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."

Comments

iPod with WiFi next?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

apple innovates again

[babazoid]

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.

Questions

[That's Unpossible!]

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.

Sounds good to me

[miked378]

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.

This is perfect for it's target market

[MacFury]

Your criticisms are almost unjustified because the two products serve different market segments.

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/

Re:Nifty for the price - but not a Squeezebox

[dwbryson]

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.

Watch, this is a Trojan Horse...

[sockit2me9000]

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.

Re:Watch, this is a Trojan Horse...

[sockit2me9000]

And the thing about this is that it's just so classically Apple. They create new markets. Why the hell hasn't anyone else stumbled on the idea of combining media sharing and a wireless access point? That's so obvious. But Apple's the first, and can guarantee a measure of inter-operability that Microsoft just can't because they don't control the whole widget. BUT now Apple can even make inroads on PC's too, because they have vertical integration. So, hypothetically, Apple may be able to bring media center functionality to PC's as well, without making the consumer buy another Wintel computer for media.
This is the problem with Apple innovation, it seems so obvious and logical in retrospect that you tend to discount it because it is so elegant and obvious.
But it's also interesting to note that Apple continues to innovate in ways that Microsoft can't because they're tied to a software only model and let others make the hardware (except for the X-Box). And it's also interesting because Apple seems to approach everything from a "modular" angle, letting bits and pieces build on each other as technology matures as opposed to the MS way of saying "this is how we are going to innovate, so all you better start." In short, Apple cuts out the nebulous third "????" step, patiently waiting until all the technology is there, all their ducks in order and then they release it and it isn't some half-assed near solution but a complete paradigm.
Look at the PowerBook. They held off on G4's until they could do them right.

Note to Apple

[milletre]

Apple: You are SOOOO close on this.

However, I don't *want* to stream iTunes (AirTunes ... 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.

Can *any* device do this without a TV? I found this DVD player, but it's not what I'm looking for, either.

Re:Wow what a POS

[aftk2]

Look at it this way, you have an xbox/ps2 that you want to get online and have also been looking for an easy way to listen to your iTunes music on your stereo. For $129 you get a bridge that will allow you to get your console online and an audio out to pipe into your stereo.

This is actually exactly the first thing I thought of when I started reading about it. If it can work with existing wireless hardware, I think it'll do very, very well (for example, I have a wired Mac, and a Netgear wireless router. If you go from the Wired Mac -> Wireless Router -> Airport Express -> Stereo, as well as Cable Modem -> Wireless Router -> Airport Express -> Xbox, it's one heck of a device. And I don't see why you couldn't.)

Re:Nifty for the price - but not a Squeezebox

[Buran]

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.

Re:Nifty for the price - but not a Squeezebox

[Paulrothrock]

I would add one feature: Multiple streams. Send the news radio or an audio book to the kitchen, and a playlist of lullabies to the nursery, from one computer.

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.

Re:One Big LAME

[squiggleslash]

It looks possible that Jobs has this covered:

When Jobs was demonstrating the new Airport Express, Walt Mossberg said that the biggest problem he saw was that users had to get up and walk to their computers to change play lists. Jobs joked that walking was good, but when pressed, he smiled a wry smile. AppleInsider correspondents took this to mean that Apple is developing in this area, and the Airport Express is just a step along the way.

Kind of sounds like something's planned. A "Remote control" (something resembling an iPod, with 802.11 instead of a hard disk) for iTunes ought to be technically easy to build. I wonder if it would be something like that?