Wicked, wicked wicked!!!!

I am not a current user of AirPort so this is not so clear to me: can this new device be used INSTEAD of a base station? If you have an airport card in each computer, plus this item, do you have a functioning wireless network? What is the market for AP Base Stations, then?

(I just bought my first AP enabled iBook today but have not bought the AP equipment yet. Timing is everything.)

I'm laughing. Basically, with a $129 product, Apple just beat the crap out of windows digital convergence ideas. Windows Media Center my @$$. This is a product done right leveraging the technology we already use. The music stuff is awesome (i will definitely be using this feature) but the Printer stuff is right on as well. I have been moaning for some time for a bluetooth adapter that I could put on my USB printer and stick it someplace out of sight & out of mind. With this product, I will finally realize my dream. I like this idea so much, maybe I'll buy two.

It sounds like just what I need!

54mbs should be enough for decent quality video, too. (640x480x24 bits would be 7.2mbs, uncompressed, if my calculations are right). It would be handy to preview iMovie videos on the TV without having to burn a DVD. Perhaps more useful, and significantly less bandwidth intensive, it'd be great to show iPhoto slideshows wierelessly on a TV. Ideas for the next revision!

Yes, this is a functioning base station. But the AP Extreme does have other features that this doesn't appear to have. For example, one version of the AP Extreme allows you to hook up an external antenna, and a dial-up modem. This will only work with broadband, and doesn't seem to support an external antenna. I also wonder how reception compares.

This gadget reminds me, appearance wise, of an old 300 baud Apple Personal Modem.

This is just what I need to extend my Airport reception to the rest of my house and with a pair of USB powered speakers, you can put this anywhere in your house and have music! Apple this is SOOO COOL!! I think even Windows users are going to jump on this one!

Here's the differences:

Airport Express: cheaper ($130 vs. $250), much smaller, includes audio port

Airport Base Station: supports more simultaneous users (50 vs. 10), includes 56k modem for dial-up use, includes 2nd ethernet port for LAN use, includes port for signal-extending antennae.

Basically, for home or mobile use, the new Airport Express is *perfect*.

For schools or other large institutions, the full base station still makes more sense (mostly due to the 50-user capability).

Plus I'm thinking of all the overpaid professionals off on their business trips with their super expensive laptops. For $129 how could they resist such a convenience? Once people find out about these they are gonna sell like hotcakes.

Macintosh or iPod?

Will this product go to the cross-platform iPod division? I suggest it should. What's next?

"We have been a pioneer and leader in wireless innovation -- we were the first with 802.11b and 802.11g and now we are leading the digital music revolution with iTunes and iPod. AirPort Express brings the digital and wireless worlds together," Greg Joswiak, Apple's Vice President of Hardware Product Marketing told MacCentral.

"This is the first step to making a connection between your computer and your stereo. Today you will have to go to your Mac to change the playlist," said Joswiak.

anyone want to bet on some type of wireless ipod soon?
whether it's built into the next revision or some kind of add on?

But here is still the part I don't quite understand.

I have a network now. Through a netgear router with 802.11b, not extreme.

So if I get speakers in the bedroom and plug this thing in, I'm streaming music from iTunes 4.6 to the bedroom wireless and ... I'm not affecting or altering my current network settings in any way at all?

How is it managing two networks? Isn't that what's happening? Do you have to switch between them?

Or .. if I'm surfing here right now and typing and my girlfriend is in the bedroom listening to music ... it's all working at the same time??

So now we know why they developed their lossless codec! And we thought they were just doing it to satisfy the audiophiles. We should have known better! Now the question is: does this lossless codec fit into Bluetooth's bandwidth? Oh man I sure hope so.

There's another feature of the Airport Express that answers your question. A more overlooked feature of the Airport Express is its ability to function as a wireless repeater. By placing the Airport Express within range of an existing wireless network, the wireless network is bridged through the Airport Express, thus the device functions as a repeater, extending the range of your current wireless network.

In other words, the Airport Express functions in tandem with your existing network, extending the network's range. In theory, you should be able to stream to the Airport Express and do all your other browsing without problem.

I love how I get an upgrade to pro ad every time I watch my quick time videos. :O)

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jimothy wrote:
It sounds like just what I need!

54mbs should be enough for decent quality video, too. (640x480x24 bits would be 7.2mbs, uncompressed, if my calculations are right). It would be handy to preview iMovie videos on the TV without having to burn a DVD. Perhaps more useful, and significantly less bandwidth intensive, it'd be great to show iPhoto slideshows wierelessly on a TV. Ideas for the next revision!

There are never 50 plus people with macs in one place. Seriously.

