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Apple Rolls Out AirPort Express, AirTunes
das writes "Apple has introduced AirPort Express (specs), a palm-sized, portable 802.11g base station with 10/100 ethernet, USB printer sharing, and analog and optical audio output, for connection to a stereo system or powered speakers for streaming your music collection via 'AirTunes.' It supports multiple profiles for easy use at multiple locations It can plug directly into the wall as a "power brick", or use a longer power cord, similar to the newer PowerBook AC adapters. AirTunes requires iTunes 4.6, expected to be available soon."
This looks like a great product, and kudos to Apple for letting it work with PCs.
Next step: having an iPod with WiFi that streams music/video to this baby! That would be super cool, and such a fun party trick. No more cables.
It appears to me as though you can only share music to the Express from a machine that has the audio locally. But I'd want to control the music from a laptop in the living room, using music shared from my server in a closet, and then close the laptop. Seems like I can't do that, so it sounds like I won't be getting this.
this product is going to sell like crazy. 99% of consumers don't care about the fact that you have to use apple software, or that it is closed-source, or that it has no web interface. haven't you read the articles about wireless recently? most people don't even realize that there is a web-interface in their routers!
notice as well.. the thing has OPTICAL out capabilities. i see 5.1 surround coming from itunes soon.
It is unfortunate that it only works with iTunes, but the target market is probably those who already make heavy use of the iTMS, in which case they're pretty much locked into Apple anyway. It's not perfect, but it is pretty cool.
"The problem with internet quotations is that many are not genuine" -Abraham Lincoln
It is not clear from the information provided -- will it be able to stream to multiple locations at once? Will it be able to keep those locations in sync on the same source of music, as well as allow you to stream different playlists to different sources?
It looks like you can also use this in a wired fashion, where you connect this device to your wired network, and it will do the audio out as well. For me this would be more handy, because I already have ethernet wire to my stereo, but need a good way to get audio out of that... Is this actually how it will work?
One thing this is missing is a way to control iTunes remotely. I still think slimp3 is on the right track. A server with a web interface that lets you control what music you're playing where. I might want my PC in my office in charge of storing and dishing out the music, but have a webpad or something floating around my house to let people control what is playing where.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
This is the standard operating procedure for Apple, a device centered around your computer use, that works primarily with their own software so as to seamlessly integrate with your computer, and why support competing formats when Apple supports MP3 and AAC open audio standards instead of the Windows proprietary WMA. As for multi-room sync keep in mind that this is a first release and apple is sure to improve upon this model. Besides you can't beat that crisp white design and smooth curves, nothing looks better than an Apple product. I am headed down to the Apple store in Palo Alto to check it out but so far it looks like it gets the job done and does it well.
I think the way to think of this is that it's a Wireless-G router with no LAN-side ethernet ports, but instead has an audio-out connector. Bottom line -- maybe it's not a Squeezebox, but the fact that it costs less than routers with similar feature sets, AND will work really well for those of us who have already bought into the Mac platform, makes it a potential huge winner.
My friends often listen to music on their iBooks while sitting on the couch, they currently have a long speaker cable from the audio out to their stereo system. They will buy this in a second.
I'll be grabbing one as a wireless printer server and WiFi extender.
Did anyone else not see this product coming? It completely caught me by surprise/
One of the great features of the Squeezebox (and the recently announced Sonos) is that you can sync multiple devices together and have the same audio playing around the house, regardless of location. There are other ways to do this, of course, but it'd be great to be able to do the same with the Airport Express.
AirTunes is the software driving this thing...but Apple's real device here is AirPort Express. It's a very portable base station, which can create a wireless network for connecting to a WAN through your cable/dsl modem...or extend the range of another base Apple base station.
So, yeah...compared to the full features of a Squeezebox for music, it's lacking. And compared to the price of a Linksys or other 802.11 router...a little more expensive.
I'll take wireless access to my stereo from my G5...which I already drive around via Bluetooth from my phone when I'm too lazy to move off the couch. Who needs a remote??
-Barkeep, a draft of your most hazardous brew, for the world is slowly stepping into focus, and I don't like what I see.
