Apple mini stores and Airport Express
Thinking about setting up a wireless network, but think the task seems too difficult? Already have wireless, but would like to speed up your existing 802.11b network? Or, do you have an Xbox or Playstation 2 that you can’t stand having in the same room as your cable modem only because the ethernet cable won’t reach? Me too! So, I decided to visit my nearest Apple mini store, and did something about it.
Before we go any further, I’d like to introduce you to my Airport Express, R2D2. If you’ll allow it, I’d like to take a moment to tell you how we met.
A few days ago I had to meet a client for a meeting. Since this client was a few hours away, we had to pick a reasonably accessible meeting place. I chose the Rockaway Mall in New Jersey. This choice served several purposes.
- A near-middle meeting place for myself and my client.
- A location very near to my Sister and Niece, to allow for my wife and them to shop.
- Last but not least, the location of 1 of Apple’s 6 newly-opened “mini” retail stores.
Once my client meeting was over, and I had the chance to eat lunch with my Sister, Niece and Wife, we headed to the Apple store. The Apple mini stores are absolutely gorgeous. 1/4″ aluminum (?) lines the entire structure, making you feel as if you’re standing inside a PowerMac G5. The floor is solid glossy white, bringing in the overall look of the iMac and iPod lines. The engineering, or architecture if you will, of the way the store “works” is no less remarkable than it’s appearance. Slide-out point of sale systems which extend themselves from the wall really conserve space when the store isn’t overly busy. Cash registers at the far-end of the store which are powered by G4 Powerbooks make the store incredibly geeky feeling - which I love.
The products carried by the Apple mini stores are more consumer level than the normal Apple retail stores that we’ve been seeing. Partially, I’m sure, due to space in the stores, but also since the store’s main objective is to build consumer awareness for Apple’s products. And I really think that these stores attack this goal very well. All products offered at these stores are pointed directly at you at all times when you’re in the store. Each of them can be picked up, played with and attached to one another. I had no trouble asking one of the employees if I could hook up different set of headphones to an iPod. The employees were more than willing to help out with anything we wanted to accomplish, including importing music onto Eliza’s new toy, Abu. More on this from her in the future.
One thing I would have liked to see, and so would the employees since many people have asked, is a live-demo of Airport Express. Although the Web site for Airport Express does very well at explaining the capabilities of the device, not many “walk-in” customers will have been to the Web site prior to walking in. The Airport Express is not a product which can be compared to anything else on the market, so it isn’t easy for consumers to grasp it’s capabilities. With the iPod you can refer people to other similar products and explain to them the Pros of purchasing an iPod over it’s “competitors”. I use air quotes there because the iPod really doesn’t have any competition. The iMac and iBook lines are easily comparable to other product lines from various other manufacturers. But there isn’t 1 product which does what the Airport Express does that you can point to and say “It does the same thing as a (fill in name here), except better”. So I feel an in-store demo is needed.
This, finally, brings me to my purchase of an Airport Express. I saw the potential of this product on the day of it’s debut. I knew right away that I would mainly use it to broadcast my iTunes music library to my stereo in the living room, which is worth the $129.99USD price tag alone.
It wasn’t until after purchasing my Airport Express, now named R2D2 (R2 for short), that I saw the true potential of this little device.
Having the ability to broadcast, digitally, my entire iTunes music library has been very exciting. Not only do I not need to burn CDs anymore, but I can control what’s playing using my Wife’s laptop from the couch. Quick rundown: iMac (Green Destiny) is in the Den, Toshiba Laptop (Yoshi) is in the living room most times. Yoshi runs Windows XP and streams music via iTunes from the iMac and controls the Airport Express. With all these Wi-fi signals floating around, I’m almost sure I’ve got a fatal disease.
I also have an Airport card in the iMac which has the ability to handle an 802.11g wireless signal. My wireless router is 802.11b, which is significantly less powerful and has less bandwidth. Now I am able to transfer files faster to other 802.11g-enabled devices, since I can carry the signal over R2. This is a benefit, that for reasons passing comprehension, I had not thought of prior to purchase.
I also have an Xbox named Kermit, which I’ve wrote about before, but have never revealed his true identity until now. Kermit is Xbox Live-enabled and sits across the room from my cable modem. To give Kermit wings (make him wireless) it would cost about $100.00USD for a Wireless connection kit for Xbox. Now, leveraging what seems to be the limitless power of R2, I am able to have my cake and eat it too. Kermit is now “wireless” and I no longer need to stretch out a cat5 cable across the living room floor each time I want to use Xbox Live.
Setting up all of this was relatively painless. A quick install of the Airport software, on the CD provided, in both Green Destiny and Yoshi allowed for both computers to utilize R2D2 within iTunes. There were a few updates on Apple’s Airport Express site which I promptly downloaded and installed. One caveat though, was that while the iMac would tell me via Software Update that these updates were available, the Windows machine had no idea these updates were available. A software update utility, included with the Windows software, would probably be a good feature to be implemented.
Overall, the $129 I spent on R2D2 were extremely well spent and he has actually already saved me some money. I have no doubt that the amount of money, and hassle, saved using this device will grow exponentially over-time.
Related sites
Recent features
Leah Andreone - Break Your Fall
The Format - Give It Up
Coheed and Cambria - The Velorium Camper II: Backend Of Forever
Song of the week
Sara Bareilles - Between the Lines
Sara Bareilles' "Between the Lines" is the Song of the Week for April 20 to 26.
Warning: main(images/faq.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/.eastwood/cdevroe/theubergeeks.net/wp-content/themes/clockworkorange/sidebar.php on line 119
Warning: main(images/faq.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/.eastwood/cdevroe/theubergeeks.net/wp-content/themes/clockworkorange/sidebar.php on line 119
Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'images/faq.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/.eastwood/cdevroe/theubergeeks.net/wp-content/themes/clockworkorange/sidebar.php on line 119