William Hook’s Blog

The Apple Airport Express. What is it? Well, simply put, it’s a WiFi access point with two additional features. First, it has a built in printer server (and USB port), so you can plug a printer in and run it off that. Secondly, and this is why I purchased it, it has a 3.5mm audio output.

Now this may seem quite odd to you that a WiFi access point has a 3.5mm audio output, but it’s not. Because, once you setup the Airport Express from within OS X (or Windows…if there’s a compatible utility, which there should be):

You then get a new option in iTunes:

So now, you can choose where you want to send your music. It’s as easy as that. You just plug the Airport into an ethernet cable, and into your speakers, or in my case, AV Receiver, then run the setup, and you’re done! You can use either an analogue connection, or, an optical cable.

It’s really easy to setup, and awesome if you want to pipe your music to another room in the house. Plus you can add as many Airport Express’es to your home network as you like, and they’ll all show up in iTunes. And if running an ethernet cable to the back of your garden so you can listen to music while having a BBQ isn’t convienent, you can set it up to connect via WiFi – it’ll then connect to your current WiFi network, and does the same thing. Actually, you have several options:

• Connect via ethernet and create a brand new WiFi network.
• Connect via ethernet and merge with your existing WiFi network, to extend the range.
• Connect via WiFi to your existing WiFi network, and extend the range.

Overall, if you already use iTunes and need a way to send your music somewhere else in your house, the Airport is a very useful device, and it’s nice and small too. If you don’t want to spend the whole £65 that Apple charges for it, pick one up on eBay – I got the older 802.11b/g model for a mere £35 (the new ones have 802.11b/g/n).

Now all I have to do if I want to listen to music downstairs, is send it to the Living Room speakers, go downstairs, and hit “AirTunes” on the Logitech Harmony remote.

The interconnected home. I has it. It’s brilliant.