My long pending order arrived yesterday! Back in June Apple announced the Airport Express (AEx) – a neat little wireless networking gadget (802.11g – 54 Mbps) that can serve as a wireless link between my computer in the office, and my stereo/media center downstairs at the other end of the house. As soon as I heard about this, I had visions of using iTunes to tune in some of the more interesting internet radio stations, and using the AEx to send them to my stereo downstairs. Its crazy to be trapped in the office to listen to some of the nicer internet music sites.
Also see
notebookreview.com – includes AEx internal photo!
As always Apple has done a very nice job with the packaging. A white sleeve with all the informational text on it. Slide the sleeve off to reveal a sky blue box that unfolds like a book, to expose the AEx on the right, and a thin white box on the left that slips out and contains the Cd, documents and manuals.
It took me about 15 minutes to find an extension cord and an audio cable with a stereo miniphone plug on one end and a pair of phono plugs on the other. It took a few minutes to check the manual for JVC my stero receiver and decide that the CDR input was the best remaining spare to use. A few more minutes to lean behind the shelves to plug the power cord in, then all of a minute to plug the AEx into the power cord, and plug the miniphone jack into it. It blinked yellow for a few moments, then alternated between yellow and green.
I went up to the office, loaded the software off the CD, which required a reboot, then took maybe 10 minutes configuring my new network. Set the password and security profile, then added the AEx device as trusted. No biggie there.
Started up iTunes, click the speaker logo in the bottom right and relabelled the new network speaker “TV Room”, then picked a song and started it playing. I went downstairs, set the stereo to CDR (where the AEx is plugged in), and cranked the volumn. Sounds great.
Went back upstairs and picked a streaming source – MAGNATUNE.COM – an indie site that plays their own artists … it sounded great. Then I played KEXP 90.3 from Seattle – that sounded fine too.
Bottom line – easy to install, and just works (great).
Piece of cake …