Am I the only one that is missing audio specs from this? Simple things like signal to noise on the analog audio out would be nice same for things like how many channels I'm assuming a sterio pair but can it do 5.1 6.1 or 7.1 on the optical out? It seems ot only be able to repeat the wifi but claims bridging might this be the nearly perfect tv room accessory? I could see a sterio connection with a wired ethernet bridge for the console/tivo and a wifi repeater for better signal strength.
I cut my teeth on apple back whe a Mac 128 was current. They seemed to have been moving father and farther from being tied to any specs in the last 10 years.
No sir I dont like it.
heh that's funny. My sister's boyfriend is the CEO of that company. She was yelling at me last night for having an ipod and not a squeeze box. I told her: "Whatever product meets one's needs for the right price is clearly the way to go." I suspect apple will eat this whole market up and away from squeezebox.
especially since it is $60 cheaper.
- "Never let a computer tell me shit." - DelTron Zero
While nifty, unless I'm misreading the information at the site, this thing can not be used to make an ethernet printer wireless, only USB printers. Or can it? It has a WAN port but not a LAN port. That means no ethernet printer connection, right? Heck, if adding a LAN port would make it too big, I'd say toss the WAN port and switch it for LAN. I don't see using this thing as an access point, but would buy at least two if it had a LAN port (one for stereo, one for printer.)
--- What?
Itunes Remote $59:
I found mine for $39 with very little effort. Makes a great all-around remote, I've not yet done any custom mapping and it works great for iTunes and MPlayer.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
"Kinda important for those of us who shop there from time to time and don't want to re-encode those files"
Perhaps it would be nifty if there was a program that would take files that you bought, you would supply your key, and then it would strip the DRM from the file so you could use your iTMS purchased tunes fairly?
Then you wouldn't be locked into an apple-only solution. Does that make sense?
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
So, it's a base station, and you can stream music to it from your computer, and it can be used to extend an existing wireless network, and you can share a printer with it?
This does to many things without doing any of them well. My base station has a WAN port and a 4-port switch as well as wireless. If you want to plug any LAN machines into this, you can't. You'd need a switch/hub upstream, I guess, as well as a firewall. It makes a good base station only for those who only have wireless connections.
Of course, you'd probably have trouble plugging this into your LAN anyway, since you'll want it next to your stereo in order to stream music to it...and I guess you'd put your printer next to your stereo in the living room as well?
I actually think it's a cool idea to have an inexpensive, wireless device for streaming music from iTunes, but this seems like a case of feature creep. "Hey, it's already got the wireless chips, why not make it work as a base station too? Yeah, and if we added ethernet and USB, you could use it as a base station! Cool!"
-podom
We're wanted men. I have the death sentence in 12 systems!
Seriously, Apple folds innovations on top of other innovations they make. This is the next ipod, people, they are already approaching the home stereo which is now integral to the home theater as well. 802.11g has more than enough bandwidth to stream movies, right? Now, Apple has completely outflanked MS's "media center" methodology by saying "why for the love of god to you need a completely separate computer to run your home entertainment system?" what is a receiver except for a specialized computer, a computer that can be linked with other computers through a router. My prediction: a wireless OLED remote with a bare-bones OS X-style interface controlling (wirelessly) all the media in computers around the house. All this for around 300 bucks. Apple won't produce a PDA because that has no defined role, it's too nebulous and from that comes confusion. BUT Apple has all the experience needed for a kick-ass remote that just HAPPENS to do email, surf the net, etc.Or, what if the ipod BECOMES the remote? Mark my words, this is coming within a year and it will be huge and considerably less-expensive than the microsoft solution. Plus, it will all integrate with the ipod, I'm betting. You know how OS X hooks up with bluetooth phones? Same idea. This is huge and it is huge because it will be cheap, seamless, and not smacking of convergence.
Apple: You are SOOOO close on this.
... whatever). I want to stream whatever would be coming out of my audio port. I want to sit on my couch, put in a DVD, and watch and hear a movie without wires everywhere.
However, I don't *want* to stream iTunes (AirTunes
Can *any* device do this without a TV? I found this DVD player, but it's not what I'm looking for, either.
