Airport Express - streaming iTunes

I've been give an Airport Express which I'd like to stream music from iTunes.
I have a MacBook Pro and a Powerbook G4 at home, both with Airport cards and would like to use the iTunes libraries from both. The MBP runs 10.6.2 and the PB runs 10.5.8.
I have an existing wireless network which I run via a Netgear DG834G router. Would it be straightforward to stream audio over the network to the Airport Express from either Mac? Also, I'm not sure how that would connect to my stereo (Denon RCD-M35DAB) as the connection is an RJ-45 and the stereo doesn't seem to have that connection.
Would it be better to buy a NAS box to store a central iTunes library and to connect to the Denon?
I'm a novice at streaming music, so grateful for any advice!
Many thanks,
Colin.

According to the AirPort Express FAQ, it should work. Here are a couple of excerpts that leads me to believe it should:
Question: If my computer is associated with a non-Apple wireless access point, can iTunes send an AirTunes stream to the AirPort Express?
Answer: *Yes, if AirPort Express has joined the network in client mode,* or if it is connected via wire to a LAN port on the non-Apple wireless access point.
Question: A computer connects via wire to an existing wireless access point/router. Can this wired client send an AirTunes stream to AirPort Express via the existing router?
Answer: Yes, if they are on the same subnet. These are common examples of when it would work:
* The existing router is an AirPort Extreme Base Station set up as WDS main, with the AirPort Express set up as WDS remote.
** The AirPort Express has joined the network (AirPort or third-party) in client mode.*
* You have a wired-only router sharing your Internet connection with a separate wireless access point that bridges the network to wireless clients. As in the two examples above, the AirPort Express would be either a WDS remote or in client mode.
The bold text would address the OP's configuration.
The variables involving third-party access points are many, which is why I always advocate an all-Apple infrastructure.
Message was edited by: John Galt

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Can airport express stream itunes music to ipod touch?

can airport express stream itunes music to ipod touch?

Hello cam baher. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
can airport express stream itunes music to ipod touch?
No.

Airport Express streaming iTunes from Time Capsule

This may seem redundant to other topics, however I have tried the solutions listed without relief. I bought and installed a Time Capsule. My internet connection comes into it and my iMac accesses it wirelessly. I have an Airport Express which I want in the living room to stream music.
I have hard reset to the default settings on the AE. My TC is set for "extend a network" and my iTunes is set-up to look for remote speakers. When I use Airport Express to set the AE to access the TC network, I get the confirmation that the AE has been reconfigured and that I can wait for the AE to restart. The Airport Express dialog box never gets past that point, leaving me looking at a spinning status wheel.
From the default settings, my Airport Utility can see both devices, but clicking on the AE dismounts the TC and vice versa. The status bar on the Airport toolbar sees my TC network and not the AE, which I assume would be normal if the AE joined the TC network. Everything up and running, my iTunes cannot see the AE and I do not get the remote speaker dialog box in iTunes.
It seems to me there should be a simple process to walk through such a generic situation. What am I missing?

I have hard reset to the default settings on the AE. My TC is set for "extend a network" and my iTunes is set-up to look for remote speakers. When I use Airport Express to set the AE to access the TC network, I get the confirmation that the AE has been reconfigured and that I can wait for the AE to restart. The Airport Express dialog box never gets past that point, leaving me looking at a spinning status wheel.
If your goal for the AirPort Express Base Station (AX) is just for streaming iTunes, then you want to configure it to "join" the TC's wireless network ... not to extend it. So enabling "extend a network" on the TC would not be necessary.
To configure the AX to join the TC's wireless network and for AirTunes, please compare the following settings to those currently enabled on the AX:
AirPort Utility > Manual Setup > AirPort > Wireless tab
o Wireless Mode: Join a wireless network
o Network Name: <existing TC's wireless Network Name>
o Wireless Security: <select the encryption type of the existing wireless network>
o Wireless Password: <enter the existing wireless network password>
o Verify Password: <re-enter the existing wireless network password>
Music
o Enable AirTunes (checked)
o iTunes Speaker Name: <enter desired speaker name>
o iTunes Speaker Password: (optional)
o Verify Password: (optional)
o Click Update to write the new settings to the AX
In iTunes:
iTunes > Preferences... > Advanced > General
o Look for remote speakers connected with AirTunes (checked)

