Airport Express now allows streaming to multiple stereos simultaneously
Having “discovered” the capability accidentally just recently, I wondered when did Apple introduce this useful trick? I found out, along with solving other mysteries of iTunes, AirTunes, the Airport Express and its imitators, through visits to a local Apple Store and some good old-fashioned gumshoing, er, I mean Googling.
When Apple’s Airport Express first flew onto the market two years ago this month, you may have thought:
“Ok, here’s a 6 oz. device with built-in wireless, a USB port, a mini plug for audio, an ethernet port, and a powerplug. It’s a neat gizmo: a wireless router the size and shape of an a/c adapter, without antennae, still with room for a USB port to support a shared USB printer, and with the added benefit of AirTunes, Apple’s technology for wireless streaming of music from iTunes to whatever source you have plugged into the AirPort Express.”
If you did think something like that, you might have also thought, “How cool!”
It won’t surprise you to know I bought one, right away. Yes, I’m a sucker like that (although I haven’t yet bought a black MacBook). Well, besides worry about my being a materialistic, techno-fetishist, and how that might constrain my relative emotional development, for the most part I felt pretty happy with my new acquisition. Took it home, plugged in the stereo, set it to AUX(iliary) input, moved to the iMac to download and run Apple’s latest Airport Express installer software, and in less than 3 more minutes, was playing Stephen Stills from iTunes on the iMac, wirelessly across the kitchen to the boombox (now there’s a throw-back term for you). Nice!
And there were some drawbacks, ready-or-not here they come, 1, 2, 3. First, I wanted to send audio from more than iTunes. No go. Second, while I am no audiophile, the fidelity was lower than I expected. Third and last, I wanted to play the music on my computer, *and* from my kitchen speakers at the same time. It couldn’t be done.
Then I was further frustrated that this inability to play to more than one source at a time was not clearly explained in Apple’s promotional information about the Airport Express. In fact, while it might have been there, after an hour of looking through PDFs and the web… couldn’t find it anywhere. Of course, there was no indication that it would play to more than one source at a time, either. Well, at that time I was actually working for Apple retail, and my own experiences with AirTunes and the Airport Express were, as usual, echoed by that of my customers.
Among many lessons I have taken to heart and with me, I was trained well at Apple retail to always assume positive intent. At least of my team mates, family and friends. Apple’s an innovative company, and the Airport Express was a new product. At only two years old, it still is pretty new. So, assuming positive intent, perhaps playing to multiple sources simultaneously was a feature that Apple was planning to introduce at some point in the near future. That made a certain sense to me, especially as I felt at that time, and still do, that that particular feature is practically assumed. I guess because Apple was planning to allow the Airport Express to stream to multiple stereos, the company didn’t want to put into the promotional literature that it couldn’t, in fact, yet perform the function.
It took awhile, and the feature is here. You can now send music to your kitchen stereo, your living room, and play it on your local computer all at the same time! It seems to have been introduced below the radar, as many of Apple team weren’t aware of it until relatively recently, either. Some of the local Mac Geniuses, their names withheld to protect them (innocent they are not), think it was introduced in a recent revision to the Airport firmware and software, close to the beginning of the year, and agree that it was not generally made known. Other people looked at me like I’m an ignoramus, but I’m used to that. “I think Steve talked about it in the last Keynote,” said one friendly Applite. I guess I just have to pretend to know everything from now on.
In fact, as of the day this was written, Apple still has some old literature that does not say, much less emphasize, that you can now play music to multiple sources at the same time (ie: the AirPort Express Technology Overview, which seems to be the same document that was introduced with the Airport Express in 2004).