I have a D-Link wireless router here, I was thinking of lugging it back and forth everywhere I go, then I saw this beauty. I thought, "no, it will cost to much" then I saw the price, and I'll be ordering one ASAP. thanks again apple. I was wondering though, could this act as a repeater for my D-Link router? The d-link is in my (detached) garage, and only works in parts of the house, what if I plugged this into the house, could it repeat the D-Link's signal? Either way, I know I'm buying one. I wasn't even expecting this.
Sig: I stole this sig.
Does anyone know if this will interoperate properly with non-Apple base stations? I'd jump all over this if it would work as a repeater with my cheap-ass Netgear wireless router - the added connection to my stereo would be nice, but the two together in a package small enough to hide behind my audio rack is very, very nice. But only worthwhile if it'll function as a repeater, functionality the construction of my apartment requires.
---
Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
Wow. That's all I can say. This has to be one of Apple's best products - kudos to Apple, you understand our needs completely! I'm even more excited because this will take wireless out of the hands of Wi-Fi start-ups (i.e. the ones that inexplicably charge people for Wi-Fi) and put it in the hands of people who benefit from wireless. Even better, this will give people motivation to buy that laptop, because now they can set up wireless base stations virtually anywhere. This may sound like hyperbole, but a product like this could have a similar effect as did the iPod. So then lies my only question: when is this product going to be available in Canada? Because if any Apple people are reading this, the customer base in Canada is hungry for stuff like this.
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
Pretty much, what it's for is to make your music play from much nicer speakers than the ones in your laptop, and you can sit in the same room as the stereo and change songs by clicking on the screen.
I'm planning to purchase one and hook it up to Input 2 of my powered speakers (Input 1 goes to the television.) That way, I can sprawl on the couch and, when I run out of things to watch on the Tivo, click buttons on Synergy (an iTunes menu-bar controller) or the iTunes window, and instead of coming out of my Powerbook's cheap speakers, the music will play out of the much better Sonys.
Plus, it's a wireless print server, so I could get a photo printer and stick it in the living room on the lowest shelf of the TV cart and print out photos from time to time. And it's a wireless repeater, which means I can finally sit on the porch on nice evenings and surf the web. (That last might not work until I get an Apple branded basestation, but I won't know for sure till I get one of these things.)
As for audio connectors - it's got a standard 1/8" headphone jack. You can use any adapters you like for hooking up stereo equipment to that. My speakers will (I think; I'm at work) require a 1/8" to RCA adapter cable, and I happen to have several lying in a drawer here in the video equipment pile.
I'm going to get this so I don't have to splurge for the home media option on the Tivo - I don't like the interface the Tivo is using, I don't need the photo streaming, I do need a wireless repeater, and the print server function may someday be useful to me.
i am a soviet space shuttle
The optical out is great news, especially IF it works with the Mac OS X Apple DVD Player and 5.1 audio.
Combine that with an Apple Cinema HD display, and any ADC equiped PowerBook or PowerMac becomes a pretty cool Home Theater PC (HTPC).
Does anyone know if this does/or will work?
Ted
Applescript and Salling Clicker will make this awesome. And a $130 bridge will help me to get better reception in the bedroom, which is very far from the base station and through a cinder-block wall and a chimney.
This thing is amazing... just amazing.
I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
I think it's great... Very easy and straightforward management of my music library, which changes content at all times but always takes up about 120 gigs. I can manage all of it easily, find what I'm looking for, and making and managing CD playlists is easy.
I wonder why they didn't include HomePlug support, (ethernet over the power lines in your house). It's slow (I get about 3mbit between opposite sides of my house) but more than enough for media files.
Since this thing doubles as a wall wart and powerline ethernet requires a direct plug connection without a power strip, it should have been a no-brainer to include.
Peace
I noticed one of the bigger differences is that it supports 10 clients and not 50 like the base stations. I wonder if there will be a way to hack away the limitation since I assume its a firmware limitation. Not that most home users will care. But some businesses might want to do it.
The one thing missing is the CoreAudio drivers for this baby... so that not only iTunes but any app can push out its sound to this baby. Check out http://cvs.opendarwin.org/index.cgi/projects/Netwo rkAudioDevice/ for a stepstone...
