Apple AirPort Express
August 9th, 2004 | by Jeff Fila
Full Review - Page 2
Design and Features In typical Apple fashion, the AirPort Express Base Station incorporates a minimalist design with few buttons or interfaces and a white, almost featureless finish. The palm-sized 3.7-inch by 2.95-inch by 1.12-inch box features just a single Ethernet port, a USB port, an audio output and a pin-sized reset button. There is a single status light centered on the front edge that displays green or amber depending on its status, and a silver Apple logo on each side. The AirPort Express is powered by a built-in, flip-out two prong plug, and it can also be powered by a 6-foot cord included in the optional AirPort Express Stereo Connection Kit. The $39 kit includes the power extension cord, a Monster mini-to-RCA left/right audio cable, and a Monster mini-to-optical digital Toslink audio cable. Supporting 802.11g and 802.11b networks, the AirPort Express is compatible both with Apple's other AirPort products, as well as most other wireless devices. It can be used to extend the range of an existing wireless network, create a new wireless network, or to join a current network and add wireless printing and iTunes playback. The iTunes playback feature may be the most important to most consumers interested in purchasing this product, since there aren't many networked media devices that support Apple products. Manufacturers such as SlimDevices and Roku have created networked devices that can play music stored on PC, Mac and Linux computers, but most of the other companies don't support Apple. AirPort Express supports both Mac and PC, and allows users to share their digital music downloaded from Apple's iTunes music store, or other MP3, WAV, AAC, or FLAC files. By plugging the AirPort Express into your home theater, stereo, or powered speakers with an analog or digital connection, music stored on your Mac or PC can be streamed wirelessly via the latest version of Apple's iTunes. For detailed specifications, please visit the specifications page at this link, or by clicking on the tab at the top of this review.
The AirPort Express shown with the optional Stereo Connection Kit.
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by Josh on March 31, 2008:
“Let me start off by saying, that once we got all the bugs worked out, this is an awesome little piece of technology. But I must also say, that it took an entire week to get all the functions to work correctly between just two computers on our home network...” More...