Buying a printer for our home - curiously difficult

I've been fond of our giant-sized five year old Brother MFC-7820N black and white laser printer, scanner and fax machine. It was never as rock solid as our LaserWriter Select 360 (20+ year lifespan if you could find cartridges), but by the standards of 2005 it was a gem. The competition was dismal. HP combined hideous hardware with worse software, and the device drivers for Epson and Canon devices were almost as bad.

The 7820N has come to the end of days though. It jams easily if the paper tray is less than half-full, and the web-based diagnostics [1] tells me the internal print engine is nearing end-of-life. It needs to be replaced. That turns out to be trickier than one would imagine.

It's tricky for several reasons. Printers have been clobbered by ink jet technology churn [1], premature maturation and commoditization [2], brand loss [3], and technology transition (more on that). OS X users have the further problem of very poor device driver support -- you don't want to use anything that doesn't ship with OS X [4].

The technology transition is having a strong impact now. Apple doesn't sell black and white or color laser printers any more and iOS devices like the iPad and iPhone, the future of personal computing, don't print at all. Google's ChromeBooks to come are struggling to print.

Looking at this marketplace in transition it's clear that I need to go as simple as possible. That means black and white (grayscale really) laserwriter with a good record of reliable cartridge availability, long product life cycles, and OS X 10.5 "native" device drivers [5]. That will probably be another Brother printer. I'll also be looking for quiet operation and compact size.

For now I'll put our old MFC into the basement and use it as a standalone fax machine [6] and photocopier. If we keep the paper tray full it should work for years like that, and the occasional jam will be tolerable.

The upside of this transition is I can finally attack the scanning problem with a machine that's designed for producing B&W PDFs off a paper feed. The MFC vendors were never going to provide a good solution for a market as small as this one.

I'll update this post with what I choose, but it's probably going to be the Brother 2170W or  Brother HL-5370DW. Size, cartridge cost and availability, and native OS X support will probably be the determinant (price is almost irrelevant really) - so I'm betting on the 2170W or non-networked equivalent. Given issues with wireless security and peripherals I suspect it will end up being connected to a USB port on a Mac or AirPort Express/Extreme (back to the future!) but it may be useful to have other options.

Note that all laser printers come with "starter cartridges", so after initial testing you need to order a cartridge separately.

Update: I ordered the $80 Brother 2140, the same device I bought for my mother last year. It was $50 less than the 2170W. I used the money I save to order an Airport Express (I gave my old AE to my mother). So for $40 more than the 2170W I get to extend my LAN coverage and I get optional AirTunes support. It uses the very standard and widely available TN360 cartridge and has had native OS X driver support for many years.

Update 8/18/10: Installed the 2140. I didn't bother with Brother's software except to copy the manual to my "reference" folder. I ended up just attaching it to a G5 iMac which is now a print server; the Airport Express wasn't necessary. My 10.5 and 10.6 machines used native drivers. Painless - as expected.
-- 

[1] A miserable technology. It has never worked reliably, and a dying HP trapped the industry into a disposable printer and costly cartridge hidden-price business model.
[2] There's no real reason to go beyond 300 dpi, and that was achieved fifteen years ago. Color would be nice, but we still can't do it well at consumer price points -- and the market has lost interest. In a high tech industry reaching this kind of peak is a problem.
[3] Brands became meaningless and quality plummeted. This afflicted all parts of the computer industry from 1998 to 2008 with one notorious exception.
[4] See my links below on why device drivers are so bad everywhere. In OS X the small market and Apple's complete disinterest made things worse. I think with 10.6 bundled device drivers are tolerable, but you don't want to depend on a manufacturer for drivers.
[5] We still print from a 10.5 machine.
[6] The zombie technology that won't die. Sort of like Adobe Flash but worse.

See also:

Other stuff

• TidBITS Business Apps: ScanSnap S1300 vs. Doxie: Two Portable Document Scanners
• Apple: Mac OS X v10.6: Printer and scanner software (native drivers)

My stuff

• Why device driver software is so bloody awful ... (2004)
• The sorry state of OS X device drivers (2009)
• Epson vs. Canon scanners: who has better OS X support (2007)
• My MacBook fan was roaring. Why? (2008 - Canon)
• Canon's CanoScan drivers: the horror and the Vuescan alternative
• Obnoxious old Epson Scan bug: EPSON Scan cannot be started

The multi-iPhone family - two approaches

What's the best way to manage multiple iPhones in a single family?