I'm sure it won't take long.
Joakim
I *DO* have 700+ CDs. For the 40-50 I've actually taken the time to rip to MP3, rate, and make smart playlists for, I just plug my PowerBook directly into my stereo and save the extra cash for more CDs. I've actually got a stereo sitting on my desk, since I use it as a monitor when I'm producing music, but it's not a pain to walk my laptop over to the main stereo if I have to -- it is portable, after all. There are a million little convenience gadgets out there; it comes down to picking and choosing so you can spend your money most efficiently. There is limited money but unlimited gadgets. That's why I'm deciding to pass on this one. If this thing works for you, fine. Spend the cash. Like I said, call me Amish, but the old way works fine for me. And I'm happy there is a product that fills your needs. It just doesn't fill mine.
And if you haven't guessed; this long explanation is more for those seemingly angry mods who don't seem to understand the intent, humour or meaning of my original post than for you.
It's a scary thought that a post which jokes that there should be limits to our unending mass consumption is nearly instantly modded down, when it's obviously a problem in North American society, and fundamentally ONtopic rather than off when dealing with a "convenience" product such as this.
I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."
Creative Labs is already shipping a similar product for streaming audio off your computer, but theirs has a wireless RF remote.a sp?catego ry=119&subcategory=121&product=9192#
http://us.creative.com/products/product.
Apple has the marketing power so their solution will probably sell better. Maybe when Apple let's you control the music via your iPod, it'll be as nice. Until then I'd take Creative Labs system, even if it's not perfect.
Secondly, a decent 802.11g AP WILL cost you a good $80-$90
I posted this in an earlier comment but it's pretty interesting so I will post it again:
The CompUSA in San Antonio (and presumably, CompUSA's elsewhere) is selling the Linksys WRT54G Router/Access Point for $59.95 after instant and mail-in rebates. IIRC, the mail-in rebate is for $10. This is a great little Linux-based router that can be reflashed with custom firmware if you so choose.
It's $70 cheaper than the SliMP3
I do think they're going to sell a lot of them, but my slimp3 does stuff I don't see this doing...in particular, it allows more than one person to manage the music that's going on in the house. When we're listening to music, it's rare that only one of us is contributing to the play list. My wife will add some tracks, I'll add some tracks, maybe a kid will add a couple...
Before the slimp3, I had an ad-hoc system with ssh and a NetBSD box hooked up to the stereo that did it. We'd always fight for control of the thing. I'd like to avoid that (as well as having another machine that just does the music since we currently run the slimp3 server on a Solaris box in another room and operate it from our powerbook/ibooks).
I kinda dig the UI on the slimp3, too. It's nice being able to see what's going on.
Now, a remote controlled itunes to operate the thing might make things better.
It's certainly a cool device, though.
-- The world is watching America, and America is watching TV.
I've shopped around for a decent printer server that I can use with my 802.11b network. Of course, it doesn't surprise me the selection is small and far and few in decent prices. HP printer servers are expensive as hell, but work great. Netgears had bad reviews. Apple, I'm willing to try out.
Not only that, it has an audio out. I don't have to think of some elaborate setup with a dummy box I can shh into and play music. Plus, it's a wifi repeater.
For 130bucks, I think it's a steal. But, I'm a lil iffy. I'm a linux and windows user. I don't have a mac product in the house. Maybe it's better off I wait for the second generation.
But, a 12" Powerbook with a built-in Airport card suddenly makes for a very nice remote.
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
Reading the complaints from previous posts, I can see most people are probably thinking in terms of a desktop user. However, if you think with the mindset of a laptop user, this Airport Express opens up wonders (especially for iBook users).
First, the Airport Extreme gives laptop users a wireless path to the Internet (or an extended range if they already have a router).
Second, the last major tether to the desk can finally be removed off a laptop: the printer. With the Airport Express, a laptop user can finally roam freely on a WiFi network and not have to re-wire in order to print a document.
