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Ars Reviews AirPort Express
ack154 writes "Ars Technica has a nice, comprehensive review of the new AirPort Express from Apple. There is a breakdown of each of the main features: music streaming, a mobile base station, a base station extender, and networking a printer. All features were tested from both Mac and Windows perspectives. Overall it got an 8/10 with points mainly lost for no means of remote control and no audio cable included in the package."
Since the Airport Express can connect to stereo systems.
goates
You mean some European countries use the 802.11 2.4GHz frequency for military communications? Airport just sticks to the standards laid down in the IEEE standards. They didn't do a "Microsoft" and create their own standards.
BTW Which European countries, as there are a lot of devices that use this band now?
Also, to my dismay, the Express did not include any audio cables for hooking it up to a stereo. ... The AirPort Express Stereo Connection Kit with Monster Cables and an AC power cord is available separately from Apple for US$39.
They offer it separately, and I think that's the point. The idea is to stream music wirelessly, and many people are going to buy it for that reason. If Apple adds the Connection Kit to the AirPort Express, the overall price goes up some, for an item I would guess most people do not need/want. If you absolutely have to have a wired connection, then hey, they have that accessory available as a separate product.
CT
Maybe you could argue the lack of remote (or maybe not given this is first generation, and a remote function might have doubled the price... you don't just toss a remote function in there... that's hardware), but a point off for no audio cable is complete dump. Everyone's situation is going to be different. Do they put in a 3' cable? A 6' cable? A 9' cable? MonsterCable? Lamp cord? It's like dinging a mouse for not including the mouse pad. I have a box full of included cables I have never used.
--- Ban humanity.
Perhaps you could boost your phone's bluetooth and use SallingClicker...
I wish iTunes could let one stream audio to the Express and play music on the host simultaneously. I was surprised to learn that it can't do both.
It's probably not as easy as it sounds. I imagine that automatically getting exact synchronization with different levels of network activity could be tricky. And if they were a bit off, it would sound pretty weird.
Yes, that's right. What did you expect? This is designed for use with "iTunes", not as wireless speaker system. Hence, it has the name of "AirTunes". Get it?
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Printers have been sold w/o a cable forever. And the computer that you would attach them too would also not have one. I also bet that the cassette deck that you bought in 1992 did not come with the necessary patch cord as well. Nor did the CD player that you replaced it with in 1995......
None of the products you mentioned use the cord as the selling point. The whole point of the Apple setup is ease of use. Selling a product where one of the main features requires an additional part is bad business.
A 25 foot audio cable? That's exactly the sort of thing people want to avoid by using this product, having to run a cable around the house that people might trip over, etc.
Same with the AX, you have an option, mini plug or optical. Some people will use neither, some will go taos, some will go mini. Either way, leaving you with an extra cable. And added expense to the product. I do think however, Apple should have some sort of adapter available for people who already have an optical cable, to plug in the the AX. (sure that could add noise to the signal, but if you're complaining, you already think that a 300 mbs encoded file is lossy, so you wouldn't want streaming in the first place.)
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
I've bought several cassette decks and CD players/changers over the years, and they all included cables. Granted, they usually weren't very high-quality cables, but I have a pile of about 15 stereo RCA/RCA patch cords stashed away in a box to show for it.
Even the VCR/DVD unit I bought for the bedroom TV last month (we're not talking top-of-the-line here) had sufficent cables.
I'm normally an Apple fan [pats powerbook], but I think they slipped up on this one.
Actually, the AirPort Express can take two diffferent types of audio cable -- a standard 3.5mm stereo analogue cable, or a mini-Toslink optical cable.
So now Apple would have to ship two cables to satisfy everyone. And how long should it be? Some people may need a longer cable, and others may need a shorter cable.
If it were something difficult to purchase elsewhere, I'd see a point -- but we're talking about an audio cable that is available everywhere. Chances are, Apple retailers will ask you if you want an audio cable at the time of purchase anyway.
Seems like a complete non-issue to me.
Yaz.
France has the Mirage series if fighters and lots of other aircraft. I have a book outlining the airforces of many of the world's powers, and counted fourty different kinds of aircraft still in service.
They build the Exocet missiles, the kind sold to Persian Gulf, such as the one that hit one of the U.S. navy ships in the 90's. They are a pretty big exporter of military technology, which I think is one of the reasons they objected to intervention with Iraq because their companies did a lot of business with the Hussein government and wanted their cozy business arrangements back.
They also have nuclear weapons, and have tested them over the objections of Greenpeace.
I think every EU nation with water borders has a navy.