There are at least two broad approaches, and combinations of them. We've tried 'em all. At the moment we manage 3 iPhones (parents and one child) and 1 iTouch as well as several iPods.

I'll share our experiences here.

Apple's preference is for every family member to have at least a separate OS X user account, if not a separate computer. Each person should have a companion MobileMe that manages synchronization across multiple machines. Apple would probably prefer that each family member have their own iTunes (.mac) account for media purchases, so DRMd material would only play on one device.

This approach does have advantages, but there are obvious disadvantages. It's an expensive and complex approach with a lot of management needs and there are issues with sharing apps and movies.

We've used a variant of the "Apple approach" with two user accounts on one machine, and all purchases through a single iTunes account (mine). One account owns iTunes and apps, the second subscribes to App updates through "family sharing" [1]. This does enable each account to have its own Address Book and it aligns well with using MobileMe on phone and multiple OS X machines.

This "classic" multi-user approach blows up completely when you add Parental Controls. Among other problems, MobileMe is violently incompatible with Parental Controls. I wasted hours trying to make it work before I retreated to a much simpler Google approach.

The Google Approach [2] is relatively painless. I use it with my son's iPhone. I sync it in my user account for media access and app installation, but I use Google Sync (Exchange server/ActiveSync) against his account on our family Google Apps domain for the phone's email, contacts and calendar. He could access the Google Calendar and Mail through a Parental Controlled account using OS Mail and iCal but in practice he just uses his phone [3].

There are some downsides since iTunes is designed for a single user with a single set of "last played" values and ratings, but in practice the confusion is modest and the pain reduction is immense. It's also much cheaper than the "Apple approach".

So, going forward, we're making less use of the OS X desktop, more use of Google (alternative is MobileMe) cloud services. This gets around the sharing/identity problems of iPhone synchronization.
--
[1] We go through some geeky maneuvers so that my wife can have full access to all media from her user account without replicating files. See links below for tips. In short; set iTunes to not import, then media library into client iTunes. Incredibly iTunes creates links to media.

[2] You can do this with MobileMe on the iPhone and the MobileMe web interface, but without the Parental Controls-incompatible desktop you lose a lot of the value of MM. For various reasons we've gone the Google approach.

[3] Google web browser access is (yet again) OS X Parental Control hell. You can't enable web access to a Google Apps domain without enabling access to Google search.

See also:

• The flaw in iTunes: 2 users, 2 iPods - and our brain locked future (2005, introducing BrainLock with Palladium Inside, aka the RetinaChip)
• iTunes 9 home sharing is mediocre (2009)
• The ultimate AirTunes, iPhone Remote, iTunes setup
• Working around iTunes lack of multi-user support
• Sync iTunes Libraries Between Two Macs

Integrating game consoles, computers: go RCA cable

I love the 70 year old RCA connector.

It was the perfect invention, but the internet does not know who the inventor was. Those were the days when "RCA" was as Apple is now, but companies got credit rather than people. (RCA died in 1986, the name is just a trademark now.)

I renewed my RCA connector appreciation when I decided to move the kids Wii console from the basement to the family room. Downstairs we plugged the Wii into my 1986 stereo receiver, but upstairs we didn't have anything. Somewhat impulsively [1], I bought a Logitech z313 computer stereo to share between the iMac and the Wii.

Since my sound system knowledge ended in 1976 this "sharing" took a bit of figuring. There's no "receiver" to manage the different audio sources; the amplifier function is built into the computer speakers. There's also some mystery about how to connect things; my iMac and the z313 use 3.5 mm stereo connectors, the Wii uses RCA.

The answer is to covert the 3.5 mm connections to RCA, then use a simple RCA A/V switch. Instead of pushing buttons on a complex receiver you need to use a much simpler analog AV switch (I'm not sure this is progress actually).

A prior post reviews the cable connections. You use some mixture of "Y" RCA stereo cables with either male or female 3.5 mm plugs (and an optional 3.5 mm plug join) to convert the 3.5 mm stuff to a nice RCA connector standard.

For a switch you can use something like the RCA VH911 Video Switch Box or the SONY Game and Video Selector (#1 in "selector boxes" - see[2]).

Once you know the above, the rest is easy.

See alo:

• Stereo cable voodoo: Connect game console output to computer speakers (2010)
• The Apple AirTunes vision -- not really ready for primetime (2005 - it started working around 2008)
• Is this the solution to my home amplifier problem? (2005)

[1] I violated Gordon's Laws of acquisition. I could have made this work with a battery powered speaker I already own. I did penance by reorganizing the computer area, donating several items, and tossing more things out. The Logitech sounds much better than I'd expected; for this result I should have paid more to get something that might last longer. It's much better sound that what my old stereo produces at reasonable volumes.