Third, especially for iBook users, a laptop user will not have to be restricted to their tiny built-in speakers in order to listen to music while moving around the house. The Airport Extreme will cut the wire from having an awesome external speaker connected to the laptop, and give users the ability to listen to their laptop music through those speakers wherever they go. And since a laptop user usually brings their laptops along, no remote is usually necessary (unless you're extremely lazy).
While the lack of remote support can be a pain to desktop users, the Airport Express, in my view, is a godsend to laptop users.
Setup is pretty much as follows:
Both my Xbox (modded & running XBMC) and my studio box (older PM G4) access my fileserver via a Samba share. Both XBMC and iTunes are controlled via my handspring visor's (using a Xircom springboard modules) browser (XBMC has integrated webbrowsing, but I had to use DeadEnd's webRemote to control iTunes). Next, Both devices are mixed in through an old Fostex board and broadcast via a low powered stereo transmitter.
This not only allows me to play all of my Ogg, Mp3 and AAC files on any stereo (or walkman) on (and around ;-) ) my home/property, it also allows me to control the tunes as I choose.
It works quite well... but with a lot of obvious steps. (The biggest is using both the Xbox and the Mac... which I could overcome if I'd go ahead and strip my protected AAC's). Not sure if I'll go Apple's preferred route or not... but it is tempting.
#SickNotWeak
fark mod points, I've gotta reply.
;-p
Combined optical/minijack examples
Audio out: iriver ihp-1xx series units (atleast, probably more, i just own the 120 model)
Audio in: NJB3, iriver ihp-1xx series, every freakin minidisc portable unit under the sun post like 1995.
Not a flame, but this isnt new, by any long shot.
Now that I've burned my optrotunity to mod this article (and 2 points already gone), I might as well note that if this thing passes through itunes, and anything itunes will play, gets forwarded correctly, then those out there who have dedicated servies already, could run Namp (namp.sourceforge.net) which can build m3u and shoutcast playlists, which do work in itunes, and shuffle your audio that way, *and* even have it be unit independant if you can continually add songs to the list post-creation (I dunno, still installing the modperl stuff on mine).
It would work better if you had (wait for it), a G5 with ssh and stuff running and acting as a server, but yeah, that would make my life a lot simpler anyway.
-- Page
We don't need an "overrated" so much as we need a "you completely missed the parent's point, dumbass..."
With a cursory read of the specs I only see that the ASUS has WDS (wireless bridging) while the Apple only acts as a extender. The Apple however is a USB print server and has audio out, and has no power brick, making it much more portable. Those both seem to appeal to a much broader group of people than the WDS. Worth twice as much? Maybe not for all. but an wireless XP/OS X compatible printer server is definitely of interesting to me, as is the portability.
Underloved Movies and Pub Quiz: donotquestionme.org
This thing is so cool that I'm actually considering bying an Apple laptop so I can get this thing too.
Bought an iPod recently and am really happy with it.
You won't need to go back to your computer if you have a mobile phone that can run Bemused or Salling Clicker!
I run the GREAT daapd project on my Gentoo system to stream out my music to all the machines at my home network and to work. I was recently thinking "how much power would it take to embed that project and take on the squeeze box?".
But, knowing how small the mach kernel is, could this all be run via real software? Airport is mainly run my hardware controlled by a tinny bit of firmware, but given this thing has more features than your average home router, do you think Apple has stripped down Darwin to create it?
Think about, the development for getting CUPS, mDNS, DHCPD, their DAAP, their firewall, the airport driver might out weigh the cost of a hardware with enough power to run an embedded system.
.\.\att Clare
So.. really nifty little device. The one glaring omission: a remote control.
The solution: I'm betting a WiFi module/adapter for the iPod. You can either stream music from the iPod to the AE, or you can use the iPod's controls and display to control (the possibly larger) library on your computer.
iPod -> WiFi -> Airport Express
or
iPod -> WiFi -> Computer w/ iTunes -> WiFi -> Airport Express
Since you'd be using it around the house/office/hotel, the lessened run time of the iPod from powering the WiFi adapter would not be an issue.
