Airport Express Review

One thing you might be able to do, which I have taken advantage of, is the use of a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone with Clicker installed. I use my SE P900 to access the iTunes on my G5 to control what music streams through to my Airport Express... Now the range of BT isn't that great so it may not be a viable solution for you, especially if you have a phone that doesn't support Clicker, but it's just a thought.

Salling Clicker with a bluetooth phone is awesome. Using it with my Nokia 3650 is slick and easy. If you've got bluetooth, download it and see if it doesn't work for you.

I'm not sure why you've not been able to extend your 802.11b network. I'm using my Airport Express to extend mine, and it's running off a Linksys WAP, not an Apple Base Station. I used the regular AirPort Admin Utility, selected "Join an Existing Wireless Network," entered the SSID for my existing network and voilà!

Got one too, and I'm pleased as punch.

The other thing I don’t like is that iTunes (with AirTunes) can’t play audio in two locations at the same time.

Here's a little trick to make that happen, at least with two Express units.

There also isn’t a clear indication of whether your music is successfully being streamed to Express.

My setup was buggered at one point and the play icon to the left of the selected track did not appear (as is also the case when a stream is down). Once I restarted iTunes it worked again. So I assume that icon is your indicator.

Ohp, just read that the music isn't synched with that hint. That's no good. Sorry.

I just wanted to also recommend using a Bluetooth phone as a remote. While I *don't* have an Airport Express, I *do* use my SE T616 to control iTunes from all over my house, and it works great.

Being a bit of a cheapskate, and not wanting to spend the money for Salling Clicker, I downloaded some freeware called "Romeo" that allows me to use the phone to issue commands to iTunes such as next song, previous song, next playlist, turn visualizer on/off, etc. It can also control various system functions - and you can use the keypad or joystick on the phone as a mouse - which always inspires geek-lust. ;-)

concur with all your points there todd. i bought one for my sister and her husband last weekend as they moved their computes, but couldn't move the cable modem.

they have a mixed environment and it worked flawlessly connecting them to the internet (well after tracking down an airport adapter for sis' older imac). printer sharing works on the mac, but not on the windows box yet.

i was so impressed i went out and bought two for me and got to ditch my ugly and tempermental linksys wireless/wired setup. my desk is beautifully uncluttered now, and i have full coverage in my place. all the way down to the downstair patio!

overall one of apple's better price/performance gadgets. though the remote and simultaenous broadcasting are missed.

Check out the Audio tab in your iTunes preferences. At the bottom there are two checkboxes: "Look for remote speakers connected with Air Tunes" and "Disable iTunes volume control for remote speakers."

A lot of TVs have a similar feature, wherein you disable the TV volume control so you need only control the volume through an HT receiver. This works pretty much the same way, so you don't have to find the perfect balance among your computer's volume, iTunes' volume, and your HT receiver's volume.

This only works when you're streaming the music through Air Tunes. If you're just listening to your music on your computer speakers, you'll have normal volume control.

It seems like some Ericsson users beat me to the punch on the remote suggestion. I use my phone as well, and it works great, you can even change playlists & rate tracks (with Salling Clicker that is). The one thing that annoyed me a little up front is that apparently iTunes & Airport Express have the gain turned _way_ up. When I first turned on the streaming, my iTunes volume was about half way up, and my stereo was on 2, but the volume was ear-splitting. Also the bass was very distorted. The setup I use now is, iTunes volume at almost zero, a custom equalizer with the preamp about -6db and the base sliders way down. After that it sounds perfect. My nerves still get jangled sometimes if I forget to turn on that preset though.

Many of us connect our Macs to our stereos when using software other than iTunes: for example when viewing DVDs, playing games, or doodling with Garageband. The reason I stil haven't bought myself an Airport Express is that I will still need to have a wired connection to my stereo to do all that, and that kind of defies the purpose. I am not sure how tricky it would be to implement, but Airport express should interface directly with CoreAudio, and be controled via the Sound control panel (with the option for a menu bar icon to control which speakers to send audio to universally). Doesn't anyone else find it strange that it only works with iTunes?

You can configue an airport express with your setup. You need to use the Airport Admin Utility. This is specificly talked about on the Apple website.

Sounds like soon enough the iPod will go wireless!
Personally, not having a cell phone I would need some sort of remote to control the music before buying an Airport Express. And not being able to play music in multiple locations, including the source computer, at the same time is lame.

My wish list would add the ability to use a fax modem remotely as well as a network fax. over the WIFI .

I have an AE too. I was eagerly awaiting it's release; I wanted a way to have SomaFM in my living room! It's a sweet device and I can REALLY recommend them.

One problem. I have a wireless notebook PC that I use to use to connect to my iMac for Internet connection sharing via 802.11b (no base station - only an Airport card in the iMac). But now it seems that I can't have both at the same time. I don't know why.

I have a feeling it's a case of me not knowing enough about WiFi configuration. Anyone that can direct me to resources on the web that may help in puzzling this out, I would be very thankful!

This hint tells you how to use it as an NTP server. But the editor notes:

The setting for synching the clock on the AE (and regular Base Stations) is somewhat hiddne. Go into the Airport Admin Utility and click on the Airport tab, then click the Base Station Options button. You can also change how the activity light behaves in this section -- always on, or flashes on activity. I haven't tried using my AE as a time server yet.

If you're wanting to share control of your AirTunes, and your mobile is too personal, or just too techie for others in the household, you might want to try the ATI Remote Wonder; it's RF, and works through walls.

