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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."
Now, I haven't read the article yet, so I dont know the context, but isn't a computer running iTunes supposed to be the remote control?
Those are probably precisely the countries we want to jam.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
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?
people get confused about that?
like shoving two floppies into one drive?
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
Walt Mossberg reviewed it in today's Wall Street Journal, as well. You can find the article here. He mostly likes it, but wants to be able to play through multple outputs (either two Airport Expresses or an Airport Express and the local speakers). Also, the lack of remote control and display was a huge downside for him.
You just come along with me and have a good time. The Galaxy's a fun place. You'll need to have this fish in your ear.
The airport express as shipped will need a 1/8" (3.5mm) to dual RCA or mini-Toslink optical cable to hook up to an audio device. Out of the box it can not do so. While radio shack has the cables necessary, it doesn't have the power cord which replaces the flip out plug in (ala iPod and power book adapters). I've had my AX up and running since last friday and finally got the connector kit yesterday.
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.
It seems to me a lot of people are criticizing this device just because it doesn't do everything. 'No remote? No display on it? Doesn't work with [insert Linux technology here]? That's no good.'
Well, this is Apple's first iteration of a new technology, and it'll take some time to develop. Apple will probably open some parts of this technology to 3rd party developers, and let them come up with things to do with it. I'd expect Apple has plans to do something neat to tie in this wireless-music-broadcast idea to an upcoming generation of the iPod. (broadcasting to your stereo from the iPod in your pocket might be kind of neat, right?)
...Or, you could look at it the other way, in that this isn't a new technology, but Apple added a really neat feature to a product that didn't need it at all. I think this would be a pretty neat little wireless access point on it's own, but add in the print-server and music streaming, and that's a pretty impressive piece of technology in a nice little package. No, it doesn't do everything... but not everyone needs everything. And how are you going to make a product that does everything?
Apple tends to like to start small, introduce a product that only does what it does, but does it well, and without much hassle. Then they start evolving it, over years, by adding features individually, making sure that feature works right, and then looking at new features. The alternative would be to try to pack in as many features as possible, all at once, then spending years making all the features work right.
I suspect the first generation of these will find a limited audience whose specific needs are met by the first generation. The second generation will do more, and therefore find a bigger audience, and so on.
I also suspect that, no matter how much it does, there will people who will complain that it doesn't do things that it just wasn't designed to do. Are you going to complain that the iPod doesn't play CDs, or that your refridgerator doesn't have a built-in stove?
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......
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.