Airport Express

My AirportExpress arrived yesterday. It’s a typically neat Mac product — elegant in appearance, simple to set up. And it will breathe life into my old HiFi system, which has a wonderful pair of Tannoy speakers but had fallen into disuse ever since I started keeping my music on my computer. In the afternoon I was sitting in the garden with the windows open and the Tannoys blasting out Bruce Springsteen and Tracy Chapman singing Chimes of Freedom!

The device has far more interesting possibilities than this particular anti-social application however. It’s basically a portable base station. So next time I’m in a broadband-enabled hotel I will no longer be chained to the wall via an Ethernet cable. From now on, the AirportExpress will go in my bag wherever I go. (Thinks… Just as well I got that Brenthaven backpack…)

Another interesting possibility is to use it as a network extender — giving a wireless network a longer range by employing AirportExpress as a relay station. And of course, it’s a way of putting any USB printer on the wireless net.