Today AppleannouncedAirPort Express , a product that bring off in true Apple style to be about a half - dozen ideas roll together into one small livid plastic box seat .
Looking weirdly like an Apple power brick ( it appraise less than 4 - by-3 - by 1 inches , and weighs less than 7 ounces ) , the $ 129AirPort Expressis an AirPort Base Station , a wireless relay race , a wireless bridge , a music banner for stereo system and powered loudspeaker system , a wireless print waiter , and an answer to the petition of PowerBook - sum up concern traveller .
rent ’s commence with the basics . Due to arrive in exploiter ’ hand in July , the AirPort Express is an AirPort Base Station that conform to in the palm of your hand . It does n’t offer all the rightness of the UFO - shape AirPort models , such as support for up to 50 exploiter , separate LAN and WAN embrasure , an outside antenna connexion , or a built - in modem . This means that Apple has finally issue an AirPort Extreme base station that ’s more jolly priced for casual dwelling users .
But I suspect AirPort Express will really shine as anadditionalwireless product . For example , you may practice it as a relay item in concert with an AirPort Extreme Base Station to strain the range of your wireless internet and serve you bring Internet connectivity to dead spots in your home , position , or school .
For business traveller who ’ve gotten used to working wirelessly , being tethered to a short ( and often inconveniently place ) internet cable in a hotel elbow room can be infuriate . But I ideate a whole bunch of those route warriors will soon be including an AirPort Express in their travel outfit ; once you get to the hotel , we ’ll punch an AirPort Express into the wall and the broadband cable . From there on out , we ’ll be able to channel-surf wirelessly from the desk , the bed , the sofa , heck , even the lavatory sink !
AirPort Express also has a USB port and the same USB printing machine - partake in features as its AirPort Extreme first cousin . So if you ’ve got a share printer in your family , office , or classroom , you could place it in a central positioning and confiscate it to an AirPort Express , making it available to everyone on your connection .
If you ’re using AirPort Express as a al-Qaeda post , you ’d plug your net connection into it via its included Ethernet larboard . But if your main radix station is an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express , you’re able to also utilise the AirPort Express as awireless bridge — just stop up it in somewhere else in your house , and attach any Ethernet - based gimmick to it . That gimmick will now be on your net , even though it ’s nowhere near the relief of your stuff .
So , sound great , veracious ? A $ 129 miniskirt AirPort Base Station . What else could you ask for ?
But I have n’t even mention the most revolutionary part of the AirPort Express , the part that will probably deal more AirPort Expresses than any of the characteristic I ’ve mentioned up to now :
It ’s get down an audio - out mariner on it .
That ’s because AirPort Express is also an audio streamer , letting you link any set of powered speakers or any stereo with a mini - jack- or optical - audio - input to your iTunes library and play music remotely . Stick one next to your home theater receiver , and you’re able to listen to your iTunes music collection . Thanks to an update to iTunes ( version 4.6 , due later this week ) , iTunes will now be able to dally music either through your computer ’s speakers or through speakers bond to any AirPort Express — you choose where the euphony goes via a bulge - up menu at the bottom of your iTunes window . ( Find out more about how it figure out in my “ How AirTunes Works ” blog entry . )
It ’s encouraging to see Apple embracing digital music in placesawayfrom the Mac or the iPod . Of course , you must still apply have iTunes open and running on a computer to fiddle music to AirPort Express … but a hatful of iTunes users wantexactlywhat AirPort Express will give them : an easy way to play their tune through their home stereo , or to a low set of speakers on the back porch , or into a child ’s sleeping accommodation .
With its ease and iTunes integration , I suspect that AirPort Express will be a big hit . I ca n’t wait to get my hands on one .
( Updated6/7 at 1:09 PM PT : append info about the Wireless Bridge capability , per Greg Joswiak . )
