Which is better?  Airport Express or Airport Extreme?

I have a 2 story house currently and am using a B router. I just got a MacBook Pro and am wanting to update the router. Comparing the two online, it looks like the Express and Extreme are the same speed, is that correct? What router is the best for me?

This was very helpful....and worked for about 1 minute, but it stopped and I am stuck. Here's what happened...
Extreme setup was fine. Configured as suggested. Express finally got configured (you know, the light has never been green until yesterday, in use for three years, but has always worked with my iTunes and playing music from the laptop - must have been minor problem).
I pulled the internet radio to the laptop, played on my stereo connected to the express. It was buffering a lot, so I moved around a bit, seeing if it would affect the quality and signal strength. It stopped playing or I stopped it (can't remember). And eventually the play options at the bottom of iTunes (Computer....Stereo) went away.
I rebooted the express, both express and extreme lights go back to green, and I tried to play. The iTunes on the laptop said it was connecting, but it wouldn't connect. After a few tries I got an jumbled error message, with most of the text was in Chinese characters. Obviously something was going on. Light now flashing amber on the express. I would reboot to try to connect again and would get the same error message, or it would say someone else is connected to that speaker.
Further, in Airport Utility, unless I reboot the express, only the extreme shows up. I assume the express is part of the extreme network and not recognized as a stand alone unit.
What does this error mean and how might I trouble shoot this? My internet source comes to the house in one location only, and to a Siemens wireless router BTW. I ethernet connect the extreme to this unit. Ideally I would find some way to extend or repeat the signal to get me closer to the stereo...are there any options for this? I can just use the Siemens router, but was thinking the extreme might help boost the system. I feel like I have to stand in the middle, between the extreme and the express, to receive the internet signal and send the signal to the stereo. I have another express...can it be used in anyway to extend the signal in, and/or out?
Thoughts?

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