It seems that the main audience are those piping their video to a TV, as it controls the cursor, and scrolling, but also maps controls, so could work in this situation.... but I don't have either an Express or Remote, just thought I'd point it out. : )

I found a hint (for Mac users only) in a technote on Apple's support site, it mentions that you can configure the AirPort Express right out of the box using wired Ethernet if you use the Airport Admin Utility. The catch is that you have to run the full AirPort updater that comes with the AirPort Express to enable compatibility with the unit. If your AirPort Admin Utility is at v4.0 or higher the unit should show up as a Base Station.

"I've been waiting years for Apple (or someone) to elegantly bridge the wireless void between my Mac and existing home stereo..."

To be fair, Slim Devices had a product that did this well before Apple:

http://www.slimdevices.com/

I'll probably end up buying the Airport Express too, but I just like to see credit give where it's due :-)...

Question for those with the AE...

I assume this works as a router and not just a switch or gateway, correct? I hadn't read or seen much about the configuration features of the AE and wanted to be sure before I purchase it that I won't need multiple IP addresses from my ISP to use the internet with all computers.

As someone who grew up in a house that had speakers in every bedroom connected (with wires) to the stereo downstairs, I can vouch that the novelty of this kind of thing wears off real fast. I feel like Apple has half a product on their hands; if they do eventually come out with a "WiPod" remote then the system will be complete and worth buying. I suppose one advantage to not having a remote is that users will get some exercise running between rooms when they want to change playlists, pause, or skip over a tune.

Can you play iTunes Radio stations through it?

thanks for the review. now I know to stay way for a while. I had orignally placed an order but later canclled because of doubts. but I appreciate your review. i see it is really not what I am looking for. I think the fact you can't play in multiple rooms closed the deal for me. the remote idea might change my mind though, that would be really cool? or the ability to stram from an iPod somehow!! :)

I was thinking of getting one of these until I recently updated my Xbox Media Center software on my modchipped Xbox. They've added iTunes sharing support now (my Xbox is already on my wireless network). Pretty nice, and you've got an interface right on your TV (with visualizers). Not to mention that you can also play most video formats, DVDs, slide shows and games. The Xbox remote even works with it.

To play on two AE's at the same time, there would have to be a lag detection algorithm that would boggle the mind. The problem is that you cannot predict the exact lag from one place to another.

If you played this out of your speakers on your computer, it would be off as well, because of the time it takes to stream to the stereo.

Now I am talking milliseconds, but I think you could tell. It is by design that it does not let you do this. I have attempted this with other programs and some custom apps myself and to make it work would take up a lot more bandwidth that it is worth.

I've got an airport card in my G4 which I use as my basestation. Will that work with the Express to extend the range?

I was eyeballing the AE also, but I just bought a Series 2 TiVo and the ability to wirelessly stream my iTunes library to my home stereo via the TiVo pretty much obviates my need for the AE. Plus I can control all of it with the TiVo remote and see all the tag info onscreen. Not to mention that I get TiVo service!

Still looking at the AE for other reasons, but if you're just trying to stream music to a home stereo there's another option.

5000!, I've also got a Series 2 TiVo and while you're right that it's excellent for sharing MP3s wirelessly, it has two major limitations that I can see:

1. It can't play protected AAC files. And while I can't say for sure one way or another, I'd bet its support for formats other than MP3 is pretty limited. For people with a lot of iTMS-purchased tracks, this can be a big deal.

2. TiVos don't support WPA--only WEP, which is relatively easy to crack. Granted, it's better than nothing, but it means you have to have your *entire* network on WEP (I don't know of a wireless base station that can run WEP and WPA at the same time).

There are trade-offs you have to accept for choosing one over the other.

I just hooked mine us this afternoon to make the wired outlets at Burger King go wireless.

Plug and play all the way...

I assume that you can only use iTunes with AirportExpress (and not any other audio app e.g. DVD), because it is sending the compressed audio to the AE; uncompressed audio would be too much.

Of course, they could just compress it on the fly but AAC might take too long and Mp3 too lossy. Not sure though.

Reed - iTunes streams all music to the AE (regardless of original format) as Apple Lossless (ALAC) which is roughly half the size of an equivalent raw, uncompressed file. The music stream is also encrypted as it's sent to the AE to prevent anyone from "sniffing" the music stream (important if it's DRM protected music).

Presumably iTunes converts all songs to Apple Lossless on the fly prior to streaming.

Syncing issues are almost definitely the reason Apple restrict streaming to one AE unit at a time - does anyone have any interest in being able to stream 2 different songs to different rooms tho? Or does it *really* matter if they're slightly out of sync if they're in different rooms anyway?

Dom, it struck me that the "setup from a Wireless card" requirement may be related to the AE Setup assistant requiring access to your keychain to join a WEP protected network. Your hard-wired G5 wouldn't necessarily have the WEP password stored locally meaning a trickier config for WEP users.

Just a thought.

I was worried about the fact that I can't use it to extend an existing 802.11b network, but some people have stated otherwise. I will be picking mine AE up later today and try to hook it up with my Snow base station :D

My roommate got confused and decided to buy two or three Airports so we could set them up all over our apartment. She thought they were wireless "hubs" that the only way to get wireless in a room is to have an Airport in the room.

BTW, thanks for the blog design in Blogger. Better than all the rest.

does anyone have the AE Express Assistant software that i can download or you can email to me? i misplaced my disk in the midst of a move last week and now i'm s.o.l. in trying to extend my wireless netowrk because apple does not provide the software as a download on their site. any help would be greatly appreciated!

grazie.