| 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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Easy to Use, January 11, 2007
By Balance in All Things (Cranston, RI USA)
The key feature of this product is its ease of setup. After removing it from the box, it took < 15 minutes to have it setup through my Powerbook. Another 15 minutes later, my wife's WindowsXP based laptop was connected. Our previous wireless router, not an Apple one, dropped connections a few times a day and printing through it worked only 50% of the time. So far we have had no dropped connections and printing always works with Airport Express.
Streaming from iTunes through AirTunes took no more than a minute to setup and it works great.
The only criticism is that the range was less than I expected. I purchased a second Airport Express router and all has worked well since. To be fair, the initial router was setup in the furthest point in the house from our home office. However, our house is only 1300 square feet, so I expected one to be sufficient. Perhaps there's further interference causing a loss of signal, so only a single star has been deducted.
Great product Apple! Keep them coming.
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Seriously messed up my router configuration, January 6, 2007
By macfawlty (potomac, MD USA)
I tried to install this thing and it messed up my router configuration. I couldn't get online until I chatted with Linksys support to get it back up. I didn't want to take the chance of messing it up again.
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Easy wirelles internet, audio and printing (never used printing tough)., January 4, 2007
By Learning. Always. (Belo Horizonte, MG Brazil)
No cables. No worries. No neighbors hacking my network or computer.
Music from iTunes played on my livingroom receiver. Small, nicely designed.
Easy to set up. Yes, it could get better.
The range could be wider. And it could be cheaper.
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Instable at times, December 31, 2006
By J. Sugalski (Northeast Ohio, USA)
I purchased the Airport Express a little over a year ago. The product concept is wonderful, but its execution is slightly less so.
My main problem is the frequency by which the Airport will lose its connection. My music will cut out during songs like a skipping cd, which is extremely irritating. Oftentimes, I'll have to stop what I'm doing, close everything on which I'm working, and restart my PC. This usually helps, as does limiting the number of programs I'm running.
I agree, the set-up was rough. There are plenty of resources here to help you through it. And I also agree that support from the manufacturer was virtually nonexistent.
If you can tolerate its minor problems and be patient with its flaws, I'd definitely recommend it. But if you want a product that you won't have to troubleshoot every couple of times you use it, maybe wait for the next generation of the Airport Express.
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OK... but not nearly as good as other Apple products., December 30, 2006
By backtime (New York)
Most people probably don't flinch at the Airport's hefty price tag because they expect it to perform as well as Apple's computers, IPods and other products. Unfortunately, if there's a weak link in the Apple product line, this is it.
As a wireless router, it really is only a fair product. The range is no better than a Linksys or Netgear product that is a third of the price. I find it needs to be re-booted at least once a day, and rarely for any decent reason other than it just stopped talking to the computers. I use it for both an Apple laptop and a PC laptop, although never simultaneously, because it doesn't always react well to the strain of two signals. It does communicate better with the Apple. The PC hates it, and loses connection with it so often that I am considering just hard wiring it into the network. I should add I'm in a two-bedroom apartment, so it isn't like its communicating across the Ponderosa. Usually the distance from the laptop to the wireless router is only 10-20 feet.
It is small and unobtrusive and certainly prettier than most other routers. But as far as performace goes, it is a big disappointment.
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Yes, the documentation sucks..., December 18, 2006
By Robert A. Paley
...and running my microwave seems to hamstring its reception, but mostly it connects, and works just fine, with my iMac about 40 feet and several walls away. I can't actually speak to its printer-sharing, but have you checked out the cost of print-servers lately? It has made the sub-woofer and speakers attached to my living room tv much more of an asset, and I can see moving them, and it, out onto the deck this summer for au naturel rocking out.
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No apple care support available for it, December 15, 2006
By S. Stubbs
My base station just stopped working all of a sudden. I bought my airport extreme a few years after I purchased my computer. I had not purchased apple care for my computer, and it is not an option for me to buy it because it's outside of the allotted time to purchase it.
Okay, that's fine. I told them that I would just buy another airport extreme, and that I would like to buy an extended warranty (apple care) just specifically for the new airport that I was buying. They said they don't do that. at all. I can't purchase an extended warranty for a new product??? and I don't have an option of buying apple care until I buy a new computer. That won't be for probably another 2 years or so, I just upgraded my operating system and RAM. My computer still works wonderful.
