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Ars Reviews AirPort Express

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it-fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dept.

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."

5 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is fine and well, but... by PaulusMagnus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

  2. Re:Audio Cable by Chiron+Taltos · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From the article:

    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

  3. Re:couple of things by tgibbs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  4. Re:Actually, it's not like that at all. by theManInTheYellowHat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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......

  5. Re:Actually, it's not like that at all. by Yaztromo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Not including an audio cable is stupid, in my book, because one of the biggest selling points of the product is NOT FUNCTIONAL without additional equipment. Sure, it's a cheap cable (3-5 bucks most places), but I imagine there are a number of people who don't have these handy. And if Apple bought these in bulk (which they obviously would), it would probably cost them 25 cents at the most to include this cable in the box.

    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.