Apple Airport Express

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 1.1 x 3.7 inches ; 6.7 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0015YJOK2
• Item model number: MB321LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (164 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Networking Products > Access Points

• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 17, 2008

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Faster Is Better
Now with blazing 802.11n, the affordable AirPort Express is powerful enough to run a home Wi-Fi network, yet small enough to take on the road. Here's some of the ways you can integrate it into your home.

Music AirTunes takes the music from the iTunes library on your computer and sends it wirelessly to any stereo or speakers in your home. All you have to do is plug an AirPort Express into an electrical outlet near those speakers, then connect them with an audio cable. In iTunes, you can choose which speakers you want your music to play on--in your den, living room, or bedroom. If you have more than one AirPort Express connected to speakers, you can play the same music on all your speakers at the same time to create a whole-house musical experience. Plus, if you already have a wireless network in place, you can use AirPort Express to add music to its capabilities.

Wireless Printing With wireless printing through AirPort Express, it’s almost like having a printer in every room of the house. AirPort Express uses the Mac- and PC-compatible Bonjour networking technology to let everyone in the house take advantage of one centrally available printer. Wirelessly, of course. If all you want to do is access your USB printer wirelessly, you don’t even need a broadband Internet connection. You can just set up your AirPort Express for wireless printing and that’s it.

Internet Sharing With AirPort Express connected to your DSL or cable modem, up to 10 users at a time can surf the web, send email, annihilate the competition in multiplayer games, and much more--wire-free. AirPort Express connects people to each other as well. You can wirelessly share photos, movies, and other files without having to worry about slow data transmissions. Nor do you have to concern yourself with a difficult network setup. AirPort Express uses the Bonjour technology in Mac OS X to allow your AirPort-equipped Mac computers running Mac OS X to find each other with no effort on your part--they discover each other just by virtue of being in range of the network.Compact and portable, AirPort Express is also a great way to share Internet access when you go on the road.

802.11n The AirPort Express Base Station now features 802.11n, the next-generation high-speed wireless technology included with most shipping Mac computers and some newer PCs with compatible cards. Based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification, AirPort Express features two antennas and uses a technology called multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) to transmit multiple data streams simultaneously. The result? AirPort Express delivers data transfer speeds up to five times those of previous-generation 802.11g wireless networks--while achieving up to twice the range. And with its support for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless frequencies, AirPort Express reduces the possibility of interference from appliances and cordless phones that use the 2.4GHz frequency.

Compatibility
Part Wi-Fi access point. Part wireless router. AirPort Express just works, seamlessly and wirelessly, with all your Wi-Fi devices. In fact, it’s the easiest way for everyone in your family to share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without messy cables.

Security The AirPort Express Base Station takes strong measures to keep your online world as safe as possible--from securing your base station to preventing outside intruders. It starts with the industry-standard encryption technologies built into AirPort Express, including WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP.1 When you turn on encryption--easy to do using AirPort Utility--you’ll ensure that only people with the correct password can join your wireless network. AirPort Express includes a built-in firewall that creates a barrier between your network and the Internet. When you set up the base station, the firewall is automatically turned on to keep the bad guys out. For computers with a cable or DSL modem, using AirPort is actually safer than being directly connected to the modem.

AirPort Utility
If you think setting up a wireless network is difficult, think again. AirPort Utility for Mac and Windows guides you through the process, and you’ll have your network up and running in minutes. AirPort Utility does most of the work for you by stepping you through the setup process quickly and easily. For the most basic setup, all you have to do is plug your AirPort Express into an electrical outlet and connect your DSL or cable modem. Then open the AirPort Utility software and just follow the onscreen instructions.

AirPort Express works effortlessly with any computer that uses Wi-Fi standards, whether it’s a Mac or a Dell, HP, IBM, or any other Windows-based PC. That’s because the AirPort Express is compatible with computers using the 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g specifications, and it also works with computers that are 802.11n draft 2.0 compliant.

Product Description

Now with blazing 802.11n, the affordable AirPort Express is powerful enough to run a home Wi-Fi network, yet small enough to take on the road. Share your wireless network with up to 10 users, print documents, photos, and more from any room in the house to one central printer, play iTunes music through your stereo or powered speakers using AirTunes, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Airport Express Set-up Instructions, June 20, 2008

By	S. Monroe "gadgethead" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

August 22, 2009 Update
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The software that comes with new Airport Expresses is much more user friendly. You may find going through the instructions listed below is not required.

Regards,
S. Monroe

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The CD that comes with the Airport Express has been useless to me in setting up a Windows XP computer to work with an AE. The instructions below should get you up and running.

1. First download the latest version of both the Airport Update and Airport Express Firmware Updater from [...]

2. Run the latest version of the Airport Update (4.1 at the time of this writing)

3. Disable your firewalls, plug in the Airport Express (AX) to an electrical outlet and attach it to your computer or router with an ethernet cable. The AX will have a steady or blinking yellow light.