So, when did this mysterious update actually get introduced? Also, Wikipedia states that there’s a maximum of three stereos that can be connected. Evidence for this is suggested by some diagrams showing only two additional Airport Expresses, but where else? Curiosity about this little Airport Express, and its developing features, having gotten the better of me, I was excited by my first discovery as I dove into research with gusto. The company with my favorite name has some very cool software related to the Airport Express…
Rogue Amoeba, makers of the very useful audio-recording utility Audio Hijack, also make a product for Mac OS X and Windows 2000/XP called AirFoil. AirFoil solves the problem of sending music to multiple sources wirelessly, too, moreover, enabling one to stream audio from just about any media player to one or more Airport Expresses (Expressi?) *simultaneously.* This means you may play audio from your Griffin RadioShark (a kind of radio-Tivo) to your stereo wirelessly, or for another example, from QuickTime, or even a web browser to your stereo(s). When AirFoil was first introduced, it could only send music to one AirPort Express at a time, too! The simultaneous streaming function came out with version 2.0 of their product, released recently. Rogue Amoeba has a cool blog , with its June 25, 2006 entry speculating on a remote control API from Apple in OS 10.5.
Next, stumbling on the revised version of the Squeezebox, I have to write, it seems *to rock.* I think this is the device that Patrick Crispen, the Netsquirrel himself, has. Now I know why! It inspires the techno-craving in me (uh, again), incorporating some of the best features of the radio shark and the Airport Express, and delivering hi-fidelity sound, albeit at a more expensive price-point, starting from $249. It has many other features, including a display and remote so you can see what you’re playing (note that the Airport Express, too, now has a remote option which plugs into its USB port). I’m not certain why the fidelity of the Airport Express is lacking, given it’s supposed to use Apple’s lossless codec, even when I’m sending very high quality streams. Some quick research turned up nothing except speculation that the iTunes music store will finally introduce hi (I have not yet been able to recommend iTunes faithfully because of iTunes Music Store’s typically anemic 128 bit rate).
I stumbled across all this during my quest for the information for which I was originally looking, found thanks to tuaw.com , which unsurprisingly covered the issue 6 months ago… practically something from the Mac Folklore Project , yeesh!
Here’s the location with all the material info, at Apple.com:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/share/ The ability to share your music to up to three stereos was introduced with the firmware 6.3 update around New Year’s, 2006. This was just prior to MacWorld, which I covered in this blog and on the air, and during the time you may recall there was so much rumored about Steve Job’s Disney intentions .
So, you need to have at least firmware 6.3 for each Airport Express to enable multiple system streaming. Here’s where to get the latest firmware for the Airport Express as of this writing (still 6.3, introduced January 3rd, 2006). Mystery solved!
The Airport Express was introduced at $129, which is where it has remained, fully $70 less than the Apple Airport Extreme, although still twice as much as many comparable products from Linksys or Belkin. As of publishing this, the Airport Express is now available for as little as $99.
Some uncommon knowledge about the Airport devices, both Express and Extreme:
• They are covered under your AppleCare Protection Plan, if you have one for an Apple computer (sorry, iPod protection plans don’t qualify), potentially extending your manufacturer service period up to three years from time of purchase of your computer
• What is the range of the Airport Express? Only 50 feet for 802.11g, up to 150 feet for 802.11b.
• When did it switch from single-source to multiple destination music streaming? January of 2006. You need the 6.3 firmware or later.
• What’s the maximum number of airport express you can use? Just 3.
• Can you share printers with Windows machines wirelessly, too? Yes, using Apple’s Bonjour technology (based on open source ZeroConf). Windows 2000 and XP users can download Bonjour for Windows from Apple’s website. We’ve written about it a couple times in this blog.
• Apple produces Windows 2000 and XP software to administrate the Airport wireless routers using the Airport Admin software (note that the Airport Express Assistant is not compatible with Windows 2000)
• The mini-plug for audio out is a 3.5-mm analog *or* optical port
• The “pips” or wireless signal strength indicator changed to reflect the speed at which you are connected, with 4 pips indicating 36Mbps or higher. Note that there are supported claims that the real-world maximum transfer rate is about 25Mbps.
Bilbiography:
• Apple’s Press Release introducing the Airport Express
• Apple’s page about the Airport Express
• Wickipedia’s page about the Airport Express
• Apple’s info about Airport software for Windows
• Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil
• Slim Device’s Squeezebox
• Patrick Crispen, the NetSquirrel
• David Chartier’s Jan 11th, 2006 article about “Hidden
• Apple’s page with the goods! Sharing music wirelessly with
• Tao of Mac review of the Airport Express
• Mac Folklore Radio: The Story of How the Macintosh Came to be