As an ancillary benefit, the iPod would also function as a remote control for iPhoto and Keynote.
iBook, iPod and Airport Express, your total wireless presentation system.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Luckily, since I had FreeBSD 5.2.1 (Release) running on the old Celeron HP Desktop, I was able to use the built in FireWire support, load the Apple File System Geometry kernel extension and compile a UFS/UFS+ file system mounting utilities on FreeBSD and get the previously underused FireWire drive shared over the network via SAMBA (as well as it's 2 internal 8GB Drives). All told, it took like 45 minutes to get it up and running.
Unfortunately, the HP is rather loud (the power supply fan) and annoying to have on. A EPIA based setup would be PERFECT to run FreeBSD and serve as a general file server.
Also, I suspect that whatever protocol Apple is using to stream audio over the network to the Airport Express will soon be dissected and reverse engineered (love those Slashdot Hardware hackers!!) and you'll soon be able to stream from your EPIA as well as use your Firewire drives as NAS. But if you want to ditch the EPIA setup right now, drop me an e-mail.
DaveC
There are no stupid questions...just stupid people.
another poster mentioned the Salling Clicker software, but it's cool enough to mention again.
I have this for my Palm Tungsten and Nokia 3650 phone, both bluetooth enabled. You can basically control most any application on your mac. ITunes is the most compelling example. Bring it up on your phone and it connects via Bluetooth to you Mac. From there you can start itunes, and navigate to the songs/playlists/browse-whatever (just like the iPod) and completely control iTunes. You can pause, fast forward, control the volume. The album art shows up for the currently playing song. It really is unbelievably cool. The only thing missing up to now was an actual use, for me at least. I can now control my stereo fully from my phone.
Oh, another cool thing: incoming calls cause it to pause. Same with DVDs.
Not bad for $20.
An lcd
A remote control
Anything from M-Audio! - MIDI interface, keyboard, a (real) audio interface...
microcontroller --> endless possibilities....
flash drive, or a flash card reader
usb drive enclosure - harddrive, CD-R...
1) Integrate remote audio into all media apps in Mac OS X. What's good for iTunes is good for DVD player and QT; hell, it should be possible, on the desktop, to select a remote audio "AirTunes" connection as your standard audio output, with a CoreAudio interface, so that we can use things like Detour to choose the audio for any part of our system to go there. At minimum, though, it should cover all consumer media apps, and should be made open to Real and Microsoft ( if they *ever* release another version of WMP, that is... )
2) Integrate it into a next-gen iPod. If someone comes over with their iPod, I want them to be able to select my stereo and play music. It's a great idea, and it's just yet another reason why the iPod needs WiFi.
3) While you're at it, allow people to put their iPods into "broadcast" mode while they're listening, and let us select the audio from any other iPod in the area. I'm not saying I want to browse their collections - I just want the opportunity to listen to what someone else is listening to. If we can do more than that, great, but I'd settle for a live stream.
4) Pass out this technology to all the games console folks. They can choose whether they decide to include it in their console, turning each console into an AirTunes port I can select, or decide to allow you to select an AirTunes port as the game audio port.
The benefits of this stuff won't really be there until absolutely anything can use it; open it up.
-- A mind is a terrible thing.
Since apple went through the trouble to start a new brand name as opposed to simply calling the AirPort Express "iTunes Enabled" I have a feeling that they are going to be allowing other manufacturers to add this functionality to their products.
Imagine home electronics with a built-in WIFI receiver that is able to decode Protected-AAC and will show up in iTunes automatically as soon as you plug it in!
I can't wait to buy a AirTunes iPod.
Sure, they will have their own devices, but I bet it will also be a new "port" for other companies to use - same as FireWire has become so ubiquitous on video equipment.
And for all you audiophiles out there, remember, iTunes can play apple's loss-less compressed format and the AirPort Express does have a digital audio out, so don't whine about the sound quality of playing compressed audio through your $40,000 stereo.
If I end up buying one of these things, I'll take it one step further: Stream iTunes from my desktop machine in another part of the house and use my PowerBook as a remote. I'm already running OSXvnc on my desktop and Chicken of the VNC on my PB, so I have everything in place (except the Airport Express, of course). The advantage to this approach is that I don't have to keep my PowerBook awake if I just want to sit back and listen.