[2] Amazon doesn't have a consistent classification (ontology) for these devices. If you start with this list the "what do customers buy" section should provide good coverage:

• GE 23294 Audio/Video and Game Switch
• RCA VH911 Video Switch Box
• SONY Game and Video Selector
• Sima SVS-14 4 Input Manual A/V Selector
• Audio Video RCA Composite AV Video Game Selector Switch for XBox, XBOX 360, PS1, PS2, PS3, Gamecube, Wii, DVD, VCR
• 3-Play Component Video Digital Audio Selector
• 4-to-1 Audio/Video Switch with Component, Digital Coaxial Audio and Audio RCA Connectors
• Terk VS-4 S-Video/Video/Audio Switch Selector (4 Inputs, 2 Outputs)

As best I can tell only the SONY is shipped through Amazon, so shipping costs on the others are likely to greatly increase costs.

Airport Extreme: Firmware update, Time Capsule bugs, tips and fixes

Update 12/31/09: Time Machine failed me on an iPhoto Library restore.

Update 10/12/09: There may be a manufacturing defect with Time Capsule power supplies. The average lifespan is 18 months. Until Apple addresses this issue I'd advise against buying a TC.

--

As best I can tell from very old posts and an ancient (1999) web page, I bought my flying saucer Airport Extreme base station around August 2003.

It served me faithfully for almost six years, but in the past two weeks I’ve been having obvious network outages. At first I blamed my poor ISP (Qwest DSL, and ever since I upgraded to their higher service level they’ve been very reliable), but I finally stripped my network down until I could figure out where the failure point was. It was the AEBS. As of yesterday it worked for about an hour after reboot and then dropped off the network.

Cough.

Ok, I’m simplifying. I’ve had network wonkiness on and off for 5 months. It’s possible that a not-quite-dead AEBS played a role. Lord, I hate hardware failure. I can’t complain about the lifespan of my AEBS though; most wireless base stations seem to last about 1-2 years (heat? something about the radio?). So five-six years is excellent.

I tried reflashing the firmware just for kicks. I figured I’d reflash to the previous release (@2006 I think) then bring it up to the latest release (@2007). At first I couldn’t figure out how to do this, then I learned Apple has a very elegant (if slightly obscure) solution:

All about Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Express base station firmware updates

… how can I install previous (earlier) versions of firmware?

Open AirPort Utility.
From the AirPort Utility menu, hold the Option key (Control key in Windows XP and Vista) and choose Check for Updates....
Select the specific firmware version you require.
Select your base station and choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu, or double-click on the AWD icon.
Choose Base Station > Upload Firmware.
Select a firmware version and click OK.

Wow, that’s elegant. The UI displays images of the appropriate device. I had to scroll a bit since I was going back in time, but it worked. I think I had some odd thing where I had to do this twice, but I wasn’t paying much attention.

I flashed to old then reflashed to new, but it was still busted.

At last! Finally, I could buy new hardware!

I’ve been hurting ever since I fell on my shield and added Gordon’s Laws of Geekery to Gordon’s 4 Laws of Acquisition. Under the new regimen I’ve not been able to buy a darned thing! I thought I’d have a 3GS by now, but I’d misremembered a phone contract termination date so that won’t happen until October 1 (Em is getting my 3G).

I was leaning towards the 1TB Time Capsule because I like the idea of an Apple secured file share and the lightweight NAS approach – but the price differential between the Airport Extreme and the 1TB Time Capsule is absurd. My personal Guru of The Deal (A.M.) advised me to the buy the more reasonable priced 500GB Time Capsule and to track down the ever reusable 10% off Best Buy Coupon (harder to find these days). I don’t normally buy retail, but BFF will slaughter me if I don’t resurrect the WLAN tonight.

The 500 GB will do for now. It’s possible, though not super easy, to replace a Time Capsule drive. In a year or so I might swap in a 2TB drive.

