| Apple AirPort Express with Air Tunes (M9470LL/A) |
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Model: M9470LL/A
Brand: Apple
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 299
Platforms: Windows
Operating system: Windows & Macintosh
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Enjoy your iTunes music library in virtually any room of your house
Share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without inconvenient and obtrusive cables
Create an instant wireless network on the go
Access an AirPort Express wireless network
Compatible with Windows XP or 2000; Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later |
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| Description: |
| Apple M9470LL/A AirPort Express Base Station - The AirPort Express is a very unique wireless base station. It fits in the palm of your hand, plugs directly into a wall outlet, and allows you to wirelessly connect to the Internet, print, and stream iTunes music to any room in your home. It does this via 3 bult-in ports. A WAN Ethernet port for your cable or DSL modem, a USB port for your printer, and an Audio port for your home stereo. Security - Built-in Firewall, Password Protection, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) Support, & 128-bit WEP Encryption Supports up to 10 users NOTE - Wireless printing over USB requires Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later or Windows XP or Windows 2000 and a compatible printer NOTE - AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express can extend the range only of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express wireless network |
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| User Reviews (299 total): |
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Airport Express is a waste of time and $$$$$!, March 23, 2007
By nfarlow
This PIECE OF CRAP does not work, PERIOD. All I wanted to do was listen to music from iTunes in my living room. All I've accomplished is wasting my time and money. I've used the set-up assistant several times, and each time my Mac says it is all set up and ready to go, but the yellow light on the unit keeps blinking. (It's supposed to turn green to indicate the thing is working.) I've tried moving it right next to my Mac (the instructions tell you it must be within range, but they do not tell you what that range happens to be!), then resetting it and going thru the set-up process again and again, but it's just a waste of time. Don't waste your money on this garbage.
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Sweet, March 21, 2007
By Foolio (Motown)
Great product! Slight delay (0.5 seconds) when starting a new song, but smooth transitions when continiously playing. Really amazing technology.
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works great!, March 21, 2007
By J. Caleshu
very pleased with the air tunes - it was easy to set up the hardware, but not entirely intuitive that we had to use airport express set-up utility to get it working. But once we figured that out, it had no trouble connecting with our wireless network (NOT airport, but one that came from our ISP), and so far so good.
It does occasionally cut out, but I think that has more to do with the ISP than the air tunes.
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Works like a dream, March 18, 2007
By TechieStu (Miami FL)
Very easy to set up and works perfectly with my Mac and PC laptops and PC desktop.
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A great wireless solution., March 9, 2007
By D. Singley
Years ago, I helped my windows-using parents set up a linksys wireless router. It took several hours and more than one trip to bestbuy to get it set up. In the end, I am still not sure how we got it working, but after a lot of work, something came on.
Recently, I bought the Apple airport express for my mac use. Total time between opening the box and having internet was less than 10 minutes. I needed no help. Also, the ability to use powered speakers and the printer wirelessly from my laptop has become a valued addition.
This is the easiest to use and best value (for all that it does) of wireless routers. I am a library grad-student. I put a good bit of research into this before I bought it. Trust me.
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Pretty good gadget..., March 9, 2007
By Jacqueline Ovad
I bought the Airport Express to share iTunes content on my home sound system. It performs this task well. It's also touted as a "travel router" however it lacks some important networking functionality/security found on other travel routers such as available from 3com, Linksys and D-Link's to name a few. For my purposes I'm pleased with the Apple AirPort Express.
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Just like a Mac, March 8, 2007
By Ben Beckner
Just like anything else Mac I have had this was amazingly easy to set up and use. I have a MacBook and an older IMac to set up and I was done in 15 min. I bought this for my home office and family computer to share internet and a printer. Everything works as advertised.
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good experience over time, March 4, 2007
By Chatham Mac (Chatham, NJ)
I have used several of these over a period of several years, and they work well. Setting up more than one, or using them to extend from a base station can be tricky, but with persistence and some help from Apple, they work "as advertised". I have used as a base station to share broadband internet with several computers or game boxes (as X-Box 360), to extend signal through a large house, for USB printing, and for "Air Tunes". Once set up, they work great. Only had one go bad on me after much good use; currently have 3 in use plus a new AirPort Extreme base station.
