Apple AirPort Express

There are plenty of products on the market that allow you to wirelessly stream audio from your computer to your hi-fi, but the majority of them can be a real pain to set up. Apple's new AirPort Express simplifies the whole process and it works with both Macs and PCs.

If you're new to wireless audio streaming, it's a process that allows you to play music stored on your computer through speakers located anywhere in your house. In order to use AirPort Express, you'll need to have some form of wireless connection on your computer. If your computer doesn't have a wireless adaptor you'll need to purchase one before you can use AirPort Express.

Setting up the Airport Express is ridiculously easy. Insert the device into a mains socket, install the software - including the iTunes audio player - and you're away. That said, if you're integrating it with an existing wireless network, things can get a little more complicated and you might need to play around with the advanced settings a bit.

Once the link between iTunes and AirPort Express is established, simply connect your hi-fi to the AirPort speaker socket and you're away. You can also attach a USB printer to the AirPort Express unit along with an ADSL modem to provide wireless internet access.

AirPort Express does have its limitations, the first being that it's only possible to use it with iTunes; there's no support for Windows Media Player. Somewhat more disappointing is its inability to stream audio to two sets of speakers simultaneously.

This means that you can't play music on both your computer's speakers and those attached to the Airport Express at the same time. There's also no way of controlling audio playback using the AirPort Express. This can only be done via the computer.

Despite these restrictions, AirPort Express is an extremely impressive piece of kit. If you want to wirelessly stream audio from your computer to your stereo, it gets the job done with the minimum of fuss.

Contact: Apple 0800 039 1010
www.apple.com/uk

See also:

Philips Streamium SL400i

A wireless streaming device that's very easy to set up, but expensive  14 Jan 2005

BT Voyager Digital Media Player

A standalone wireless music streaming device  14 Oct 2004

Hauppauge MediaMVP

Affordable access to your digital media files.  24 Mar 2004

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