Update: A few observations after installing the Time Capsule

• It doesn't include any USB or ethernet cables. Apple assumes you have these; I certainly did.
• There's no power brick, just a cord. The power adapter is internal. Nice.
• There's no WEP. It's WPA or nothing. Good.
• I created a guest network with no password. My old G3 10.4.11 iBook still asked for a password when I connected to guest. I clicked cancel on the WPA password dialog and it connected. So a bug somewhere!
• I have NAT on my DSL router and I ran NAT on my old AEBS. This device objected. I had to click the amber icon on the status link to stop warning me of the double NAT configuration. The TC wanted to go into Bridge mode, but then there's no public network share, etc. Odd. It seems fine in double NAT. There's a setting on my 2WIRE Qwest DSL router to allow all ports to pass (disable firewall) so if I discover issues with double NAT I can disable that. I can also put my DSL router in Bridge mode.
• There's only one USB port. So if you want to connect a printer and hard drive you need to use a powered USB hub (per the manual). I don't know if you could connect multiple USB printers or multiple drives. I'll play with that eventually.
• The 5GHz 802.11n only network is disabled by default. I enabled it. It's hidden away in Wireless Options. (See bugs below, however)
  
• If you connect a printer, you can share it over the Internet (WAN) including using Bonjour.
• If you connect an external USB disk, you can archive your Time Capsule data (all of it, I think) to the external disk. Then you can take it offsite. I've not seen this feature mentioned; seems like it should get more play.
• Windows File Sharing is configured under the Disk File Sharing menu. It asks for a Workgroup name and a WINS server. I don't have a WINS server, so I entered my workgroup name. When I tried to connect it declined my authentication request. This isn't covered in the manual and, as near as I can tell, is not documented anywhere! Weird. There are several alternative security options for the NAS drive. Since I haven't exposed it to the public net I enabled Guest access. On my PC when I was prompted for a user name I entered "Guest" and then left the password empty. That worked.
  
• In theory you can share disks over the Internet including with Bonjour access without a MobileMe account. I've not tested this.
• The 802.11n range is impressive. I'm typing this in the basement, two floors beneath my TC. The signal is excellent. I've disabled my old AirPort Express WDS, it now only an AirTunes client.
• The Time Capsule is fanless and very hot to the touch. Uncomfortably so. It lives in a cabinet with my cables, I think I'm going to move it to an area with more air circulation. The heat output might be a good reason to purchase an Airport Extreme rather than a Time Capsule -- heat is bad for gear.
  
• Note that if you use the Time Capsule disk as a file share, you have to figure out how to back it up. You can't use Time Machine!
• When you use Time Machine with a Time Capsule it creates a sparse disk image for each backup. So you can use the Time Capsule both for backup and and as a file share.

Update: I've found several issues - of course

• There's a bug affecting my iBook running 10.3.9 with an 802.11b network card. It connected fine to the AEBS using WPA but it can't connect, using the same password, to the Time Capsule. If I enable the Guest network with no password it can connect. The connection failure error message is cryptic: "There was an error joining the AirPort network ..."
  
• If you enable BOTH the 5GHz 802.11n network and the Guest network then an 802.11b client will see ONLY the Guest network. With this combination there's no 802.11b LAN connection.
• My AirPort Express had no trouble running AirTunes when paired to the saucer AEBS (802.11g) in WDS mode. It's now stuttering in conventional client mode.

Update: I somehow fixed the G3 iBook 802.11b 10.3.9 access problem.

I played around with various features. I was abruptly connected, but I'm not sure what happened.

• I turned off "use wide channels"
• I turned off 5GHz support
• I read this 2004 Airport 3.4 knowledge base article and followed the advice ...
  If you see the message after updating to AirPort 3.4, try these steps:
  1. Dismiss the message after it appears.
  2. Press and hold the Control key.
  3. While holding it, reselect the network from the AirPort menu.

The iBook console log had repeated error messages of the form "malloc[273]: error for object ... : Double free".

I see lots of complaints, but I can't find anyone else who's had success getting a machine this old to connect to Time Capsule. I'll update this post as I learn more. I did open an Apple Discussion thread on this problem.

Update 7/11/09:

• I reenabled the 5Ghz 802.11n support and my 802.11b 10.3.9 iBook is still connected - for the moment. So far my 5.8GHz phones still seem to work.
• After moving the 802.11n connection to 5GHz my 802.11g connected Airport Express AirTunes service stopped stuttering. (Try saying that quickly.)
• My iPhone seemed to have some trouble seeing the network prior to connecting, but then seemed fine after connection. That may be a separate iPhone 3 bug.

I've done some further research. It's surprisingly hard to learn this, but it turns out that adding 802.11n to the default 2.4GHz spectrum used by 802.11b/g is a bridge too far. I think the 802.11n was knocking out the 802.11g AirTunes connection.