4. Launch the Airport Admin Utility...it should detect the Airport Express in the "Base Station Chooser" within a minute or so and the light on the AX should turn green. You may have to hard reset the unit a few times by pushing the small reset button with a paperclip for about 10 seconds. If, like mine, it does not show up in the Airport Admin Utility leave the AX attached by ethernet and reboot, launch the Airport Admin Utility, and hopefully it will show up quickly.

5. As soon as it does show up, launch the latest Airport Express Firmware Updater (I used 6.1.1) and update the AX...this seemed to make a significant difference in the ease of detection later. This will take a minute or so. The AX will reset and you may have to leave it attached by ethernet, reboot, and relaunch the Airport Admin Utility to detect it again.

6. Once detected by the Airport Admin Utility, click the "Configure" button in the lower right hand corner.

7. A new set of tabs will pop up. Click on the "Airport" tab and select "Create Wireless Network" from the Airport Network dropdown box. This will be changed to "Join an Existing Wireless Network" later.

8. Now click on the "Network" tab and and check the "Distribute IP Addresses", the "Share a single IP address" button, and from IP range drop down list choose the IP range for your router (192.168.x.x being the most common for Dlink, lynksys, Netgear, and other non-Apple routers).

9. Go back to the "Airport" tab and change the "Create a Wireless Network" to "Join an Existing Wireless Network".

10. In the "Network Name" box type in the name of your wireless network (also called your SSID)

11. On the same page rename your AX to whatever you want it to be called in iTunes (often the physical location of the speakers the AX will be attached to, ex: Living Room, Bedroom, Ambient Sound), give it a new password (required), and give it a location.

12. If you are using security click on the security button, choose your encryption settings, and add your WEP key or password, etc. It might be handy to have your router security info open in a window so you can copy and paste the key right into the appropriate box.

13. If you now go back to the "Network" tab you will see everything is greyed out but now your new IP Range settings are visible.

14. With the AX still attached by etherlink, click the "Update" button and wait a minute or so for the AX to update. The changes you made should be reflected in the Airport Admin Utility when the update is complete.

15. Now you can launch iTunes and you should see a button in the lower right hand corner that says "My Computer". Click this button and you will see you have the choice of your computers speakers or the AX. Any further changes you want to make to the configuration such as the name you see in that button are easiest done while attached by ethernet so try to get it the way you want it with further Airport Admin Utility updates before unplugging the ethernet cable. As long as your Airport Admin Utility can see the AX you can update without being connected too.

16. When you are satisfied with the configuration and the AX is updated and is showing up in iTunes go ahead and unplug the ethernet cable. Now you can move The AX to your chosen locations electrical outlet, and hook up the audio cable. The AX light will blink yellow for a few minutes while being detected and then turn green. You can now choose your AX in iTunes and start playing your music as normal. Itunes will show it is busy connecting to the AX for about 30 seconds and then hopefully you will hear your music played from your remote speakers. I hope pulling this information together helps someone a little. Let me know if I missed something and I will update asap. Good Luck!

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellence, yet again, from Apple, May 3, 2008

By	S. Fitzpatrick (Maui) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a road warrior that uses this Airport Express to create a small wireless network, protected of course, within my hotel room. I just plug the AE into the 110v desk plug and then plug the hotel's internet cable into it. Instantly lets me un-tether from the desk to the couch, the other room, the bed, you name it. I was waiting for the "n" speed and am quite happy with this device. It never leaves my computer bag except at the hotels.

44 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Product, I'm not 100% satisfied., April 4, 2008

By	Tarun Chachra "Tarun Chachra" (Hillsborough, NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I have a decent setup at home with a Apple Base Station (wireless N) and this Express which is used to extend my wireless connection to other areas of my house. Again all is wireless N.

The Express disconnects every so often and computers attached to it are unable to get any network access. It has to be unplugged and plugged back in to get the connectivity back.

The streaming of music is ofcourse awesome, however every 2-3 songs you have to remind your computer to use the express....why? Simply because the express loses its connectivity.

I took it to Apple and the Genius told me that its my network connectivity. I said ok..I would make sure I was close to my base station and test again.

I did....I plugged it in 10 feet from my basestation and connected a apple hi-fi for audio. Again...disconnects every few songs and we were back to the same thing again.

I have tried this with 3 different mac book pro's in our home and the results are similar. I am hopeful that the next firmware will fix things up but until then....this product gets 4 stars.

It does what it should...but not at 100% all of the time....just most of the time.

UPDATE 01/19/2009
The problems continue. I have tried over and over again to like this device. The constant disconnects and sub par performance really make me hate this thing...the only reason I keep it is for playing music.... Just wanted everyone updated.... Check out the D-Link DAP-1522 if you are looking to extend your wireless network.

UPDATE 02/06/2009
I have been advised, via comments, that I should change the channels on these devices. I did change the channels a number of times with no apparent FIX for the problem. Incidentally my brother has been having the same problems with his airport express. Next is to try to downgrade to the older firmware as one commenter suggested.