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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."
APPLE makes this to work with APPLE products. There is no law that says they have to make it completely open and work with everything. It works on a PC(w/iTunes) as well from what I've read so what's the big deal.
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.
Just hope my neighbors get 'Airtunes' within a reasonable timeframe...they took forEVER to get a wireless router. Some people are so lazy...
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Actually, it's $150 less than the wireless Squeezebox.
This'll be badass with my shreddin air guitar!!
I also reply below your current threshold.
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/
... there comes a point where all this convenience is deadly to fat guys like me. I'll just stick with putting a CD in my stereo, thanks. North America has so much convenience we're all dropping dead. I even have a remote control to turn on my Exercycle from the couch, so my wife thinks I'm excercising when I'm actually watching Smallville reruns.
I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."
People that use iTunes and iPods have long requested a simple way to stream music to stereos no matter where they are.
Those tiny white earbuds become tiny white pains in the ass if used for any period of time, and I like to hear the phone ring while I'm working.
You can bet your tail this device is only the beginning and can probably offer hints to the next iPod revision: wireless and remote-control modes.
Apple finally has a respectful user-base and they'll do anything they can to keep it for as long as possible.
If you're half as beautiful naked, you'd be 4 times as beautiful with twice as many clothes on.
No problem. iTunes is fully scriptable via AppleScript on Mac OS X and I believe now via COM on Windows. I bet you can find software to control it as needed, if not, you will shortly.
:-)
Also the updated iTunes hasn't been fully release yet so who knows but it may provide such capabilities between iTunes applications directly.
Now you just need a wireless (11b/g) remote that can connect to iTunes, etc.
- It's an 802.11g repeater
- It's a NAT router
- It's a network usb printer server
- It's most likely the only AP that was designed for portability (correct me if I'm wrong)
So sure, if you're buying this thing strictly for music then yeah, you might be buying the wrong, or simply less expensive alternative to squeezebox. But if you want a portable AP/Router that has a nifty added feature of wireless audio support it's a hell of a product.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.
I paid close to $100 for a POS NetGear bridge a while back and it's only a b not g device.
Sounds reasonable. I don't see myself getting one, but that doesn't mean I think it's a watse of money/time and Apple should be slapped for making it.
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.
How is it insecure? it fully supports WPA.
And have you ever tried one of those 25 dollar radio transmitters? They suck. I've never had one make it more than 15 feet in open air without turning the audio quality to snap crackly crap. This provides an all digital link which right away eliminates analog noise.
Why would I want a hard drive and an interface? I have a big hard drive in my Power Mac, why should I duplicate all of my music on some MP3 network device and my Power Mac? Why would I want to manage music in 2 places? If I rip a new CD why would I want to add it to the MP3 device too?
This device is half the price of what you mention and it acts as a wireless access point as a side benefit of streaming music. This is perfect for most users. The remote could be an issue, but you can control this with any laptop with iTunes and play the music from a desktop in another room on the speakers in your room. You can also use any of the new bluetooth equipped phones to remote control iTunes. I use the Salling Clicker on my T616 to control iTunes all the time. Hopefully apple will make a remote device soon that uses 802.11b and has a small LCD, I'm sure they will before too long, and if they don't I'm sure a few other companies will.
-matt
http://thewonderllama.com
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
Keep It Simple Stupid...
The target audience for this product is a Mac user... people are typically drawn to Mac for it's "it just works" image (which has been dilluted lately).
This seems like a very Mac way to get these functions done... via your existing familiar itunes interface you can play songs on your home stereo w/o a wire from your PC to the stereo.
It also eliminates a router for people who don't use wired devices.
With this less-then-a-typical-brick sized device you can put your cable modem and printer in/on a desk, and hook up your stereo too. Then your Mac's around the house can print, share files, connect to the net and play music on the stereo...
Apple definiately did their homework for this one...
And I was getting so psyched last night because I got my Via EPIA board loaded up with Fedora and XMMS, and could finally stream my favorite streaming audio site, albeit with Ethernet cable (Wi-Fi was on my project plan), and pipe it through my office stereo.
And this little beauty will plug right into the wall socket by my stereo for a lot less money, less hassle, etc.
Anybody wanna buy an EPIA, slightly used?
(DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN......)
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
Dear Apple,
Please stop making so many little, cool geek products. I'm running out of money.
Love, Norm
It's wireless. Most people who use a wireless network are on laptops. You don't need a remote. That's the point.
This is designed to replace ugly and bulky cables and half-assed-but-functional DIY schemes.
Everyone's fixated on music, but the best thing for us road warriors is it's a mobile access point. I can bring it around and use the hotel's wired access wirelessly from my room. And it's tiny and light, so it won't load me down -or- take up a lot of space in the laptop bag.
If you've never been on the road, you don't know how much of a pain it is to be stuck to the crappy desks most hotels have. Go wireless!
You can also (with a y-cable) attach it to the in-room TV, so you can ditch those annoyingly-heavy travel speakers. Yahoo!
Need to enable wireless in a conference room really quick? Plug in one of these puppies, and bang, you're ready to go. You can even configure the drop in the conference room as not connected to the inside net, allowing instant ad-hoc outside access.
It's also something else: a security nightmare for IT. Imagine the problem IT had with unauthorized modems. Now you can have rogue access points the size of a pack of cards hiding out somewhere in your organization. You'd never find the freaking thing.
What a neato gadget!
Perhaps we'll see the combination of AirTunes software with Garage Band? The new AirGuitar software should really liven the party up.