When I moved the 802.11n to the 5GHz frequency the dropouts stopped.

AirPort Utility Advanced:Statistics:Logs and Statistics shows all devices and throughput. My current signal, after moving 802.11g to 5 GHz looks like (higher, meaning less negative, is better):

• iBook (16) 802.11b: - 71 (1 floor down)
• MacBook (21) 802.11n: -41 (next to AirPort)
• AirPort Express (61) 802.11g: -80 (downstairs and across the house)
• iPhone (47) 802.11g: -54 (next to AirPort) and -90 (next to AirPort Express)

Note that the MacBook (802.11n) has a much stronger signal than the iPhone at the same physical distance, and the AirPort Express (802.11g) also has a stronger signal at the same distance.

My impression is that the combination of 802.11n interference and the distance to the 802.11g AirPort Express was causing the AirTunes dropouts. The fix was to move the 802.11n signal to 5 GHz.

It's so sad that I bet Emily this would be easy to configure.

Update 7/13/09: Since migrating the 802.11n to 5GHz and disabling wide channels it's working pretty well. This morning I had another "There was an error joining the AirPort network" message from my 802.11b 10.3.9 iBook; I'd not configured it to auto-connect and I got this on a manual connect. I clicked 'retry' and it connected; it also worked when I restored the auto-connect feature. It's an odd behavior, I wouldn't rule out some distance/interference effect playing a role.

I did test Time Machine from my wired iMac and that worked well. As noted above when you use Time Machine with Time Capsule it creates a sparse bundle DMG for each client machine. So you can use a single Time Capsule disk as both a file server and a Time Machine store.

I'm going to use Time Capsule from my MacBook as well. I'm still using Retrospect as my primary backup with offsite rotation, but I like the idea of a secondary backup that relies on a completely different technology.

I've yet to see how Time Capsule manages multiple external USB drives connected through a powered USB hub and I've no plans to test the print server capabilities.

Update 7/20/09: Nasty Time Capsule issues with backups to changed logic board and with FileVault.

Update 12/15/09: Things have settled down. It had to be reset a month ago, but otherwise stable. I did read an extremely complex article on 5GHz configuration; hard core geeks will want to study it closely.

Digital radio - Apple style

Well, that was certainly stealthy.

Suddenly digital radio is upon us - quite unexpectedly.

My first awakening was the excellent Minnnesota Public Radio app for the iPhone -- a joint venture between MPR and CodeMorphic - a Twin Cities Mac dev shop (interesting projects!).

So now I can play digital radio in my car while I drive to work -- through my iPhone. (Yeah, it won't work as well as it does at home, but don't you think Sirius/XM worry about this?)

That reminded me that M has been asking for a radio for the kitchen. There are some excellent radios still on the market, and we'll probably get one, but we also have a pretty nice iTunes/AirTunes/iPhone Remote setup already in place. Didn't iTunes used to play streaming radio?

Turns out they still do, iPhone Remote will find the stations in my playlist, and the choices and quality are better than I remember. Consider CBC Jazz ...

CBC Radio 2 Blog - Tech Q's?: How To Listen To The New R2 New Internet Channels

... Peter kindly walks us through how to listen to R2's new internet radio channels, which include classical, Canadian composers, Canadian songwriters, and jazz.

Over to Dr. Peter:

'Audio on the internet used to be a minor miracle . . . but a really lousy sounding one. Especially for music! Often it still does sound bad. But not when it's coming from CBC Radio 2.

Today we launched our new new Internet Radio Channels and we're pretty proud of the sound quality...

So we've created some 'How to' files to help you make your way.

* How to Listen to CBC Radio 2's New Online Channels
* How to Connect Your Computer to Your Audio System...

The 192kbps Jazz stream sounds as good as my 192 kbps encoded Jazz tunes. In other words, good enough for my ears. There's even a Big Band station I'll try out on my mother.

There's even a "staff picks" list in iTunes now -- new each month.

So now Apple rules digital radio.

Anyone noticing?

The ultimate AirTunes, iPhone Remote, iTunes setup

This was hoisted from comments on an post I wrote a few weeks ago. My commenter is describing the ideal multi-user iTunes/AirTunes/iTouch Remote configuration.

First from my original post ...

Gordon's Tech: Remote control of iTunes and AppleTV: will AirTunes return?

... Son of a gun, it works. It really, really works. I've been controlling my upstairs Library from my iPhone, streaming music to my AirPort express, and listening to speakers in two rooms. Years after the AirTunes hype died off, Apple finally delivered.

