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AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

works most of the time

Written by WS from COLORADO SPRINGS

Nov 30, 2009

I bought three of these and connected to my old air port extreme it worked most of the time but then started stopping in the middle of streaming music from my Mac which is the main reason I bought it. So i bought a new airport extreme thinking that the range was an issue. improved my speed on the Mac but did not fix the streaming problem to the the airport expresses. it is an intermitant problem that Apple should really look into. so far i have seen nothing on line to reflect that they have. I have the latest firm ware downloads and though the system is great when it works it is still annoying when it cuts out for no good reason. I have one hooked up to my home theater system 40feet away from the Airport extreme. one connected to my upstairs system and one in the kitchen next to the Mac simply acting as a range extender. super about 90% of the time

11 of 14 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Good to a point

Written by CO from Goodyear

Nov 21, 2009

The airport express worked fabulously for a few months and then it began to get unreliable. I will be on my laptop using the internet and BLAM! My internet shuts down. Not only that, but my airport shows that there is nothing wrong. THe green light is on, but my internet is gone. So i have to crawl through all of the wires under my desktop computer to unplug and replug the airport in until the green light finally turns on. This usually takes about twenty minutes.
Until this started happening it worked great and was reliable. Now... not so much.
Be carful when buying.

10 of 16 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Small, nice design but BAD streaming!

Written by RD from Rio de janeiro

Nov 1, 2009

Bought this wanting to use it with living room stereo.
But the streaming cuts VERY often. Specially if I'm using the internet.
So it doesn't do what it is supposed to do well enough.
But, i must admit that i only started to have problems after itunes 9.0...
don't know why.

7 of 12 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

So-So Airstreaming

Written by LP from New York

Oct 31, 2009

I've had this product for about 6 months now. Overall it's pretty good- extremely easy to set up and as a router, never had a problem. Airstreaming (wireless streaming itunes), however, doesn't work very well. It seems to lose the signal quite frequently and for prolonged periods. A one hour podcast typically starts cutting out at the 25 min mark, fading in and out 4-5 times for several minutes at a pop before I switch back to the laptop speakers. It's frustrating and upsetting since I bought the Express specifically for this capability.

If you are buying this product for Airstreaming, buy plug-in speakers instead.

6 of 9 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Brilliant Divice But Slightly Lacking

Written by JX from Chestermere

Oct 1, 2009

I bought the AirPort Express today with great excitement and anticipation. I was overjoyed having the ability to play my music wirelessly through my amp and surround speakers from anywhere in the home from my Mac. However when came to watching movies (I've connected my Mac to my HD TV using a DVI to HDMI cable) the sound would only play as normal through the Mac speakers. I was shocked! I wanted to hear my movies wirelessly through my surround speakers. Even movies in my iTunes library would not play through the Express! I have to say I was sorely disappointed.

Overall this is a brilliant little device. Giving you freedom by having the ability to be used as a wireless router for net use, to play music and print documents wirelessly from anywhere in the home. It would be great, though, if the AirPort Express was not designed to solely play your iTunes music but to wirelessly transfer any sound from your Mac, as in the case of using an RCA or optical cable from your Mac to your stereo or surround system. If Mr Jobs were able to accomplish this little feat the AirPort Express would deserve an above 10 star rating!

17 of 24 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Now Safari Works!

Written by WW from New Orleans

Sep 24, 2009

My Safari timed out over and over again! I would always have to run a network diagnostic check and it would reconnect. I contacted Apple Care to see what the problem was and they told me that my 2Wire modem was not up to Apple's "standards" and suggested that I got AirPort and bypass the modem. I did and I am in love with it! Now I have to see if my Back 2 My Mac Feature works!

Thanks Apple for making me spend hundreds of dollars more than the cost of the computer with accessories and stuff!

