Comments on: Apple silently updates AirPort Express

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:50:14 +0000

“Update: Sorry, playing music on multiple speakers at once isn’t a new feature, as pointed out by a commenter. Sending songs to an AirPort from an iPhone or iPad also isn’t new, but is only supported on last-generation models that have 802.11n.”

The last part of this updated statement is not right either. My 5yr old Airport Express (b/g) does also support AirTunes. It looks as if Apple renamed “AirTunes” into “AirPlay”, which is slightly confusing.

AirTunes originally enabled iTunes for Mac/Win to stream music to an AirPort Express, whereas AirPlay is streaming audio/video directly from a iOS (and soon supported in Mountain Lion from an OS X device!).

AirPlay seems to incorporate all of this now, though.

By: Alex Layne

Alex Layne — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:28:57 +0000

Thanks for pointing that out. You’re right about those not being new features. The article will be updated shortly. Sorry for the delay.

By: Dan Foy

Dan Foy — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:54:53 +0000

Sounds like the only new features are dual-band N and the additional ethernet port rather than the old dual-purpose one.

I liked the fact that you could plug the old ones straight into the wall – I thought that being self-contained was a really great feature. I sometimes take mine to places that have wired internet or WiFi with lost (or unknown) passwords to make a WiFi network for myself. I know the new one will still be able to do these things, but I wonder if the design appearing less (literally) ‘plug and play’ will cause people to see the APE as more of a fixed appliance.

By: Simon White

Simon White — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 22:44:19 +0000

“AirTunes has been replaced with AirPlay, so you can send songs to an AirPort Express from your iPhone or iPad as well as your Mac. Also, if you have more than one AirPort Express connected to speakers, music can be played on all of them at the same time, which is pretty neat.”

None of this is new though – You can do all of this with the existing Airport Express.