Apple AirPort Express - Streaming Music on iTunes - Frequent Music Drop out

*Apple AirPort Express - Streaming Music on iTunes - Frequent Music Drop outs*
I have just purchased an Apple AirPort Express for the sole use of streaming music from my laptop to my home cinema system.
My system has bundles of power (Core 2 Duo, 3gb RAM, 320gb hard disk, Intel-N WiFi) and is running Windows Vista Premium. I am using the latest version of iTunes (version 8) and have it setup to play through remote speakers. I have my AirPort Express connected to my home cinema system.
When I play music on iTunes through ONLY my computer speakers I have no problem with drop outs.
However, when I play music through either (1) my AirPort Express or (2) multiple speakers (i.e. the AirPort Express and my computer speakers together) I experience frequent and unbelievably annoying drop outs in the music stream.
I have determined this has nothing to do with interference with the wireless signal and believe this is something to do with iTunes - the reason being the drop outs occur in BOTH the computer speakers AND the AirPort Express speakers (when I select multiple speakers) but does not occur when I select ONLY the computer speakers.
Please could you provide some advice on this as I am unable to use the AirPort!
Many thanks
Elliot

You don't say which Airport Express you are using and what its settings are.
There are two Airport Express models. The original model works on 802.11b/g on 2.4 GHz. The later model can do 802.11n on 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz. My experience is that interference when using the 2.4 GHz band creates drop-outs when sending audio from iTunes to an Airport Express. I now have an 802.11n network on 5.0 GHz and no longer have drop-outs. I also have a 2.4 GHz 802.11g network for my iPhone and other devices that can't do 802.11n. They are connected to each other by ethernet.
Interference on 2.4 GHz occurs because a lot of people nearby have wireless networks too. You may not notice the interference when doing other network activity that is not time dependant but it shows when streaming music. Using a utility like iStumbler or AirRadar I can see I am the only one using the 5.0 GHz band in range of my computer.

Airport Express streams Airplay from iMac but not from Windows 7 PC

I have a wireless network set up using a Linksys WRT45G2 v1 router. There is one iMac running Snow Leopard, one laptop running 32 bit Windows 7 Ultimate and one desktop running 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate. The router is set to WPA2 Personal TKIP+AES security. The Airport Express is set to WPA2 Personal. Its wireless mode is "join a wireless network." It is running firmware version 6.3. The iMac and the laptop are running iTunes 9 and the desktop is running iTunes 10.
Up until recently I was able to stream music from the iMac and the desktop but not the laptop to remote speakers using airtunes via the airport express. Then the video processor in my desktop PC failed and in the course of diagnostic testing I had to reinstall the OS. After replacing the video card and reinstalling the OS, I tried to reconnect Airport Express to iTunes on the desktop PC but Airport Utility could not find the Airport Express. I returned the Airport Express to factory settings and tried again. The PC still did not recognize the Airport Express. I couldn't use the PC to reconfigure the Airport Express, but the iMac did see it so I reconfigured the Airport Express using the iMac. Now I can stream music using Airport Express from the iMac ONLY.
When I use the Airport Utility to scan on the desktop or the laptop PCs it does not see the Airport Express. I can, however, see the Airport Express and read its configuration using Airport Utility on both PCs by using "configure other..." under the File tab (i.e. by typing in the IP number and password for the Airport Express.) Even though I can read the configuration and save it, iTunes does not recognize any remote speakers and I cannot stream music from either PC.
I have tried turning off ALL wireless security as well as all firewalls. I also tried both iTunes 9 and iTunes 10 on the desktop. Nothing makes any difference.
Before I could at least stream from desktop even though I had never been able to get the laptop to stream.
Can anyone suggest a way to get Airtunes (Airplay) to work from my PCs?