7 of 17 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Problem with internet

Written by SB from Berwyn

Sep 6, 2009

I have this product for over a year and mostly I am using for wireless networking (internet and printing). The problem is that I am loosing internet connectivity and many times I have to turn off and on airport to get back on line. There is even worst when my son is using in the same time wi- fi and I cannot get connection. I tried to reset many times and even exchange for a new product and still the same problem.

4 of 7 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

LOVED... but then was confused.

Written by OP from Flower Mound

Aug 21, 2009

I LOVED my AirPort Express! I used it to connect my printer and my laptop wirelessly, so I could be downstairs and print all the way to upstairs.

Unfortunately, my good experience did not continue. I proceed to move into my college dorm and try to set my AirPort up there. I am not super technology-savy, but neither I nor my computer-genuis-boyfriend, nor my accounting-major-father could get it to connect to the printer again!

If you have any ideas on ways to fix it let me know! Until then, my AirPort shall be sitting in its neat little box.

18 of 29 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Problematic Product

Written by PE from jerrabomberra

Aug 7, 2009

Had my unit for 18 months can play all of my music library , with the exception of music videos (even ones bought from Itunes store)to date cannot get an answer or reason for this ,otherwise happy .Lost my printer some time ago and cannot get it up again.

6 of 10 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Still not totally sure

Written by JC from Huntington Beach

Aug 2, 2009

After reading all of these reviews, I excitedly ran to the apple store and bought my airport express. I need to say that I am a PC user toying with the idea of switching to an imac.

I thought this was going to be really easy, and after about an hour or so I finally got it working. Maybe I just don't speak mac, but I thought mac products were supposed to be really easy?

I am excited about the possibilities of taking my AE on the road with me and using it in those hotels that haven't converted to wireless yet. I was also excited when I read another user review that stated it would serve as a charger as well. (I LOVE multi funciton gadgets). I was disappointed when I plugged in my iPhone and it didn't charge. Maybe the older versions doubled as a charger, but not this one.

Also excited about using this to stream tunes in my house to my stereo. I have an iPod doc on there, but it is such a pain to nav on the TV as I have to use the stereo controls.

I was also thinking about getting the time capsule. But after reading discussions in the support area, I am bummed to learn that you cannot connect xbox or wii to airport. :( So I am re-thinking my purchase there.

I'm going to play with it a bit more and see if it gets any easier. My other router happens to be on the fritz, so I can't even see if the AE will work with streaming music on it. Who knows, I may return it.

11 of 32 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Great Product, however...

Written by RR from Pooler

Jul 28, 2009

The Good: The product worked exactly as advertised. I have enjoyed connecting it to a home stereo and using it wirelessly with my itunes, all controlled by my iPhone.

The Bad: It just died. I've had it for 2 1/2 or so years, and I expected an Apple product (through past experience) to last longer.

I am still ordering another one just because of how nice of a commodity it is however.

34 of 42 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Wireless connection good; printing feature bad!

Written by CP from Sausalito

Jun 22, 2009

The wireless speed on this base station is impressive. I live in an 825 sq ft condo with cable broadband service, and am able to use my laptop anywhere in the house and get a strong fast connection...even outside on the deck! Walls, closets or any other obstacle is no problem--the signal is strong and clear anywhere. However there are two major problems with this product that are very disappointing. First, like others have mentioned, using my cordless phone interrupts the wireless signal. I cannot be on the land line phone and on the internet at the same time which is a huge pain (I prefer not to use my cell for local calls). The second major problem is the wireless printing; again, like many others have complained, the instructions are woefully incomplete. I had to spend a lot of time searching online forums and fix-it pages trying to set-up the wireless printing function. Unfortunately its a multi-step process that must be repeated EVERY TIME YOU TURN YOUR PRINTER ON! I turn my printer off at night not only because it gets hot but the fan noise is disturbing. The fact that the Airport Express can't remember that its connected to the printer is ridiculous. I don't have the time to go thru hoops every morning to set up the wireless printing function over and over. So buyer beware... if you're looking for an inexpensive router to get wireless internet then great. However don't expect the wireless printer function to be easy nor reliable.

