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Practical Mac / Glenn Fleishman
New Wi-Fi device has sound future

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Wi-Fi networking is almost passé. It's everywhere, in everything. The wireless data standard, known better as AirPort and AirPort Extreme on the Macintosh, seems to have reached its apogee, no?

Don't tell that to Apple Computer. Its latest wireless product, AirPort Express, performs the usual magic, stuffing several useful features into a single device at a reasonable price.

The $129 base station isn't as full-featured as the $249 AirPort Extreme line. For starters, it's designed to handle 10 users at a time, not 50.

And it has only a single Ethernet port to connect to your broadband modem, which means you need a wired broadband gateway with an Ethernet switch to share your Internet connection with both wired and wireless computers.

But that's just what it doesn't do. The Express does stream audio wirelessly from iTunes; it does allow you to extend an existing AirPort Extreme or compatible network without drilling holes; it does use the 54 megabit-per-second 802.11g standard; and it does include USB print sharing.

The iTunes music streaming is unique. Each AirPort Express Base Station has an analog and digital optical audio port. You need a $40 kit to use the optical interface. The kit includes a high-quality analog audio cable and a power cord. The unit comes with an integral plug and hangs off an outlet.

When you plug a stereo system or a set of powered speakers into an AirPort Express, it automatically recognizes that there's an audio device attached. With iTunes 4.6, an already available update for Mac and Windows, you can choose via which set of speakers to stream audio.

Each Express device can be connected only to a single set of speakers or stereo inputs, and only one copy of iTunes can control one Express unit's audio output at a time.

For some, the idea that iTunes becomes your music collection's front end is a natural if you've already converted your collection to MP3 and are buying music from the iTunes Music Store.

Others may still want to play audio using different programs, or stream all audio, not just iTunes music. For that purpose, you'd need to turn to a device like the Squeezebox, which fits the bill admirably, but costs $280 (www.slimdevices.com).
 
Apple has named its streaming system AirTunes; it never invents a name for a single aspect of one product. It would be easy for Apple to release a Wi-Fi remote control or build Wi-Fi into an iPod to act as a streaming source or controller.

AirPort Express also includes a feature to extend an existing wireless network over Wi-Fi. Wireless Distribution System (WDS) isn't quite an industry standard, so Apple is only promising that AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme base stations can connect to one another. However, in my testing, I've found that equipment from Buffalo with WDS often works with AirPort Extreme.

Like the AirPort Extreme system, every Express unit includes a USB port to share printers over the network. Apple has a long list of compatible models; almost all USB printers that you can connect to directly under Mac OS X appear to be supported.

Apple has promoted the idea that this 6.7-ounce compact unit is portable: If you need a base station on the fly, it's a little more convenient than using Mac OS X's Internet Sharing feature. For instance, when I travel, I could plug the Express into the hotel's broadband Ethernet connection, and then use Wi-Fi all over my room instead of just at a desk.

If you're sold on the notion of the AirPort Express and have wired machines to hook in as well, consider the $30 Asanté FR1004, which is a wired broadband gateway with a four-port Ethernet switch. Plug its broadband port into your DSL or cable modem, and plug the AirPort Extreme into one of its switched ports, and you can share to both kinds of networks.

The AirPort Express is set to ship in mid-July.

Glenn Fleishman writes the Practical Mac column for Personal Technology and about technology in general for The Seattle Times and other publications. Send questions to gfleishman@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists