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awaspaas · Jul 14, 2004, 11:16 AM

Guess what I just found sitting on my front doorstep! Such a small box. I'm going to hook it up now, and I'll get back to you.

Grrr · Jul 14, 2004, 11:29 AM

Wow.. Can I touch it?

awaspaas · Jul 14, 2004, 11:47 AM

Yes, you may.

Apparently you need to use a computer that has an Airport card installed to set it up - I tried running the assistant on my Cube (which is connected to a router via Ethernet) and it complained, so I'm installing the assistant on my iBook now. (That may be a problem for some)

awaspaas · Jul 14, 2004, 12:22 PM

Works exactly as advertised (once I remembered to add its MAC address to my D-link router's access control list). I can stream from my iBook or from my Cube. A few notes:

When streaming, my computer is transmitting 75-115 KB/s (thanks MenuMeters)

I can connect to my Cube's shared library from the iBook, and stream from there to Airport Extreme, which is impressive as the data goes like this: Cube --> Router --> iBook --> Router --> Airport Extreme.

iTunes doesn't use a noticeably greater amount of CPU while streaming to Airport Extreme than just playing to the speakers (which is a little confusing to me, since isn't it supposedly encoding to Apple Lossless on-the-fly?)

Any other questions?

galarneau · Jul 14, 2004, 12:28 PM

Originally posted by awaspaas:
I can connect to my Cube's shared library from the iBook, and stream from there to Airport Extreme, which is impressive as the data goes like this: Cube --> Router --> iBook --> Router --> Airport Extreme.

Cool. I was really hoping you could do that. My iBook has a tiny 30GB hard drive, and it's silly to have 1/2 of it filled with music.

aaanorton · Jul 14, 2004, 12:51 PM

Will the AXP act as a wireless bridge/repeater for your D-Link?
Does the e'net port act as a LAN port on the network? In other words, can you connect devices to it and have them join the LAN as if they were wired to a switch?

Have fun.

MaxPower2k3 · Jul 14, 2004, 01:00 PM

Originally posted by awaspaas:
When streaming, my computer is transmitting 75-115 KB/s (thanks MenuMeters)

Do you know if that measurement is in kilobytes or kilobits per second? If it's kilobits, 75-115 seems a bit low (less than a 128kbps-encoded song), and I have a feeling a lot of people hooking this up to high-quality stereos would be upset, but if it were bytes, (equivalent to 600 - 920 kbits) that seems quite reasonable and should sound great.

awaspaas · Jul 14, 2004, 01:05 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Will the AXP act as a wireless bridge/repeater for your D-Link?
Does the e'net port act as a LAN port on the network? In other words, can you connect devices to it and have them join the LAN as if they were wired to a switch?

Have fun.

"Extend the range of your Airport Extreme network" does not work for me. You must need an Apple Airport Extreme base station or another Airport Express for that to work.

As for the LAN port, lemmie find an ethernet cable...

awaspaas · Jul 14, 2004, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
Do you know if that measurement is in kilobytes or kilobits per second? If it's kilobits, 75-115 seems a bit low (less than a 128kbps-encoded song), and I have a feeling a lot of people hooking this up to high-quality stereos would be upset, but if it were bytes, (equivalent to 600 - 920 kbits) that seems quite reasonable and should sound great.

capital KB = kilobytes

ratlater · Jul 14, 2004, 05:10 PM

Originally posted by awaspaas:
"Extend the range of your Airport Extreme network" does not work for me. You must need an Apple Airport Extreme base station or another Airport Express for that to work.

As for the LAN port, lemmie find an ethernet cable...

Any word on the LAN port? If this thing could act as a wireless bridge as well I'd be in hog heaven.

-matt

awaspaas · Jul 14, 2004, 05:56 PM

Originally posted by ratlater:
Any word on the LAN port? If this thing could act as a wireless bridge as well I'd be in hog heaven.

-matt

I can't get it to work in my current setup (client mode connecting to a D-link wireless router) but the FAQ seems to imply that it will if you're in WDS mode (extending the range of an Airport Extreme base station)

aaanorton · Jul 14, 2004, 08:54 PM

Ya, I wouldn't expect it to work, if WDS doesn't work. Seems reasonable, though. Apple said it would only work with 2 AXPs or an AXP and a AXT.

brentsg · Jul 14, 2004, 10:02 PM

Argggh.

I placed an order for 2 of them the day they were announced. For some reason, Apple called me at work and offered me a 10% discount on anything in the Apple store. Well, I cancelled my order for the 2 Airport Express units and had her place a new order. Got a nice 10% discount but now I apparently have to wait until Friday for mine to arrive!

B

soul searching · Jul 20, 2004, 05:56 PM

Originally posted by awaspaas:
I can't get it to work in my current setup (client mode connecting to a D-link wireless router) but the FAQ seems to imply that it will if you're in WDS mode (extending the range of an Airport Extreme base station)

Does this mean you cannot go from the Cube > Router > Airport Extreme?

awaspaas · Jul 20, 2004, 07:10 PM

Originally posted by soul searching:
Does this mean you cannot go from the Cube > Router > Airport Extreme?

That was referring to LAN port bridging in client mode. You need an Airport Extreme or other WDS-compatible router for that.

Parky · Jul 30, 2004, 01:38 PM

My Airport Express arrived today in the UK!!

Working great for internet and iTunes.

Ian