I have had the same issue. Airplay working with all devices apart from one windows 7 (the actual media server) and have spent over a week trying to resolve it.
This worked for me.
Turn off windows firewall and in my instance macafee. Be warned while macafee says that it's off there are services running all the time.
You will need to open macafee settings and turn off access protection first
Then search services from start bar
Open services and filter by manufacturer
Stoop all macafee services
Right click the start bar
Open task manager
Stop all macafee processes
Try your airport utility you should now see your express
If you can you will see your icon in iTunes
This pores that it's likely to be a macafee issues. Of course you do not want to leave the firewall off so I installed macafee and installed a fresh copy turning both the windows and macafee firewall on with no resultant issues
Hope this helps

Does airport express stream directly to wireless speakers or does it need to be connected through an audio cable to an amplifier before the speakers

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I got an additional question bout this topic:
is it possible to use both at the same time? in my case cable-connected speakers in the living-room and an Airplay-speaker in the bathroom and/or kitchen?
so I select the Airport Express as Airplay-Output on my iPad and from there it's shared via cable AND wireless? this would solve the problem of being able to only select ONE Airplay-Output on my iPad at the same time...

I am trying to sync Go Rock TRMS03SR Bluetooth Portable 3D Surround Speakers with my Airport Express or iTunes So I can play Music in Multiple rooms. I have a WiFi network, my living room speakers are connected directly to Airport Express.

I am trying to sync Go Rock TRMS03SR Bluetooth Portable 3D Surround Speakers with my Airport Express or iTunes So I can play Music in Multiple rooms. I have a WiFi network, my living room speakers are connected directly to Airport Express, so how can I get the wireless bluetooth speakers to play at the same time in my bedroom?

Did you ever get this to work? My guess is that the speakers are out of bluetooth range at that distance.

Airport express and itunes won't connect

I am running an airport express with itunes. I can no longer connect my wireless itunes to the airport express. I once did connect to my airport express.I have tried to update the firmware and get error messages that I cannot update the firmware.
I also have a new iBook which also will not connect to the airport express
I am using a powerbook, wireless Netgear router and an airport card. I updated all software systems( itunes and all OS X updates)
Any suggestions?

That page won't load for me. Any suggestions?
You can find it here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1113575
There was a change in the forum software which means that the previous link is now dead, but the message is still available.
iFelix

ITunes Automatically Change EQ Setting Based On Which Airport Express Streaming? I have two Airport Expresses running at my house. Both are connected to different types of speakers. Neither speaker set has its own equalizer, and both require a different

I have two Airport Expresses running at my house. Both are connected to different types of speakers. Neither speaker set has its own equalizer, and both require a different EQ setting to sound just right. Does anyone know of a way to have iTunes automatically change its EQ setting based on which Airport Express it is streaming to?

I'm in the same boat. I have a 6 zone amplifier running with 6 airport expresses to different rooms inside and outside the house. Each has it's own acoustic characteristics. I'd really love to be able to set each airport to equalize based on my SPL frequency sweep I did for each room.
Setting the eq in itunes won't do it as that is global plus I have many more sources for auiod other than itunes that use the AEs directly.

New AirPort Express Mac iTunes Music Streaming Issues

Hello All,
I purchased the "new" AirPort Express today from the Apple store and set it up as a client to my existing wireless network to stream music to some speakers via the phono cable. I am running a Linksys E3200 Dual-Band Wireless N Router connected to Comcast via a Motorola SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 modem. I can stream music just fine from two iPhones and a Windows 7 64 bit PC (with iTunes), but can't via my Late 2011 MacBook Pro running Lion and iTunes 10.6.3. I also tried another Late 2008 Uni-Body MacBook running Lion and iTunes 10.6.1, which also doesn't work correctly. The MacBooks will connect successfully via iTunes to AirPlay, but the music skips about every 1-2 seconds.
I've rebooted all pieces of the network (including the MacBooks) and still no sucess. Called into Apple Support and the tech requested I split off my WiFi networks to a 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz networks via different SSIDs. We connected both the MacBooks and factory reset then reconnected the AirPort to the "new" 5 GHz network. Same issues as we saw before. Moved the AirPort into the same room as the wireless router (maybe 5-10 feet away) and still same issues. Apple tier two wasn't real sure, but I don't blame her since she said she didn't get to order her new AirPort until last night. They're bumping the ticket to engineering to see what they say... but wanted to see if anyone has found a fix for it.
Thanks!
Jeff

