All right, troops, I’ve got a lot to cover this week, so listen up!

Apple’s current AirPort Extreme base station, which uses the 80211.g industry standard network protocol, is an eight-inches-wide, flying-saucer-looking-thingy (pretty good technical writing, don’t you think?), that either sits on the desk or mounts on the wall. It has a USB port to plug in a printer, so that everyone on the network can print from the same printer. Using an AirPort-equipped PowerBook or iBook on a wireless home or office network setup is, well, cool.

Coupled with Mac OS X’s “Rendezvous” configuration-free networking, any other computer on the network can access the photos and music on the main computer, through the iTunes and iPhoto applications. But, wouldn’t it be great if you could access your music through any set of powered stereo speakers in the house? You can with Apple’s new AirPort Express. But there’s much more to this new system than just music.

AirPort Express is an 80211.g wireless router, with essentially the same capabilities of the AirPort Extreme base station, including the USB printer port. Unlike its big brother, the Express fits in the palm of your hand and weighs but seven ounces. It contains an internal universal power adapter, so there’s no extra cables or power supplies to carry around. If you don’t have a home network, the Express can serve as your base station.

If you travel, you can use the Express to create a wireless network in a hotel meeting room just by plugging into the provided Ethernet cable. If you already have a wireless network, you can use the Express to extend the range of the network.

The AirPort Express has one “new” port – an analog and optical digital audio mini-jack. Through this port you can connect the Express to any set of powered speakers (or full-blown stereo), anywhere within the range of the network. Then, through a new feature in iTunes called AirTunes, you send out your music to the speakers. You can control the music playlist through any computer on the network.

AirTunes also decompresses the music files on the fly, so that the music that comes out of the speakers is as close to CD quality as possible.

AirPort Express will be available in July for $129. Oh, and it’s fully compatible with Windows.

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski