AirPort Express review
By Peter Rojas 
posted July 16th 2004 9:29AM
posted July 16th 2004 9:29AM
The iPodlounge takes a gander at the new AirPort Express which finally started shipping this week (to recap, it's Apple's new WiFi adapter that lets you wirelessly stream your iTunes collection to other parts of your house). Worked fine for them when they tested it out with a Mac, but they encountered heaps of trouble when they tried setting it up on a PC, but eventually they did get it to work.
iTunes for Windows sucks in every way. It's no surprise that fantastic Apple hardware (such as this device and my iPod mini) would encounter nightmares with iTunes for Windows. (sigh) Someone buy me an iBook.
This summary does not accurately convey what the review says about the PC software. Quote: "Apple therefore scored points for making the device work well enough on both platforms for iPodlounge's top intended purpose. But our other experiences with the PC, specifically with the AirPort's included software, weren't quite as flawless."
That says they had some hiccups but nothing close to "Heaps of Trouble".
Although it is suppose to be designed with PC users in mind. They weren't thinking of making it easy for PC users to install. The ProCare guy tells me that they are getting alot of calls from PC users with installation issues. He indicated that more than 80% percent of the people getting the Express already use a Airport Base Station, and if you are using a non-airport wireless system at home, the Express may not work. Thank you for putting that on the box guys...
I worked on it for 4 days using an iBook, an Xp machine and a 2000 machine in various combinations with Linksys, Asante, Apple and Netgear products. The most common probelm was the network not seeing the Express and the second most common problem on the PC was a driver issue that Windows could not resolve. I went to visit the local McGenius (give me a break...not every geek in a t-shirt and baseball cap is a genius) who, after making me sign in and wait half a day, tells me that he is not trained on the Express as it is a new product. He was really nice and polite and very knowledgeable, just not helpful with Express issues.
I know it is possible for one to set up wireless music streaming using a PC, Xp or otherwise. Many vendors have suceeded. It is not clear why Apple elected not to do so for the Express, as I am sure they could if they wanted to. Your not screwing with us are ya?
CANT HOOK UP THE AIRPORT EXP VIA WIRELSS hp ON win XP-get error that printer is notready!!!
Apple , Epson and HP were nothelpful at all
so frustrated withthis gear-but it does wk with my ibook g-3
tHE BOOKLET IS VERY OBSCURE AND POORLY WRITTEN
Dont bother if you already have a wireless network on the pc, its a pain, keeps on dropping out. Apple have done more harm to their reputation with this than they can imagine, a crap device.
I had no problem using the Express (x2, one for living room, one for bedroom), on either my Powerbook , nor my two Windows XP laptops, nor my Windows XP desktop. I do use an Airport Extreme basestation however. I thought I should just balance out the negative comments with ones where people have had a good experience.
I'm having a horrible time trying to get the "wireless client" feature working. My purpose is to use my Vonage phone on a nearby wireless network (which I can access easily with my PowerBook & airport card) but it won't work. I can't even get my laptop to connect using the airport express as a wireless client, so the problem doesn't seem to be with using a non-Apple device. Has anyone gotten this working?
Having a night mare getting my Airport Express working with my Netgear router and XP. I bought the AE and Base station under the very missguided illusion that it would work as Apple says.. All of it will be on e-bay soon...the problem is that all my music is in i-tunes and I know that Netgear MP101 cant read the format.. any ideas??
How can you play music directly from a psp through airport express?
I have my AE working with both an old PowerBook G3 via a Sonnet Aria Extreme PC Card, an iMac 17/1GHz via an Airport Extreme, and my DeLL via a Motorola PCI 54G card. The only problem I encountered was getting the PC to authenticate using WAP2. After several XP updates, the necessary drivers arrived and all has been good. Check that you have the latest updates from Windows Update for your OS and that you're using the most recent driver for your wifi card.
I have to apple G4's. The one in my office is on a 2wire modem from SBC. The other G4 is in my living room. Is the 2wire modem and Aiport Express compatible or what else would I need to network them?
ae sucks. but thats no surprise... mac sucks BIG time. osx is the worst thing to happen to computers since static electricity. steve jobs makes horrible products and i hold him solely responsible for 90% of the worlds problems. bastard.