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Commentary > On Technology
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AirPort Express: Music to your ears
Apple's tiny new networking gadget should make playing music from your computer a breeze.
June 25, 2004: 8:47 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Fortune Magazine) - My buddy Snotnerb has a digital music collection so vast that no current iPod can hold it all at once, not even the 60-gigabyte model that Apple is rumored to be introducing in a few months.

He has spent months ripping his CDs onto his Macintosh, and months plotting a home network that will pump those tunes from his Mac to his fancy home stereo. He has crawled on his belly under his house to avoid stringing Ethernet cables through the living room.

If he had only waited. Steve Jobs said today he has a $129 solution to Snotnerb's networking problem, without running any wires under the house. And besides streaming Snotnerb's entire music collection to a stereo or powered speakers in any room in his house, the $129 device also expands the range of his existing wireless network, allows everyone in his family to share a central printer, and, when Snotnerb travels, frees him from the tyranny of being tethered to the typical desktop Ethernet broadband connection in his hotel rooms. Now he can surf the web while relaxing on the balcony.

Apple's music-minded CEO today introduced a mobile wireless (802.11g) base station called AirPort Express, which he said will go on sale sometime in July. The base station is small -- not much larger than the power adapter on a PowerBook notebook computer, or just four inches by three inches by one inch -- which makes it highly mobile. It plugs into any power outlet.

We haven't tested it yet, of course, so I can't vouch that the AirPort Express and accompanying AirTunes music software will work as easily and as flawlessly as Steve Jobs says they will. But if the Express works as easily as Apple's hardware boss, Greg Joswiak, told me it will, it's going to be a very popular product.

People who don't already have a wireless network in the home can set one up by plugging in an Express -- "set-up is very, very simple," Joz said -- assuming they already have a cable modem or DSL connection (sorry, it doesn't support dial-up phone connections).

The AirPort Express has three ports: One Ethernet port for the cable coming from the DSL or cable modem, one USB 2.0 port for connecting a printer or other USB device, and -- this is the coolest part -- an audio-out jack for connecting the base station to a stereo, to a set of powered speakers, or even to a 5.1-channel home theater surround sound system.

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As a standalone wireless base station, the AirPort Express sounds like a simpler, lower-cost alternative to Apple's AirPort Extreme base station ($199 to $249 depending on features). Unlike the Extreme model, the new Express does not have a modem for connecting through a dial-up phone line. The Extreme can support as many as 50 users, but frankly, I don't recall ever having that many PCs in my house, or even that many bandwidth bootleggers parked outside. The Express supports 10 users, which is plenty for my needs.

I've already got a wireless network at home, but the base station is on one floor of the house and my good stereo is on another. In the past, I've connected either my PowerBook or my iPod to the stereo using a simple audio patch cable. It's an okay solution, but not ideal. Most of the time I listen to my iTunes collection through my Mac's speakers, which also are okay.

Now I'll be able to plug the Express into any outlet near my home stereo system, connect the Express to my stereo receiver via analog or digital audio-out cable, and then -- once I install the AirTunes software that works seamlessly with a new version of iTunes coming next week for Macintoshes and Windows-based PCs -- I can stream my iTunes music wirelessly to the family room receiver and then to my beloved Sonus Faber speakers.

The AirTunes software is supposed to be able to automatically detect when remote speakers are available, and those speakers then show up on a pop-up list on the computer's iTunes screen.

Or, I can attach a set of powered speakers to the Express base station and stream my music from the PC to the kitchen, the bedroom, or any other room in the house.

In theory, I could buy several AirPort Express base stations and speaker systems and scatter them in different rooms. Then, I could drive my wife crazy by routing music first to one room, then to another, and on and on.

Hmm. That could be a bad idea.

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Or, I can use the Express as a bridge back to the main AirPort Extreme base station, as a way to extend the range of my wireless network. An 802.11g signal has a theoretical range of 150 feet in any direction from the base station, but in real life the effective distance varies depending on walls, doors, floors, ceilings and other interference. By putting an Express base station downstairs, underneath the main Extreme base station, I can bridge the two and deliver greater signal strength to the far corners of the house.

That's a good idea.

Joswiak said the music will be streamed using a "lossless" compression technique that won't diminish the sound quality. He said, too, that the system has security protections to prevent creepy neighbors from pirating your music collection if it streams within range of their wireless networks.

It sounds like the only thing the AirPort Express lacks is a remote control. The way it stands now, I have to run back to my PC every time I want to change songs or playlists. But a little exercise is probably not a bad idea, either.

Apple said to watch its web site, apple.com, for updated news on availability.  Top of page




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.