[fishguy]

I have cable internet and a linksys wireless router. I recently purchased a airport express to stream itunes to another room. I can not get the thing to run so I called apple. Apple said that I need an airport card in my Macpro to stream iTunes to it. That doesn't right as my linksys communcates just fine with my powerbook. Do I need the airport card installed in my macpro? If not, how do I configure it to work with the linksys?

thanks

[ghporter]

The wireless streaming function is AirPort specific; Linksys has its own media streaming products which are incompatible with AirPort Express. So YES, you need an AirPort card in the Mac Pro to generate the streaming signal that the Express needs.

[mduell]

If you wire the Airport Express to your Linksys you can stream music to it over your wired network. The Airport Express shouldn't which medium the music comes over, but it can't act as a wireless client on a Linksys network.

[cms]

I don't know how relevant this is but here goes:

I have cable internet and a D-Link wireless router. I have an Airport Express configured wirelessly on my network to stream music from my Powermac G5 Dual 2.0 (which has no Airport card) to my hi-fi in my living room. The G5 is hardwired into the D-Link router, and I set up the Airport Express to join the existing (D-Link) wireless network. I only use it to stream iTunes, as it doesn't work in WDS mode with the D-Link router. But iTunes on any computer on the network can see it and stream music to it, regardless or whether wired or wireless, Apple or Pee Cee. That has always been my understanding of the functionality of AirTunes so am rather confused by some of the comments posted here so far.

[fishguy]

Thanks CMS,

I am in the same situation as you except with a linksys. Can you give me any tips on setting up the airport express. I found a step by step guide on-line but it didn't work with me. I am just about ready to throw the damn thing in the trash!!

[cms]

Fishguy, I set these up all the time for my clients using 3rd-party routers and I guess it's not always obvious what needs to be done. First, make sure you've installed the Aiport Utlity on your Powerbook and your MacPro. The reason you can't see it over the Powerbook's existing Airport connection is that the Airport Express has a different IP set to the Linksys -- which I'm guessing is a 192.168.x.x address. All Apple Airport kit is by default set to the 10.1.x.x set. So, to get round that problem, turn off your Airport card on your Powerbook and connect the Airport Express to your Powerbook using an ethernet cable. Make sure the Airport Express is turned on - the status light will be orange - and fire up Airport Utility. It should automaticallyn scan and find your Airport Express. The rest is easy and all pretty obvious -- tick Enable Airtunes, etc. There is a wizard but you can use the Maunual Setup under the Base Station options on the menu bar. The main thing you need to be sure of is that the Airport Extreme is set to join an existing wireless network -- your Linksys network -- and that it's own DHCP function is disabled so that it's Connection Sharing is off and it is working in Bridge Mode. It is unlikely to work in WDS (Wireless Distribution System) mode with the Linksys kit although you may be lucky as it does work with a limited number of 3rd party routers. Don't forget that f you have MAC filtering enabled on your Linksys kit, you will need to enter the Airport Express's Airport ID (MAC code) in the Linksys filter list and also the relevant WEP/WPA keys/passwords, if using. When you are done, apply the new Airport Express settings, it will reset itself -- takes a couple of minutes -- and the light will turn solid green. You will note that when it has reset it picks up a valid network IP address (192.168.x.x) from the Linksys router, and is then available to stream music via iTunes to everyone on your network, regardless of whether wired or wireless, Mac or PC. You can disconnect the ethernet cable and turn your Airport card back on. The Airport Utility will then see the Airport Express sitting on its new Linksys-assigned valid LAN IP. You can also now use the Airport Utility from your (non-wireless) MacPro to change the Airport Express settings if you wish.

Hope that's sufficiently detailed but let me know if you need any more information and I'll be happy to help.

[fishguy]

Thanks, I'll give it a try as soon as I can.

[ctj]

Originally Posted by mduell 

If you wire the Airport Express to your Linksys you can stream music to it over your wired network. The Airport Express shouldn't which medium the music comes over, but it can't act as a wireless client on a Linksys network.

That is incorrect. The Airport Express can act as a wireless client on any 802.11b or -g network.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by ctj 

That is incorrect. The Airport Express can act as a wireless client on any 802.11b or -g network.

It cannot necessarily act as a streaming media client on any other network though. I felt that this was the point of mduell's post. Media streaming is not standardized, and is thus all proprietary-it's a crap shoot whether or not you can get vendor A's equipment to even recognize that it might be able to stream to vendor B's equipment.

[ctj]

And my point is that this specific setup works. That's what I had in my house (prior to ditching the Linksys and getting one of the new Apple Airport Extremes).

Really, the way the APX is designed, it can get on to a -b or -g network, get an IP address (either via DHCP or assigned), and as long as you've got iTunes running somewhere, iTunes should find the APX.

Now, whether the APX will work with a Slingbox or some other proprietary thingamajig is a valid question, but not what the original poster asked. He asked about getting his APX working with the Linksys, and that is totally doable.

Assuming he's got the following setup:
internet -->
cable modem -->
linksys router --> Mac Pro (via ethernet)
|
|--> APX (via wireless) --> stereo

He just needs to set up his APX to "join a wireless network" (in the Airport Utility), get a DHCP address (or assign it, whatever), and make sure "use AirTunes" is selected. That's it.

[cms]

Absolutely. I just do not understand the comments made by other about proprietary media streaming. I have set up Apple Airport Express units for Airtunes on many, many 3rd party routers of different brands. Never had a single problem. And another thing -- if Airtunes is somehow linked to Apple's Airport Extreme cards, as someone suggested earlier in this thread, how come my Sony Vaio laptop's wireless card can see and use Airtunes from iTunes, as can an ancient Dell, in for service, and hardwired (no wireless card at all) on my network?

I do agree that Airport Extreme units usually do not work in WDS mode with 3rd-party kit, but this thread is specifically about Airtunes. And a lot of what has been said by other posters -- and, it would seem by Apple itself if I read the original poster's comments correctly -- is simply not true.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by ctj 

And my point is that this specific setup works.

No argument about that. It's just that where setting up an Express with an AirPort Extreme Base Station is handled smoothly and in a few simple steps, getting an Express to work with other vendors' routers takes more work. The Express is "designed" to work with the Extreme in that this setup process is almost transparent (check a box and push a button in the AirPort software), which is what most Mac users expect out of Apple equipment. Your method, which obviously works well, steps out of that paradigm. And you report success with a number of brands of third-party network hardware, so that shows (me anyway) that the reputed "proprietary" nature of AirTunes is most likely the simple setup rather than any protocol-which makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for adding to our body of knowledge on this subject. I feel that, if a user is capable of doing anything more than plugging in their Express unit, they should be able to follow your instructions and set up their Express with (probably) any other brand of router.