I think it's rediculous that I can't purchase extended warranties on products purchased seperately from my computer. Especially when my computer is running absolutely fine and will outlast many of the products I buy for it.
My airport stopped working (completely dead) less than 2 years after purchase. Now, that seems to me to be a very short life, am I right?
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Good, but not great, December 15, 2006
By k9calamity (New York City)
Yeah, its okay... It has a lot of nice features... Yet it does randomly stop working like every other router out there. Please apple, before you charge 2x more than all the rest, make sure that your product is BETTER than them. My old linksys worked better than this one...
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Setting up with a Mac and a PC, December 14, 2006
By Brian A. Laskowski
My wife has a macbook and is very into wireless everything. We bought a printer for us to share, which meant my desktop PC needed to get wireless. We have a cable modem, which helps, but we had to install the printer and Airport express all at the same time.
Eventually we got it to work, although it is easy to see why the Mac's are so much more popular, they are very very user friendly (I am starting to become a mac fan as we speak.)
The unit itself is very neat since it does take up a lot less space and does a good job. I have experienced a few times when the network was down, but they are very temporary and haven't happened in about a month, so it could have been an issue with the user, not the technology.
Overall it is a very capable wireless router. It does what two or three pieces of technology do, and if you have a mac, it is the only choice. If you have a pc it might be better if you try a different one, I have no recommendations that way, so good luck.
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Works Great, December 12, 2006
By Southern Bell (New Orleans)
I have had an airport express since they came out a few years ago & it works great (I had the original one that I purchased probably 8 years ago & wanted the more compact model, never had a problem with the original either). I'm not sure why people are saying that they break in a couple of months I'm thinkig that some people might be plugging computer equipment directly into a wall outlet. You must have everything on a good surge protector. Make sure you get a surge protector with a Jule (sp?) rating of around 3,000. The powerstrips you can buy at the drug store only have a Jule rating of around 150. They will NOT protect your computer... I lost 2 computers with a 300 Jule rated surge protector.
As for ease of use, if you are not a mac user I suppose it would be harder to set it up. I've been using apple wireless for around 8 years & it's been amazing, something I can't imagine of having to live without.
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Simple set up on Macs, BUT..., November 30, 2006
By Old One Eye (Denver, CO USA)
If you use Mac OSX 10.3.9 or any flavor of 10.4.x, make sure you unplug any ethernet cable from your Mac BEFORE you use "AirPort Setup Assistant" in the Utilities folder. I didn't, and could not get internet access through my cable modem--although, USB-printing and Airtunes-to-remote-speakers worked just fine. Maybe this is noted somewhere but it took me a couple hours of head-scratching to make it work. After I "unplugged" both my iMac and my Pismo the Set-up Assistant worked just fine--with set-up taking less than two minutes.
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Pure Disappointment, November 29, 2006
By yesuaini99 (Walnut, CA, USA)
Reliability: no star
Feature: 1 star
Quality: looks good but didn't work
Price: no star (high for something so unreliable)
Guys, like one of the previous reveiws, congrats to those who purchased and experienced no problems.
I bought 2 units at the same time during a store close-out sale at 20% off prices. One of the was almost DOA. It lit up for about 2 hours and it would never connect again. Since they were bought at a close out deal, no return or exchange was possible. The 2nd unit worked fine until about 2 months later, it starts to disconenct randomly even though the indicator light is still green. There was no way to scan the available network or connect to it. I tried many methods, by changing an earlier version of firmware, no luck there. I updated it to the most recent firmeware, still no luck. I finally decided to go to a local Apple store and get them both serviced. When i arrived, the guys at the Genius Bar asked if i had any appointment? I said no, this is the first time i get any Apple service. He asked me to make an appointment basically like 6 hours later at the same day. The schedule was impossible for me. So he recommended me to go online to make appointment when i was ready to come back. Just now, I tried to log on to Apple website to make an appointment for tomorrow, the site says they are closed now because i have no "ProCare" membership. My God, if you have no paid "ProCare" membership, you can only make appointment for the same day!!! Which means, if you log in in the morning trying to make an appointment for that day, and they are out of the appointment slot, you can only do it again the next morning, hoping if you get a slot to come in for a "Mac Doctor's appointment!!! This is ridiculous!!! What kind of service is this? I have to pay to make an appointment for service when the product breaks within a few weeks of purchase?