There's even intriguing/worrisome support for multiple libraries, which brings me to a comment from someone who's gone another step beyond me (note this only works if you wisely avoid the plague of DRM)...

The key bit of good news is that I could control my Library even when iTunes was running in a 10.4 background session.

It gets beter though. From Jan ...

It looks like Remote with iPhones/iPod Touch and AirTunes is the solution for for the multi-room audio setup I was waiting for years to come.

I installed several AirPort Express boxes with AirTunes in the rooms and installed 3 users on a mac mini with fast user switching on. All users have their own iTunes setup and have access to a central NAS Server with all the MP3 files. This won´t work with Windows because Windows won´t allow fast user switching running iTunes !

With this setup every family member is able to hear their music independently on different AirTunes outlets. It really works !

Note Jan has one set of files, but 3 libraries. So each user can sync their iPod or iPhone with their own account and save their own Address Book and preferences, but share one set of music.

Excellent. I'm going to do this one day. Note it requires that the music file be on a NAS. I knew I'd want one of those soon.

My current iPhone app and services.

I'll revise this list as I add and remove iPhone apps. This is for 7/27/08. I exclude the apps that come with the phone.

A if for Application.
S is for (web) service.
SA is a combine service and application.

1. Google Mobile App (SA): Mail, Docs, Reader, Picasa. The iPhone was the final nail for bloglines -- they don't have an acceptable mobile interface.
   
2. Evernote (SA)
   
3. Epocrates Rx (SA)
   
4. Light (A)
   
5. NYTimes (SA)
   
6. Pandora (SA): this is genuinely amazing; it's going to sell a lot of used CDs. Recommend setting up by PC/Mac first.
   
7. Remote (iTunes/AirTunes) (A)
8. Book reader (A) - currently, an old favorite. The Prince.
9. Voice Record (A)
   (this may be superseded by Evernote's audio notes, but it works without a net connection)

The iPhone Remote will control iTunes Airtunes in a multi-user system

So far I've learned 11 things about the iPhone I didn't see in any reviews. Mostly not bad.

One thing, however, has really impressed me.

First, some background ...

Gordon's Tech: Remote control of iTunes and AppleTV: will AirTunes return?

... Apple has, years late, added a remote control feature to the iPhone/iTouch:
... I’m wary though. I suspect:

1. It won’t work with background sessions.
2. The AirTunes streaming will still be messed up by microwave use.

It’s not totally hopeless though. I haven’t tested AirTunes with 10.5 or the new AirPort Express. If the remote will communicate with iTunes running in a background user session on a 10.5 machine I might try testing again. The background user problem doesn’t apply to an AppleTV of course.

I was suspicious. Years ago I spent weeks trying to make AirTunes work. I needed a way to control my upstairs iMac from the downstairs kitchen, but I was defeated by our multi-user configuration.

Today I tried Apple's Remote app for the iPhone/iTouch.

I connected to my iTunes library, chose the "stay connected" setting, and then switched users. iTunes was then running on the background ... in 10.4.11.

I was able to control it. I could even control what speakers it used -- local or the speakers connected to my Airport Express.

Wow, I didn't expect that to work! Now I'm tempted to give iTunes a go again. Maybe I should buy an iTouch for the family ...

Remote control of iTunes and AppleTV: will AirTunes return?

Three years ago I fought a bloody battle with AirTunes, OS X 10.3, my AirPort Express, and iTunes remote control.

I lost. The microwave didn’t help …

… The devils of Digital Rights Management, AirTunes fundamental inadequacy, and the lack of a fast-user-switching compatible tool for remote control of iTunes finally defeated me….

… I was streaming some music using AirTunes. A rare event, but I do it on occasion. All was well, until the music vanished. I wondered what was up; then I realized the microwave was running. It's not all that old a model, but it is death to our 802.11b LAN…

Since then I’ve switched to a MacBook and a mixed b/g WLAN, but the MacBook is even more susceptible to microwave interference than the iBook was. (Though we also bought a new microwave, so maybe it’s just leakier than the old one.)

The post still gets read quite a bit, yesterday I corresponded with someone who’s just returned their Bose speakers because AirTunes failed.