It went all the way up the chain with Apple to engineering and they had to setup the AirPort as a standalone router. The music played without issue from my PC, iPhone and Mac. Upon resetting it backup as an AirPlay client it does the same skipping problem on just the Mac (however AirFoil works just fine on the same Mac). The response I got from engineering this afternoon was-
"Jeff,
I heard back from Engineering today. Their advice is: Since this issue only occurs when the Airport Express is connected to your Linksys router, our best advice is to update the Linksys router firmware (contact Linksys) or use a different wireless router.
I apologize for all this inconvenience.
Thank you for calling AppleCare and have a great day!"
Not exactly the reply I was looking for...

Airport express and itune streaming over distance

What is the distance in airport express can pass signal through audio out port? Can I connect an 75 foot stereo mini to rca connector cable to my stereo successfully? Thanks for anybodies help.

I'm not sure of the exact length restriction, but I have used a 100' cable with my AirPort Express Base Station (AX) to connect to the stereo and it worked just fine.

Airport Express for Itunes Invisible After Adding Time Capsule to AX Networ

One step forward, one step back.
I have an airport express linked to my airport extreme network for itunes streaming. It's worked fine forever. I recently added a time capsule to the extreme network for backup purposes using Time Machine. The extreme and TC form a single network are both connected via ethernet. The TC and express are in the same room. Time machine now is working fine. However, the airport extreme is no longer visible in itunes or airport utility. The light is green on the express and I was able to verify the settings when connecting it directly with an ethernet cable.
In setting up the AX/TC network, it called for the setting 'extend this network' not to be checked. Could that be it? As I recall, it wasn't anyway.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
JB

Got this working by directly connecting the Express and TC with and ethernet cable. I don't know if this is the right way for this to work since the two devices just happen to be near enough to do that. That said... I'm happy it's working.
JB

Multiple Airport Express streams?

Is it possible to have more than one Airport Express Unit receiving different signals from different iOS devices? E.g. My iMac plays one track, my iPhone plays another and my iPad plays another?
I have a 4 input hub in my house powering 4 sets of ceiling speakers in various rooms and want to know if multiple Airport Express units mean I don't have to go down the Sonos route as all my music is on iTunes.
Thanks in advance

I do this regularly. I have 5 AX units connected to various receivers around the house. I can stream to a subset of speakers from one device and have another device stream to others. I don't see why I couldn't stream five stream to these speakers.
But the big caveat is that most of my AX units are connected via a gigabit ethernet network not a wireless connection (yes I know the AX units are not gigabit, but my network is). If you were trying to do this via wireless you might quickly run out of bandwidth. This is particularly true for IOS devices. For example, I have an ipad that can stream internet radio. If you think about it the ipod in this case has to first get the wireless signal and then send it back out to the AX, immediately doubling the amount of spectrum used compared to streaming from a device that has the music stored on it. That's probably why my internet radio app won't let me select multiple speakers the way I can with itunes or airfoil.

Having issue with Airport Express and Itunes - Please Help

Ok, I am having a very odd issue with my wireless music network all of a sudden, and it's driving me nuts. I have searched the forum and I don't get the sense that anyone else is having this issue.
My house consists of multiple machines, but I have my music on two computers - my G5 desktop and a Mac Mini. I am in the process of encoding all of my CDs to Apple Lossless for storage on the G5, and access of this library provided to all machines on the network (6 total including the G5).
I have 2 airport express units in the house, each connected to a stereo. I have been using this setup for about a year or so, with no problems.
Suddenly now, when playing music wirelessly, the music (and I know this is going to sound weird) has intermittent popping, will skip alot (like a CD player skips), and seems to almost speed up during the skipping. It is SO weird, and I have no clue how to fix it.
I am mainly confused as to where the issue could be coming from. Is it the airport network? Is something wrong with Itunes? Something wrong with the machines? Interference in the home? B/c I have not had this issue before, I am not sure how to even troubleshoot it. I do know that until about a month ago, I had none of these issues.
Within the last 30 days, the only changes that I made were that 1) I have been encoding files to Apple Lossless (but I had some of these before with no streaming issues), 2) I purchased a Mac Mini (not sure what impact this would have), and I upgraded to the latest Itunes.
Any thoughts you can provide for me are very appreciated. ***** to finally be setting up this music server and now start having wireless music issues. Thank you in advance for your help.
Eric
G5 2.5Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I'm also suffering from skipping/sped up music, only when streaming certain internet radio stations to my Express (for example, friskyRadio in the electronica section). Mine's setup not to distribute IP addresses, if that's relevant.
Other than installing iTunes version 7 (now at 7.0.1) nothing has changed on my network, or on my computer.

