones. It's not amplified like sonos, but considering most people already have stereos in the rooms where they want music, amplification is somewhat redundant.

What I'd like to see is the ability for the music to follow you from room to room, which should be fairly simple to do once the ipod has wi-fi.

iTunes lets you do the selecting and browsing, if that is what you are looking for: This is a personal radio station. NO REMOTE REQUIRED.

A Wi-Fi equipped iPod is about the only thing that would motivate me to buy an Airport Express, because then I could effectively use the iPod as a remote. As it is now, I have an iPod and I have a dock, and the dock is connected to my stereo. So I can already walk into the house, plunk my iPod into the dock, and keep listening to music on my home stereo. I don't need Airport Express for that.

Hmmm a wifi ipod with a video screen that shows the available wifi connections. 2 folks in the house requesting different music shouldnt be a problem. :) Random thoughts.

In addition to a WiPod, the idea of being able to do wireless video (from my computer to TV) is pretty attractive, especially since I do not own a DVD player apart from the one in my Powerbook. Not only would it be nice for watching films, but it would make viewing slideshows in iPhoto a lot more fun. I bet it won't be long before that'll happen.

It is strange that they don't use the word "wireless router" anywhere in their description. From what I can tell it *is* a wireless router.

As I am looking to purchase a wireless router, I am seriously considering this product. I had to read deep down into the tech specs to discern whether it provided similar capabilities to my Linksys router (firewall etc.), which it sounds like it does. I also wonder what its signal strength is like.

Yep, it's a wireless router. I haven't seen anything about the range, but it is limited to 10 users at a time, not a problem in a home but not great if you're hoping to use it to make instant wireless available in a conference room full of geeks.

If you have any computers on your network that don't have a WiFi card (i.e. if any of your computers is connected directly to your Linksys router via Ethernet), this product won't be adequate...it's for wireless-only networks as it doesn't have a LAN port, only WAN (which is used to connect your cable or DSL modem, for example).

God Bless You Todd! I was hoping peope like you would buy these suckers. Then you can let us all know if it's worth buying. Todd is my technology fullback. I'll miss that tackle, "Todd take that tackle," spin move, END ZONE!!! JIM SCORES!!!

"I like to thank all the people that helped me score the winning (tech) touchdown: Mama, Jesus, Elvis and Todd Dominey."

Well, the showstopper for me right now is that it won't play streams, and here in Atlanta, where the NPR is way below average, we play streams from NPR stations in Chapel Hill, Seattle, Santa Monica and elsewhere all the time to get our kul-chur. And news.
Does anyone know why AirTunes has this limitation?

Cool, gotta check this out more!

"Imagine walking into your house, switching the audio output on your iPod to wireless, removing the headphones from your ears, and hearing the same music, with little interruption, playing through your home stereo. "

Now imagine the future iPod ...with 802.11 and Bluetooth.

(edit)
Imagine walking into your house, your iPod's Bluetooth automatically detects your stereo and switches the audio output on your iPod to wireless, keep your Bluetooth headphones on your ears (since they don't have a plug), and hearing the same music, with little interruption, playing through your home stereo.

I can't wait for the future! :)

there already exists freeware / shareware software to control a remotely running copy of iTunes on your LAN

I've looked around, but haven't found this -- any recommendations?

Wow lots of geeks here ;) I ordred one though!!! I can't wait to scare the piss out of my roomates when the walk into the house and music strats pumping through the speakers!! I havn't told them I got it yet!!! hehe!!!
now ti pimp my web site!!! Pimping It Big

Nokia 6600 with Salling Clicker, and loving it. Despite how much Bluetooth's limited range sucks.

Your web site is stunning *envy drool*

I am ashamed of my sin. I just created a non-standards web site because is seemed easier.

I won't even post a link to it I am so ashamed.

tom