Tips on setup of a cranky unit: 1) hard reset by unplugging, holding in reset button with paper clip, plug in and await four green blinks before releasing paper clip; 2) click the airport symbol in your top bar (OS X), and choose the Airport Express module you've just reset; 3) use Airport utility to configure; in the new Airport Extreme version, do not attempt to use WEP encryption; use WPA2. The online help could be more clear, so you may need AppleCare or Genius assistance if problems persist. But in the end, problems can be resolved and you will have trouble free service for years or until you change your system.
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some of the beauty of apple, a little of the trickiness of windows, February 17, 2007
By ellen
I'm using this in a college dorm room to make my Ethernet connection wireless, since my Ethernet port got dented about a year ago and apple said it'd be about $600 to repair. Worked great out of the box, easy setup, beautiful first day, started working strangely on day two through days 3 and 4. The signal bar on my airport would blink on and off, as if to say it could see the wireless one second, but not the next, and making using the internet impossible. After plugging and unplugging, setting and resetting for a couple days, it's up and running again (wireless printing is beautiful, by the way) after finally (though mysteriously) getting into the airport administrative options and tweaking a few things. Fingers crossed, this makes my life as a college student a lot easier, without having to constantly run to the lounge or library to find wireless service. Only 3 stars? Because it felt like I was working with all the double-think of windows trying to figure out why this thing wasn't working properly (and true to windows, feel like i still don't know).
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Easier Setup Than Expected, February 12, 2007
By guscat (Austin, TX)
I don't know how well this works with PCs, but it took me onl 5 minutes to set it up for my MacBook and iBook computers. I don't know how it works wit a printer since I don't have one, but I had no trouble connecting my speakers to it also. I can't help but contrast this with a D-Link router I had before, which took a very tech savvy friend of mine almost 2 hours to set up.
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Great idea, but subject to hardware failure after 18 mos., February 10, 2007
By Art F. (CA)
I am a long-time Apple wireless user, having used all incarnations of their Airport wireless equipment going back to the original Aiport that came out in 1999.
I had two AirPort Expresses on my wireless network to serve up wireless internet, printing, and music via iTunes. They worked flawlessly for 18 mos running 24/7, and then they just died for no reason (no power light, no network, nada) despite the fact they were hooked up to a surge suppressor.
It turns out that this is a known issue with early adopters of the AirPort Express and Apple categorically refuses to acknowledge it. If it dies (as it did in my case) there is no way to fix it short of getting a new one if it is out of warranty.
So, while the product works as advertised, it is subject to overheating and power supply failure issues after 12 - 18 months on average based upon 1200+ unique owner posts with these same issues.
If you decide to get one, run don't walk to Apple and purchase an extended warranty.
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Combined With Airfoil, a complete solution, February 6, 2007
By John Gooch (Denver, CO USA)
This was my second Apple product - ever. The reason I got it was that my first Apple product was an iPod, and I fell in love in iTunes at the same time. Before this I was a Windows user, then a Linux user, and finally back to being a Windows user just a few months ago. With that out of the way, here is my experience with the Airport Express( APX ).
This product was very easy to setup. I installed the latest Airport management software and then turned on the APX. The software discovered it almost immediately, and I elected to add it to my current network( 11g Wireless using WAP2 security, with a hacked Linksys WRT54GL as my AP ). It was intuitive to set up, with my configuring the network name, security type, passkey, and admin password and then rebooting it. After the LED on the APX turned green, iTunes immediately located it an I was able to select it an output device in adddition to the computer iTunes ran on.
That is the basic configuration in a nutshell, if you are only using it to stream audio. It can do a lot more, but I haven't used other features such as WAP and WDS.
In addition, I installed Airfoil application so that I could direct sound from other applications ( Windows Media Player, VLC, Winamp, etc ) to the APX as use them as much as I do iTunes.
It is good to have a high quality access point device so that the APX has a good connection. The WRT54GL can run the DD-WRT ( and other ) custom firmware that let you boost the wireless signal many times the maximum strength of the default firmware, which I had to do to keep my microwave from making my wireless network unusable.
