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AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Excellent WiFi solution

Written by MF from København K

16-Oct-2009

The Airport Express works flawlessly! The connection reaches every corner of my 80m2 apartment without loss of connectivity. I have it set up with a MacBook Pro, a PC, an iPod Touch an Xbox 360 AND two printers (one wirelessly on the network and one through the Airport Express itself via the USB) and I haven't met any problems whatsoever so far. Software's excellent too. Highly recommendable - since you also get value for money with internal antennas, 802.11n, AirTunes and great design! A fifth star would have required a lower price or perhaps the ability to connect to other things (TV, hard drives etc.).

7 of 7 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Take it from an expert...

Written by AD

03-Oct-2009

The AirPort Expresses are the best wireless extenders on the market.

Whilst not cheap, they're certainly the easiest.

Even someone with very little technical knowledge can configure them as wireless extenders. And, unlike a lot of wireless extenders that use WDS, you can chain more than three together. Great if you have thick walls or live in a large house.

They have the added benefit of AirTunes and printer sharing (although no compatibility with the scanner part of All-in-Ones, probably due to driver issues).

They do offer some prosumer and professional options, such as RADIUS support, but they don't offer as many features as some of the cheaper routers out there. This being said, many of the Linksys units, once the best in this area, are very buggy.

The Expresses are also very reliable and take well to being unplugged and moved about, compensating and reconnecting automatically.

Range leaves a little to be desired but not awful.

A web interface would be nice too, especially to configure over the web (you have to use AirPort Utility for this).

Beware: If you need to connect more than 10 wireless devices at once, you'll need the AirPort Extreme.

If you're fed up with wireless dropouts, fiddly networks or you want something simple that you can plug in and forget about go out and get one of these!

11 of 11 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Could have gotten another star!

Written by CG from Falkirk

09-Aug-2009

I had been reading up about this for a few weeks before convincing my dad that we should get one. I was a bit confused when my dad came in from work with the Airport Express because he said that he'd wasted his money on it. He told me it was because it wasn't a stand alone router you had to connect it to a wired router. So after messing around with the routers I got it connected to our old rubbish Talk Talk wireless router, and we were set up in about 5 mins.
I would have given the product 5 stars if the range was really 2X better, I can get a better range from the old Talk Talk router than I can from the Airport Express. The speed from the Airport Express is far better though!

17 of 27 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

To all those having problems...

Written by NC from Sydney

09-Aug-2009

...with the AirPort Express not being recognised after running the initial setup, try making the password you need to access it a little more complicated. I was initially using a six character password and kept having to reset it, as it couldn't be recognised. I found somewhere something saying that they should be between eight and something characters long, so I decided on another password, and haven't had a problem since.

There is zero documentation on this, nor a little 'Password not long enough' warning that comes up, but it seems to have fixed it =]:

6 of 8 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Great little device!

Written by ML from Dagenham

18-Jul-2009

I've wanted to buy one of these for years since when it first came out. Finally bit the bullet after buying a B&W Zeppelin speaker dock which I wanted to stream my MacBook Pro's iTunes collection to.

The AirPort express was pretty quick to set up, found my existing internet connection (O2 wireless broadband box) and acts as a client for airtunes & wireless printing.

I love that it can connect to my speaker system through digital optical cables for airtunes to be used.

Only downside is, I sometimes find it might cut out for a second or so every now and then when streaming music. Plus I wish it was slightly cheaper as these have been out for a while now.

15 of 18 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

In reply to previous BT Home Hub Horror Stories

Written by BS from London

15-Jul-2009

I would like to reply to some of the previous horror stories about BT HH and Airport Express. After some initial trail and error it worked fine (i'm not very computer literate person). The guide is not great and could be a lot clearer - i know it's not the fashion, but a really detailed guide for this sort of thing cant be bad! Also, a bit disappointed that have to have an ethernet cable from Airport Express to BTHH. Maybe should have thought about this before, but means that BT Vision / Printer / Powered Speakers and BTHH have to all be in the same place (or have long leads or buy additional Airport Express's!) Otherwise, an expensive but very satisfying set up.

9 of 13 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Almost too seamless

Written by DH from PETERSFIELD

30-Jun-2009

The key to getting Airport Express Base Station to work is to 1) READ THE INSTRUCTIONS and 2) make sure you know what it is that you want to do! 3) AND BE PATIENT!! Like many people I am using a third-party wireless router (Netgear WGR614) to connect to a broadband cable modem. Wireless connection to the Internet was no problem but no way could I get my laptop to print documents wirelessly, hence the Airport Express Base Station purchase. Setting up still requires the user to make sure all the boxes are ticked. For instance, iTunes requires "Look for remote speakers connected with AirTunes". But now that it's set up it works brilliantly. (Equipment: Intel iMac and aluminium MacBook OX 10.5.7)

4 of 5 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Pretty darn good

Written by KB from Lancaster

28-Jun-2009

I just bought this to stream music and play my XBOX where there is no LAN drop in the house. I have the 802.11N extreme and this coupled together as an extended network. It performs great. My only complaint is the dropouts sometimes.

5 of 6 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

a real pain to setup but brillant when done

Written by BW from Hagley

19-May-2009

As many of these reviews mention it is a real pain to set up. The manual is rubbish and the software shipped does not help to sort the connection problems.

I got this a year ago and could not get it to work, but got it out of the draw and took 2 hours to try and get it sorted.

The problem I had was that mine did not like to connect or even show up through WEP I had to change the wireless network to WPA2. I then manually told my router to connect to it. Once that had happened I could pick it up on my mac and it was straight forward from there. The different speakers show up in itunes and it connects each time I turn it on.