Now Apple has, years late, added a remote control feature to the iPhone/iTouch:

Two Apple iPhone apps: Remote Control and Texas Hold'em - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

… 'Remote' [iTunes Store link] and oddly enough it lets you control iTunes on your Mac from your iPhone. You can stop, start, and pause music, and browse your library... all via your iPhone or iPod touch. Remote requires the use of a Wi-Fi network, and is free…

A bit late! This means more will try out AirTunes. I’m wary though. I suspect:

1. It won’t work with background sessions.
2. The AirTunes streaming will still be messed up by microwave use.

It’s not totally hopeless though. I haven’t tested AirTunes with 10.5 or the new AirPort Express. If the remote will communicate with iTunes running in a background user session on a 10.5 machine I might try testing again. The background user problem doesn’t apply to an AppleTV of course.

Update 8/18/08: Son of a gun, it works. It really, really works. I've been controlling my upstairs Library from my iPhone, streaming music to my AirPort express, and listening to speakers in two rooms. Years after the AirTunes hype died off, Apple finally delivered.

There's even intriguing/worrisome support for multiple libraries, which brings me to a comment from someone who's gone another step beyond me (note this only works if you wisely avoid the plague of DRM):

Jan sad ...

It looks like Remote with iPhones/iPod Touch and AirTunes is the solution for for the multi-room audio setup I was waiting for years to come.

I installed several AirPort Express boxes with AirTunes in the rooms and installed 3 users on a mac mini with fast user switching on. All users have their own iTunes setup and have access to a central NAS Server with all the MP3 files. This won´t work with Windows because Windows won´t allow fast user switching running iTunes !

With this setup every family member is able to hear their music independently on different AirTunes outlets. It really works !

Note Jan has one set of files, but 3 libraries. So each user can sync their iPod or iPhone with their own account and save their own Address Book and preferences, but share one set of music. I'm going to do this one day.

Remote control for OS X: Suddenly, coming out of the woodwork ...

What the heck?! I've been ranting about the crummy remote control solutions [1] for OS X desktops for years -- to no avail (of course, I'm not delusional you know). All of sudden, they're popping up all over. Desktop Transporter is more interesting that most because it's now been acquired by DevonTechnologies, a very well regarded OS X vendor. It's not a straight VNC port [1] so I'll probably take a look at it. I doubt anyone but Apple is going to really be able to make this work the way I want [3], so I probably have to wait to see how bad 10.5 will be -- but I'll give is a try.

Some info on Desktop Transporter: Version Tracker: 3.8 stars

BTW, in the course of looking at DT I came across this extensive Macintouch topic thread. Alas, if only Macintouch would implement feeds for their topic page. There's only one mention of DT, but they mention some I'm familiar with. See also:

• Gordon's Tech TidBITS reviews OS X remote control software
• Gordon's Tech Leopard It does include remote control software
• Gordon's Tech The Apple AirTunes vision -- not really ready for primetime
• Gordon's Tech Remote control of a Tiger desktop
• Gordon's Tech Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) client service is now installed by default in 10.4
• Gordon's Tech Apple Remote Desktop 2 w- VNC

Update 7/28/07: No luck. I installed DT on two machines. It seemed to connect, but then simply hung with a black screen preview and a persistent "connecting" message. One machine is on 10.4.9, the other on 10.4.10. Local network, all Apple equipment. The only funny thing is I use WDS (an airport extreme and an airport express). The app complained NAT sharing was not enabled, though that should only be needed for remote access and the two machines showed a green internal connection. Enabling NAT on the Airport Extreme made no difference. I don't have time to futz with it, so this one is a flop.

--

[1] I know about VNC ports. I'm sure DT is really a VNC based solution, but it sounds like the developer worked to make it a better fit for Apple's oddball VNC implementation. It will be interesting to see how it handles multiple monitor and fast user switching for example.

[2] I know about Timbuktu as well. It was great once, but nothing I've heard about them recently makes me think they've kept up with the OS X world. Last time I looked they didn't have the confidence to offer a trial version. I suspect they just couldn't get deep enough into the OS to be efficient after classic died.

[3] It would have to be deeply integrated with Apple's mixed vector/raster display technology, which means only they can write it.

Reconfiguring an Airport Express to WDS and switching from home to travel configuration

My Airport Express (why, oh why, couldn't Apple make the USB port powered?!) went traveling with me. When it came home I had to restore it to its usual duty -- extending my base station. It took me a while to remember how to do this [note: see two updates below, including use of the Configuration (profiles). Basically you:

1. try a hard reset first. If that doesn't work do a factory reset (MacWorld ref article on resets - since I wrote this I've found the factory reset more useful).