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BlueDjinn wrote:
Here's the differences:

Airport Express: cheaper ($130 vs. $250), much smaller, includes audio port

Airport Base Station: supports more simultaneous users (50 vs. 10), includes 56k modem for dial-up use, includes 2nd ethernet port for LAN use, includes port for signal-extending antennae.

Basically, for home or mobile use, the new Airport Express is *perfect*.

For schools or other large institutions, the full base station still makes more sense (mostly due to the 50-user capability).

Sounds logical. but are you sure? For me, I don't have extreme. I'm on 802.11b. I thought I read something on Apple's site that says it can only extend the capabilities of an extreme network. And, mine's on a different system ... on a Netgear.

It seems like it should just work together with the network. I guess the software that's included for the setup will work with it. If Apple wants this to be simple, then they can't have people forced to reconfigure networks, right? It would just have to be an extension of the network.

This is one device that I'd like to see Steve Jobs demo before buying. Maybe he'll do that at WWDC.

I am sure that others will soon be offering a similar thing.

Just this weekend i was wishing i could send my iTools to my stereo - without buring a CD. (really)

Hope someone comes out with a non-basestation version (just audio streaming reception) - I've aleady got one plus my cable modem is nowhere near my stereo.

i just bought an airport extreme station last week.



Arrgghhhh!

Hey jimothy I just noticed you forgot 30 frames per second in your calculation. But I'm not sure what you are getting at. You mean you think Apple might offer a version with video streaming? I wouldn't hold my breath. But if they do I don't think it will be uncompressed!

Just wow...

Isn't it interesting that Microsoft got out of the wireless basestation business a few weeks ago? Is it capitulation or do they have other plans? They seemed to backout of the Mac browser business pretty quickly once Apple released Safari.

This will really be a VERY cool little addition to my workplace - I hate having my music playing directly in front of me from my wired speakers while I work. With this I can have the speakers across the room.

Now all I need is an ipod dock (oh and an ipod!) with a 802.11 transmitter and home will be a better place too!

I just hope they ship to NZ a little faster than the ipod mini (still vapourware over here)!

I don't think anyone else has mentioned this so....anyone else impressed to see that this thing is Windoze compatible - I think it's great that they are opening up new potential revenue streams from the dark side with iTunes & the iPod.

Assuming that Apple has created a chip that does the stram decoding and analog conversion they should wholesale it to otehr manufacturers. That would then given them a piece of a huge market and quickly spread the dominatio of iTunes standards since no one else can do that ... yet.

While they can be the first to create this market, it is important to allow others to sell the link as inexpensively as possible. We need to see $30 adapters for stereos that work with iTunes on any platform, out of the box.

Tuner manufactures should vie to be the first to build in the technology.

The quicker and more widespread these are avaialbe the better to capture market.

"Likely a killer app for iTunes", says UserNameUser of The UserNameUser Group.

(someone please quote me, I'm starting a career as a technology pundit )

"Killer App for iTunes" says...

UsernameUser

Chief Analyst at The UserNameUser Group

(the clouds parted above me and i saw that i TOO COULD BE AN EXPERT!)

... quotes for any occasion available on request

So, this delivers to Apple half of the market: folks who want to stream music from their mac to their stereo. What about the other half? Will Apple ship a stereo component that puts the UI at the stereo end and pulls music from a mac iTunes server?

that it works with the PC. I really think this will be a huge success for Apple. It's such a brilliant product to begin with, but it couldn't come at a better time tool. Anyone who loves iTunes and has a wireless basestation will buy one anyway. And if Apple advertises this well, why would you buy anything else if you were in the market for a wireless router?

just my thoughts....

iTunes 4.6?

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Guest wrote:
So, this delivers to Apple half of the market: folks who want to stream music from their mac to their stereo. What about the other half? Will Apple ship a stereo component that puts the UI at the stereo end and pulls music from a mac iTunes server?

"There are never 50 plus people with macs in one place. Seriously."

You're forgetting that Airport is not a Mac only solution. It's an 802.11 base station and has ALWAYS been cross platform. So while you may bot have 50 wireless Macs in the same place, you could easily have 50 wireless computers when you add in the other platforms.

A mobile Airport Express is perfect for my consulting, too! Having the ability to plub the Airport Express into the office router and then roam free throughout the offices, with wireless printing too, that is way cool. I was about to purchase a wireless setup for my home office, but now I must wait for the Airport Express. The only question is whether or not it will require a "shake-out" time to get the bugs out. I think Apple has hit a home run with this, for certain!