Airport express streaming audion drop out is unacceptable

The only reason I bought the airport express is because apple discontinued the old Apple TV mk1 - which had an analogue audio out port.
The comments on this group seem to always suggest the following (1) Don't extend a wireless group (2) Don't join a WDS (3) Upgrade firmware (4) choose a less congested channel (4) swing a dead cat around 12 times at midnight.
So the configuratioon
MAC BOOK PRO Snow leopard 10.6.4 -- 2.6Ghx INTEL Core 2 Duo, 4GB 667 Mhz DDR SDRAM
2 Airport Extremes [7.4.2]
1 Airport Express [7.4.2]
1 Time Capsule [7.5.1] (making a total of 3 Airport Extremes)
iTunes 10.0.1 (22)
MAC BOOK PRO disk checks out perfectly - format structure, file structure and hard disk sectors.
All Airport devices are at the latest firmware revision.
no WDS - each Airport Extreme "Creates A Wireless Network" - but uses the Time Capsule for DNS.
THE AIRPORT EXPRESS IS SET TO "NO WIRELESS"
The connection to the Airport Express is 100BaseTX via an intelligent router.
So - basically - NO WIRELESS CONNECTION to the Airport Express from the MAC BOOK.
MAC BOOK PRO -> (100BaseTX) Intelligent Cisco Router -> (100BaseTX) Airport Express
Every 4 or 5 minutes the sound will drop out for a second or so - right in the middle of a song.
The Airport Express has even been configured for NO WIRELESS.
Streaming Netflix to the TV makes no difference to the time between audio drop out - which suggest that the network is more than capable of handling the traffic.
Netflix also streams perfectly to the iPad (Wireless)
Network utilization is negligible. Network reliability seems excellent : 90M Sent packets, 70M Recv Packets ZERO errors ZERO collisions.
I noticed that when I use the iPad for remote control (V2) of iTunes on the MAC BOOK PRO - the drop out is worse (even when the iPad is not doing anything other than, I suppose answering a few "are you still there" inquiries). Interestingly, even with the iPad connected - but - control of iTunes from the Keyboard - the interval between drop outs is significantly greater.
I have not yet tried streaming the AppleTV Mk1 to the Airport Express - my bet is that it will stream perfectly.
It amazing that Netflix can stream perfect video and sound over a 20Mb internet connection (using the same Extreme as the primary DNS ie attached to the Time-Warner modem) and yet Apple cant even get consistent audio in a hard wired 100Mb intranet.
At the low data rates for streaming Audio - finding way to configure the Airport Express to effectively improve its response time hint at a significantly larger issue ie (a) iTunes not running at a sufficiently high priority (b) Small Internal buffer in the Airport Express (c) my guess both (a) and (b)
iTunes is set to "Large Buffer".
I have not yet tried 'nice'ing up the priority of any iTunes processes - as I've gone back to having the house Audio driven by my old reliable Apple TV Mk1.
If Apple cant even get Audio Streaming working properly - I don't hold out much hope for the AppleTV Mk2 (hopefully it has a seriously large buffer to compensate for the pre-emptive scheduling of MAC OS) - This may be one example of Windows being a better streaming Audio Platform that MAC OS.
Given all this information - other than "kill all the processes running on the MAC" - which completely defeats the purpose - that is to say - I had a perfectly great Streaming Audio "Appliance" (the Mk1 AppleTV) - now I'm being forced to use a GP Computer with all the inherent problems of reliability.
Any suggestions ?

No, in fact I abandoned it. Then I tried it again today, (hoping the various iTunes updates would help) it was better ... But after 15 minutes the audio dropped out again. However, my concerns about the apple tv2 were unfounded.

Airport Express - streaming iTunes

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