I give it 1-start because while it worked, the audio streaming was a cool feature; the reason i bought them in the first place. As for being a wireless AP, the reliability SUCKS!!!! TWO out of TWO breaks!!! What are the chances of that!!!!
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Difficult to set up with Windows, documentation is appalling, no tech support., November 27, 2006
By S. Mason (Charlotte, NC)
Congratulations to anybody who bought this and actually had no problems setting it up. I bought this product on the advice of a friend who assured me it would work with Windows. I use Windows XP with a Belkin Pre-N router. I want to use it to stream music to my home stereo system. I've been trying to configure it for days but I can't get it to interface with my router. I can stream music, but only if I disconnect from the Internet which is not an acceptable solution. Plus the sound quality is poor, almost like AM radio.
The documentation is a little pamphlet and is basically useless if you have any problems. Tech support is non-existant. When I came to a roadblock with my router, I was able to call Belkin. Not so with Apple. There isn't even any useful information on their website regarding setup problems with Windows. You have to go to the forums and take a chance that other users' advice is sound. I'm sure that there is a pretty simple setting that I've missed, but finding it has been an adventure and Apple is no help whatsoever.
I'm returning this product and I will not buy any more Apple products. Their documentation and tech support are atrocious.
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Makes my life so much easier, November 22, 2006
By since1968 (Washington, DC United States)
I travel a lot to see family and I take the Airport Express everywhere I go. It's just so easy to plug it into an existing ethernet hub and be surfing the web wirelessly 60 seconds later.
Here at home I run both Windows and Mac machines off the Express, no problems. I've seen some of the criticisms that you can get similar products with more features for less money; that's probably true, but as a programmer the Airport Express is just one less thing for me to worry about. Ease of use and small form factor for easy transport make this an excellent tool.
Highly recommended.
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Good for music; Doesn't play movies!, November 19, 2006
By not a dog (Space)
My AirPort express plays music quite well. No problems there. It can't play audio from movies, however. I expected that if I downloaded TV shows from iTunes that I would be able to play them on my rather expensive wireless audio gadget. Nope. I can't. I contacted Apple customer service and they were apologetic, but confirmed that it does not play movie audio.
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Great!, November 10, 2006
By Brian Wynne (Bigfork, MT)
Works just as advertised! I wish I had 2 more to use as print hubs and remote speaker drivers for itunes. Great with a macbook on a windows-xp wireless network! Setup can be confusing, best to search for airport wireless networking, but once you get it going it is great.
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Good Product, But . . . ., November 9, 2006
By Anthony J. Spinetta
Other reviews mention that the directions leave much to be desired. I'll second that analysis, but a methodical approach utilizing the few hard and fast rules within the directions should get a user up and running.
The real drawback to the AirPort Express appears to be its potential for early mortality. Please read the discussion at this URL:
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I purchased four AirPort Express units within sixty days. Two of those four have failed with 16 to 18 months of the purchase date. Apple's warranty covers the product for 12 months. Apple will not admit that this problem exists or offer a solution to AirPort Express owners.
I'm a loyal customer of Apple. Over the past twenty years, their customer service has been either excellent or poor with NO mediocre service in the middle. Apple's response to the premature mortality of many AirPort Express units falls into the poor category, and because of that, I won't take my chances with this particular unit in the future.
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apple express, November 2, 2006
By Karen Bodnar (Liberty, MO United States)
We have heard so many good things about this wireless but we had nothing but trouble and after 2 months of trying different things we bought another wireless and it works fine. Sorry.
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Fine product, October 31, 2006
By Marcos Kirsch (Austin, TX USA)
This is a very simple product that works as advertised. Easy to set up within MacOS X. I use the AirTunes functionality which is very cool. I don't use the USB printing. While more expensive than other 802.11g routers/access points, the simplicity + AirTunes functionality make it worth the extra money.
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This is all I needed, September 15, 2006
By Sean in Florida (West Palm Beach)
I was having problems hooking up my laptop soundcard to my home stereo. There was an annoying hum if the video and computer equipment were hooked up together even on separate rca inputs. I was thinking of getting a new sound card. For a few bucks more, this was a wiser choice. No more wires hanging from my laptop, no more hum when everything is connected.
No problem working with a wireless enabled Dell Inspiron. Worked for web browsing even before loading the apple software. The included software updated my old version of itunes, and installed password protection
Can't wait to hook it up to the printer. Falls short of five stars because it didn't include a desk stand.
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