Review: Apple Airport Express

There are three ways to listen to your iTunes music collection on your home stereo system. The most common is to use an iPod dock; or, you could connect the audio output of your computer to an AUX input on your stereo; but, the most convenient way is to use an Apple Airport Express to stream your iTunes music collection wirelessly from your PC or Mac computer to your stereo system or a pair of powered speakers. It's easy to connect, set up and use and the best way to enjoy your music collection on a stereo system.

Airport Express is a PC and Mac compatible wireless router based on the latest 802.11n wireless standards that allows streaming of iTunes music content from a computer to a home stereo system or powered speaker system. It can also be used for wireless printing and creating a home computer network for up to 10 users. However, for purposes of this article, I will focus only on wireless music streaming from iTunes.

The Airport Express is small device that fits in the palm of your hand. Connections include an AC electrical plug, Ethernet port for Internet connection, A USB port for wireless printing and an audio line out port. The audio line out is both analog and optical digital.

Airport Express is compatible with Mac computers with an AirPort or AirPort Extreme Card installed and running Mac OS X 10.4 or later and PC computers with 300 MHz or higher processing speed with 802.11a/b/g or n wireless adapter and running Windows Vista or Windows XP with Service Pack 2. Both Mac and PC must have iTunes installed, which is a free download from the Apple website.

The Airport Express is simple to connect, setup and use. Simply plug it into an electrical outlet, connect the audio output to an analog or digital audio input on a home stereo, configure Airport Express with the setup CD and enjoy wireless music and other iTunes audio content on your stereo. The Airport Express setup CD comes with AirTunes software for iTunes music streaming. The Airport Express audio output is a mini-jack connection that is either analog or optical digital out. A special connecting cable for digital audio output is available from Apple, otherwise use an analog audio cable with a mini-jack on one end and two stereo RCA cables on the other.

After connecting the Airport Express, insert the setup CD in the computer and follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: Airport Express uses robust WPA security to keep your network private and requires that you use a password.

Setup and connection with my Mac computer and home stereo system took about 15-20 minutes with no hassles. The setup CD is clear and helped guide me through the process, even alerting me to a few settings I needed to make on my computer to connect it to the Airport Express.

Aside from the ease of connecting and using the Airport Express (which I expect from Apple products), one of the best things is the wide variety of audio programming available on iTunes. Putting music aside for the moment, the Airport Express greatly increases the audio programs you can enjoy on your home stereo, including Internet radio stations and podcasts to name just a few.

If you have more than one Airport Express you can choose which room to play your tunes in, or play the same music in all rooms, great for a party.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch you can control your iTunes library by downloading the free application from the iTunes App store.

With Airport Express, your computer becomes a giant music server, allowing you to organize, sort and play all your favorite tunes on your home stereo. If you load your CDs on iTunes your computer is like a digital jukebox. Sound quality is excellent, especially if you import your CDs at the highest quality, either AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) or Apple Lossless Coding. Songs imported at lower quality still sound good, but a high quality stereo system may reveal more detail in the music and importing at the highest quality yields the best results.

The Apple Airport Express is a simple and affordable way to stream music and other audio content from your computer to your home stereo system or powered speakers. You can build a multiroom system by adding an Airport Express to any room where you want music.

Typically when I write a review, I contact the manufacturer for a review sample, but this time I bought an Airport Express at my local retailer and it's one of the best investments I've made. For anyone with a computer and a home stereo system, the Airport Express makes a great gift idea.