Hi Mary,
You can definitely extend the range of your Airport network and still
use your Airport Express (in the extended location) to stream music to
a stereo. Basically, each Airport Express unit can either function as
a separate wireless router with its own IP address, or as an extension
of an Airport wireless network. In the first mode, that unit takes
command of distributing addresses to components, in the second mode,
the unit joins an existing network, and uses the address assignment of
the main router, but relays on information to extend the network.
Airtunes streaming is a feature that is built into the Airport
Wireless network, so it will operate whether the range of your network
is defined by a single Airport Express, Airport Extreme, or other
Airport base station that acts as the main Airport router, or by one
of these devices with attached other Airport devices working as relays
to extend the network.
The best explanation I've read of wireless networking and how these
Airport devices work is in the Take Control book series. I got the
earliest version of the book that has now become "Take Control of Your
802.11n AirPort Network" when I got my first Mac (dating back to the
original macvisionaries list at a time when I was still using dial-up
modem to read the list posts -- the Airport Express was connected to
my printer, so I could print from my laptop). They also describe
options for running mixed networks including older, existing (non-
Apple) routers. Current setups are so simple that you probably don't
need this volume, but if you do need more information, or if you want
to find out ways to take advantage of new features in the existing
Airport devices that are not particularly detailed, like running dual-
band networks, or supporting guest log-ins, this book is a great
source of information.
I''ll add that I've recently spotted some list posts from Tim Kilburn.
Tim has historically been a great source of information on these
topics (on lots of basic Mac topics, actually), and it's wonderful to
see him back after a fairly lengthy break. Doubtless the combined
experience of having to work in a school environment and deal with
students (requiring good pedagogical explanations), and large networks
of Macs, has all combined to make his posts so good. He has far more
experience than I do with Airport networks, so maybe he'll weigh in
with some helpful comments.
Cheers,
Esther
On Jul 11, 2010, Mary Otten wrote:
Hi all,
I wonder if anyone on the list has tried to do two things with one
airport express. If you've ever set one up, you know that there is a
point in the simple set up where it asks you what you want to do,
i.e. extend an existing network, use it with Itunes/air tunes etc. I
forget exactly how the choices are worded. I have a couple of these
units connected to stereo receivers for streaming media from my Mac.
I'd really like to use one of them to extend the range of the
network and still stream music to a stereo. Can that be done? I'm
thinking of getting an airport extreme router to replace an aging
linksis that still works but does not support newer protocols. But
even if I don't do that, I'd really like to have one of these 2
airport expresses do double duty. thanks for relating your
experiences in this area, if any.
Mary
Mary Otten
motte...@gmail.com
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