At the time of this post, the price for the APX had dropped from $129 to $99, with means I will be getting another one soon. :)
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I use these for streaming iTunes, January 30, 2007
By marlanw (Austin, TX)
I own 2 Airport Expresses, both exclusively used for streaming music from multiple iTunes computers. One I have connected to my home stereo. The other I have connected a Sonic Impact amplifier and BIC America speakers. I have written up an excellent installation guide.
Marlan
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So happy to have this, January 27, 2007
By ~ M (New York, NY)
I was surprised at how easy it is for me to set it up. I love my airport express!
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Great product but documentation lacking for windows, January 21, 2007
By windows user (Orl, Fl)
I spent many hours trying to set it up because the documentation for Windows install was confusing. The next day, afriend gave me Windows instructions and I had it up and running in 10 minutes. Love it now.
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Great Router, Easy Setup, Excellent product, January 18, 2007
By Compumusikdork
I purchased the Airport Express with my iMAC G5 system, which has an Airport card installed inside.The connectivity between the computer and the express base station is phenomenal. Right out of the box this is easy to setup. You insert the disc into your computer, install Airport Setup Assistant and the program intuitively directs you through the setup process. I was able to set up my home network in 15 minutes as opposed to the six months that passed before I was able to correctly configure my Linksys Wireless G Network card(a good product nevertheless). The base station allows you to share your iTunes collection among all the computers in your home assuming the computer with your main library is turned on, your airport express is working properly, and iTunes is running on your two computers(or more). It is very easy to listen to my 14GB music library on my Mac, upstairs wirelessly on a Dell Precision M90 laptop which, as you might have guessed, runs Windows. But I never have any problems with the connectivity between the two of them. Airport works well with Windows and comes with a Windows disc. Airport also allows you to share a printer, among other things. If you are not worried about having a super fast internet connection, buy the current Airport express which does provide high speed internet at 802.11g. The new airport(another product) provides a high speed connection at 802.11i.
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That ole 2.4 GHz Bug, January 17, 2007
By avanti5010 (Cave Creek, AZ)
Aside from any of the problems most reported, my problem is that it shuts down whenever someone uses a 2.4 GHz phone in the house.
What good is that?
Sent it back and hoping the new Airport Extreme fixed this bug.
By the way, I have had other devices do the same thing.
What don't manufacturers warn buyers that this will happen? Having a 2.4 Ghz phone is not an uncommon thing.
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Apple Airport Express, January 14, 2007
By P. Savio (Tucson, AZ)
It took a while to configure all 3 of our computers, but now that it is - it works great! Now I see that Apple has just put out an updated Airport Express of which I just bought this one a couple of months ago. Had I known I would've held out a little longer. C'est la Vie
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Awesome Dorm Room!, January 13, 2007
By College Student
With almost all college students using laptops these days, this makes for one amped up dorm room. It is so easy to set up with both macs and pcs, and printing wirelessly is so nice. Yes, this is a true sign of laziness that I would rather not get up and walk across the room to plug in my laptop and then print, but it is so much more convienent to just hit print.
The only cord I ever have to plug in my computer is the power cord, which makes for a far less cluttered desk and makes the laptop even more portable.
The other slot in the bottom of this is intriguing - the speaker slot. Over the summer, I decided to buy the Bose Companion 3 speaker set over the Soundock, and with the Airport Express, this was a really good move - I get twice the sound at less cost and still, only the power cord goes into the computer!
And of course, this is wonderful to provide a wireless network to me in my dorm room, as the university does not provide wireless in my dorm. I love how easy the controls are to set so that others do not take advantage of my wireless!
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Very Satisfied, January 11, 2007
By artemis2854 (Upstate NY)
Granted, I'm not a Windows user, but this was easy to set up on my iMac. I just plugged into my existing ethernet network, used the setup assistant, and voila, wireless for my iMac & Macbook--which is all I wanted an access point for, as all my other Linux computers are connected to a wired network. Served it's purpose rather nicely plus I have a wireless print server as well. I would highly recommend if you are a Mac user.
POSTSCRIPT: Also installed on an old Windows/Linux dual booter I had around. The secret is in William (from Florida's) comment. Visit his website and no hours and hours of headscratching. Windows installation was EASY too. I repeat, this is a great product.
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