29 of 33 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Works great, wish it did VIDEO

Written by MH from San Diego

Jun 7, 2009

Pro: Simple setup and operations.

Cons: No Video / No SDIF

Works out of the box with simple configuration with iTunes. Only wish it streamed video as well. In a multi room setup it can have a audible delay between rooms.

26 of 33 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Great product once it is setup

Written by MB from Tucson

May 29, 2009

Set up was as expected… took 3 days and several Advil tablets. True plug and play. Plug it in and play for days trying to get the thing up and running. I tried so many different setting before it finally was working that I have no idea what I did to get it to work. That was the set up experience. Now that it works, it has been great. I use it to stream music to my kitchen stereo. Sound is fantastic. Works ever time and has great range. I want another one to use with a portable music device in my back yard. Right now I’m unplugging the airport express and using it where ever I need it because I dread going through the set up process again. Yes I'll buy another one but I'll need to take time off from work and pre-medicate before I go through that set up process again.

23 of 38 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

problem with charging!

Written by MR from Jamaica

May 22, 2009

set up was super easy. works very well.
however, i try to charge my iphone and ipod with this product. it is so annoying that my iphone charge signal keeps going on & off continuously & it never charge. I'm wondering does this thing really work as a charger or not...?

23 of 49 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Works well but instructions are terrible

Written by FS

May 11, 2009

I bought an Airport Express to see if it would be a good solution for adding an HP Laserjet printer to my home network for sharing the printer in a mixed environment of PCs and Macs. Shortly before buying the Airport Express, I had installed a Linksys wireless print server, which was a pain to install and was not yet allowing me to access the printer via the Macs (some tech support would have been necessary) although the Windows machines were working with the print server.

One of the network techs at work recommended the Airport Express as, potentially, a better solution than the Linksys product. It is better in that I have all computers sharing the printer now, but the install instructions are terrible, even cryptic. I am reasonably savvy when it comes to computers, but the network layers are pretty darn hard to work with and Apple needs to provide a greatly expanded install guide, especially for setting up the AE with Windows PCs. I had to go to the Web and search for solutions in various discussion threads, and that really is unacceptable when installing a product to take advantage of capabilities that are highlighted on the box and the Apple site.

In addition, I did encounter errors when attempting to get the Macs to share the printer through the AE, and the network connection was not stable. Everything settled down when a diagnostic screen indicated I had to upgrade the AE's firmware. Seems obvious in retrospect, but this sort of install step should be featured prominently in the install instructions.

Having gone through all this, I am impressed with the product and feel it is more competitive on a cost benefit basis than a lot of other networking accessories I have used. BUT, please, much more comprehensive install instructions in the future!

42 of 48 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Would be Awesome but...

Written by CH from Los Angeles

May 10, 2009

Drops me off my connection in the middle of things. Loses my network. Part of the problem may be the software in the computer but if the two are not compatible it makes the Airport Express difficult. I would like to open Safari and not have to go through a song and dance that can last from 1 minute to 2 hours with no answers and no rhyme or reason. Airport Express seems to find a dozen networks in my neighborhood (such as the hotel next door) but not my network. Mine disappears and reappears for no discernible reason. The software for Airport is not intuitive and that is the main complaint I have. Apple should leave the geek mysteries to that other platform. Apple's charm has always been it's simplicity and ease of use. Airport could use a little more Apple charm...and reliability. Two stars off for complexity and frustration factor.

26 of 38 people found this useful

AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes

Not bad for the price but, too much resetting!!!

Written by AJ from Brooklyn

Apr 2, 2009

The Express is really portable and inexpensive(especially for apple). I only used it for wireless internet usage so I can not comment on the AirTunes feature. The device works great, when its working. I thought the problem was with my internet provider but, it was the Express. I constantly had to reset the device. Almost three times a day. I really like the quick setup and when it's working, I loved it. I just upgraded to the Extreme and no more problems.

26 of 30 people found this useful