But I own a little one man (me) company and fly 75,000 to 100,000 miles a year. The Airport Express will be in my 4 year old briefcase (but next to my newly replaced 1.5 15" PB) because, as CEO, I can approve an expenditure of such magnitude (when my wife is not looking), as the bookkeeper I will be able to arrange for it to be a tax deduction (eat your heart out) and as the janitor I will ensure the evidence of my little pleasure is well taken care of before anyone knows . . .

Overpaid? You gotta be kidding! Run your own one man company and see how rich you get . . .

Oops...I had this feeling I was off with my calculation.

What I meant was, a version with video streaming would be cool...not necessarily speculating that Apple would do it, but it would be nice if they did. And I didn't mean to say that they wouldn't compress it, but merely offered (admittedly flawed) calculations uncompressed for simplicity.

Personally, I'd like it more for iPhoto slideshows than anything else, and the bandwidth should be more than enough for that.

Actually, I've streamed a Video_TS file (DVD rip) over 802.11b and it skipped about every 3 seconds. I'd imagine 802.11g might be able to handle it. In theory b has a max of 11Mb but actually stays around 4-5Mb and 802.11g reportedly falls drastically short of its 54Mb specification. (15Mb in a mixed b, g environment)

3x the throughput should be enough to do it but I'd hate to be another user on that network.

-Dan

Pixlet, baby. Pixlet )

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Biff wrote:
Hey jimothy I just noticed you forgot 30 frames per second in your calculation. But I'm not sure what you are getting at. You mean you think Apple might offer a version with video streaming? I wouldn't hold my breath. But if they do I don't think it will be uncompressed!

Could anyone explain in very plain terms what type of mac you need (I have an 800Mhz G4 iMac) to run Air Tunes? Do you need two of these things, one plugged into the stereo and one for the mac?

Next up I expect to see the following:

1) a Wi-Fi based remote, the first version will control iTunes and perhaps also conect to AddressBook and iCal.

2) WiFi VoIP phone(s) think WiFi devices for iChatAV audio and/or video. If there is a company to can finally make video phones a mass market product, it is Apple. This may also be the second coming of the Wi-Fi remote (iTunes, AddressBook, iCal and iChatAV, from your living room).

3) AirPort Express devices with connections to things other than audio...think not only about video, but also lights and other devices.

Speaking of other devices, the device I speak of in #3 may just already exist in the current product! Think coffemaker with a USB port, or a USBdevice that plugs into the AirPort Express and adds the functionality to control lights and such. Or lamps with USB conections that can not only be switch on and off, but also dimmed! Oh My God...that is so what this really about, you heard it here first.

Michael

If you have a Mac with an AirPort card in it, you only need one AirPort Express, because that would give you AirPort on both ends already.

will this be a possibility with the current set up? instead of attaching a printer to the usb port, just hook up an external drive so you have access to it wirelessly?

it doesnt use bluetooth, it uses 54MBs wifi, which is about 500 times faster

get a bluetooth phone, with salling clicker I can do the most amazing things with my phone and computer. controlling itunes is the very tip of the iceberg. When I walk into my room, my screen fades in, itunes music fades in, email is checked, webcam activated and my computer says 'welcome back'. Bluetooth cababilities should be seperated from the intended abilities of a wireless network.

Airport express is perfect.

I have a USB soundcard. a GOOD USB soundcard. Will it work with the airport express's USB port?

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Guest wrote:
will this be a possibility with the current set up? instead of attaching a printer to the usb port, just hook up an external drive so you have access to it wirelessly?

Since the discussion is shifting to video, I'll through a wild card onto the table.

For the same 130 bucks (now on sale), I can buy a Tivo that integrates with iTunes and iPhoto and runs through my TV/home theater. Their Home Media Feature software runs on OS-X too.

I don't own a Tivo, but this sure sounds like it solves most of the issues discussed here (remote control, video capabilty). I'm not a biz traveller, so the portability of Express isn't a factor for me, and I already have an Airport and Ethernet network in my house. Thoughts?

-Ken P

Why? It supports digital audio out... USB audio cards rarely support that good...

hi,

I have an 2 year old G4 flat panel iMac which doesn't appear to have the aiport card in it.

Where does this leave me as far as airport express is concerned? Can I add in the aiport card?

thanks anyone who answers what might appear to be a stupid question

Yep, you can add an Airport Card. I don't recall how to add it; it not as straight forward as I think it could have been, but you can add an Airport card.

Vern Seward

The Airport Express, being 802.11g.....will it still communicate with a standard, (non-Extreme, 802.11b) Airport? Or must one have an Airport Extreme card in their Mac to reap the benefits of this wonderful gadget?

I haven't seen anything to indicate that it wouldn't but it's just the kind of question which if I didn't ask, would prolly wind up tripping me up the minute I brought it home.

Apple will definitely sell a lot of these.