Another cool feature is I downloaded the remote software (free) on my iphone so can change the music where ever I am in the house. The iphone connects to itunes on the mac and the mac connects to the airport which in turn is connect to my surround sound kit, pretty impressive at dinner parties.

My advice get it, but clear a two hour window to get it all set up.

19 of 26 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Useful

Written by BM from STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

23-Apr-2009

I used this to extend the range of my Time Capsule.
Easy to setup 5/5 as it couldn't be any simpler than it was!
Performance is good, but it does slow down the backup slightly to my TC from my MBP.
I can get 54Mbs and excellent signal strength on the older laptops running over wireless g (up from 11Mbs direct to the TC with poor signal strength).
Haven't used any of the other features as it does what I need as a range extender.

13 of 14 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Party Tricks!

Written by BB from Macclesfield

29-Mar-2009

I bought this from my local Apple Store in Manchester for a housewarming party I was throwing. Absolutely excellent for AirTunes. My mates were loving the fact I could control the playlist from my iPhone using the 'Remote' application, to control iTunes which then of course went via the Airport Express to my speakers.

It was up and running in just a matter of minutes and plugged into my JBL Spot system there is no delay whatsoever, and the quality is excellent.

This now means I don't have to sit in the same place with my Macbook wired up to some rubbish speakers - I've got excellent quality music playing, and I can roam around my flat with my Mac - excellent product and well worth the money!

4 star rating because I've not had chance to use the printing element of this, and it's unlikely I will do for some time!

9 of 12 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

simple, easy & effective.

Written by OW from London

17-Feb-2009

purchased over 18mths ago and rarely gives me any issues. it does what it says on the box without fuss.
i've seen a few reviews relating to it being hard to set up - not the case at all. plug it in, run the utility, give your network a name, done.
if it ever dies like some have to othersm i will have absolutely no qualms in going out and buying another.

6 of 7 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Fantastic

Written by RH from LONDON

01-Dec-2008

I've just connect my first but not last AirPort express and its brilliant. The setup is not easy, especially with the BT homehub that I have but after two calls to Apple support and one to BT we're up and running. I would now love to know how to connect my iTouch as other people have, any ideas?

4 of 4 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Great but VERY buggy

Written by MW from Leatherhead

30-Nov-2008

I set this up fine with my Airport Extreme mainly to stream music and after about a month it suddenly started throwing out errors. After disabling IPv6 it started working fine?!
There are lots of bugs either in the firmware or iTunes which can make it take ages to get going but when it is going it works a treat!

2 of 6 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Excellent product, but please Apple listen!

Written by SL from Urmston

21-Nov-2008

These are excellent. I have 2 and I am about to buy a 3rd. They work brilliantly and when combined with Remote on my iPod Touch, I now have a great set up. My laptop stays hidden in the cupboard, charging up, I have a network hard drive (also in the cupboard) and my router is there as well (not an Apple product). So everything is hidden away, but i can sit with my iPod and play anything from by library on my stereo in my dining room, or in my kitchen, or both. A couple of years ago, that would have needed thousands of pounds of cables, etc. to all be hidden.

But....Apple, please read how many people complain about the set up. Come on, its a simple device, just give us some clue on how to set it up and provide some reasonable instructions.

30 of 34 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Fantastic when you manage to get it set up correctly

Written by AT from Manchester

28-Oct-2008

I bought the unit as a wireless bridge for my Xbox using the Ethernet connection and to broadcast my iTunes library to the stereo without having to plug in my ipod. The only major problem is the set up can be difficult and there is not a lot of online help from Apple. I set it up originally using a Linxsys router which required a firmware update to allow WDS, painful and difficult in itself. Once I had updated the firmware it picked up the wireless network no problems. The pain really started when I changed over to a BTHomehub. No matter what I tried the box just wouldn’t see my homehub to set it up as a repeater. The only way I found to overcome this was to set it up as a basic wireless router with the box connected to homehub through the Ethernet, once you have set this up you can then detect the base station as a repeater in the homehub setup and complete the WDS repeater set up. To get started it is probably easier to start with WEP turned off and then gradually turn it on on both your homehub and then the base station, this way you know at which point you encountered problems.

7 of 14 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

its good but has flaws with lack of description above!!!

Written by ZS from Waltham Cross

27-Oct-2008

initially i wanted to use this devise in my room and connect it to my surround sound speakers to play my songs through itunes over airtunes. but what the description fails to say is that you still need to connect an ethernet port to the base station in order to create a wireless network (even if you just want to play songs)! This will be great and very handy for when i go to university next year but for now when all i want to do is play my music, its a bit of hassle as i currently have to wire up an ethernet cable through the house to get to my plug socket! maybe even needing to drill a hole through the ceiling ha. Also another pointer, airport express can play songs ONLY in itunes, no movie/tv show files and neither can it play sound from other applications such as quicktime.

on the plus side, it works quietly in the corner and (when an ethernet cable is connected) is a very easy piece of equipment to set up as well as looking beautifully simple, especially if you have other white mac products nearby!!!!!

This product can EASILY be greatly improved!!!!!!!!!! i would put a 3.5 rating on this if i could but as i cant ill be nice! 4 star...

9 of 14 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Great while it lasts

Written by DT from London

09-Oct-2008

I got mine working very quickly but more by chance than design. I had read several reviews saying that they die after 18 months. Mine is almost 18 months old and has now started to cut out mid-tune. More and more frequently it has to be unplugged and plugged back in again along with wireless hub to resume normal function. Looks like its untimely demise is imminent.

40 of 41 people found this useful