• To perform a hard reset, push and hold the reset button for 10 full seconds with the AE powered the whole time.
• Release the button, and AirPort Express will reset.
• For the factory reset, unplug first. Press and hold the reset button and, while holding it, plug in the AirPort Express (this is a pain in the butt to do). KEEP HOLDING. It takes at least 30 seconds after plugging in before it resets.

2. Use Airport Admin utility to configure the Airport Extreme Base Station, not the Airport Express! This is the counterintuitive part: AirPort Extreme and Express: Using WDS to create a network from multiple base stations.

Here's the catch. My AEBS recognized the ethernet ID of the Airport Express and "assumed" it was already configured -- so it wouldn't run the auto-configuration (don't try to do this manually, it's ugly). I had to remove the AExp entry from the WDS client list, then add it back in again. That ran the setup routine. Don't forget to set a password on the AExp.

Then I used the Admin tool to configure the AExp to a more recognizable name.

Way too hard.

Update 10/12/06: The good news is that you can save the configuration prior to travel from the admin utility, then reload it on return. The bad news is that if you change the password on a WDS WLAN access point (the main Airport Extreme), you break everything. You need to connect individually with each of the stranded access points using the old password, then remove the password, then add them back in as above. Really, Apple's Airport Express was really only half-baked.

Update 9/5/09

When I bought my 802.11n Time Capsule I didn't think I'd use my Airport Express except as an AirTunes connection. After all, the Time Capsule is supposed to have great range.

Cough. That's great range for 802.11n, but most of my devices are b/g. Also, I was disappointed with the AirTunes behavior of the Airport Express (Aexp) in passive client mode, I wanted to see if returning to WDS would restore the performance it had with my old flying saucer base station.

This time I used AirPort utility 5.4.2, and things were a bit different -- also quirky and buggy. (see also)

It took several tries to get it working. As before you certainly need to do this in automatic mode -- doing it in manual mode never seems to work.

I had to do a factory reset, then walk through automatic setup, and choose the extend network option. I had to work through these bugs:

1. On initial configuration I kept getting asked for an Airport Express password -- even though I'd done a factory reset. I had to disconnect my iMac from the wired LAN (and thus the Time Capsule), so it was purely an Airport client, before this went away. This is pure weird and I can't explain what intuition led me to the workaround.
2. To configure the Aexp you need to switch to it's network. That means you're not on the base station network any more. There's a place where you're supposed to see the name the base station network. When I did this - nothing showed up (tried in two accounts). That is, nothing showed up until I typed in my network name. That produced an error message, but when the screen refreshed the wireless networks appeared.

Pretty buggy stuff!

Update 11/8/09: A reader commented that I ought to try using "profiles" to switch, instead of going through the reset dance. If you change to Manual Setup, the current version of "Airport Utility" allows one to save a configuration to an external file, and to load in a file based configuration (requires your admin password). The files are given the extension .baseconfig.

I've saved two configurations - one for home and one for use with my parents. I've saved them to the laptop I usually travel with and to a thumb drive.

Here's what I did to switch back to WDS on returning home:

1. Plug in Airport Express (AExp). It doesn't need to be connected to the net.
2. Connect to the AExp wireless network so you can talk to it.
3. Open Airport Utility. It took a while for it to find my AExp. Maybe it hadn't finished restarting?
4. Set Airport Utility to Manual setup
5. You can "Open" the external configuration file to view it, but to switch you need to use import.
6. Restart AExp. Worked for me.

Remember that to do this you will also need your admin password. I carry mine in an encrypted iPhone 1Password.app database, but you could also store it in an encrypted Disk Utility sparsefile image on your laptop or thumb drive.

PatioTunes: iTunes remote control for XP, OS X and Fast User Switching

Is this the holy grail? I've tried all kinds of tricks to do remote control of iTunes. None have worked, AirTunes has been a bust for me. I've tried NetTunes, SlimServer's software, various AppleScript hacks, VNC, TuneConnect, and about half a dozen others. I've also reviewed Sailing Clicker and considered the Griffin remote.

Everything I tried foundered on the shores of Fast User Switching, performance and usability issues, or Apple's FairPlay DRM scheme. I finally realized that AppleScript wasn't going to work because Apple doesn't really support AppleScript with FUS (makes me think they're going to sunset AppleScript ...). [1]

The only thing that looked promising was running a web server using CGI Scripts. Looked like a lot of time to setup, but it sorts out the FUS issues.

Then, in a recent search, I came across Mindola Software: PatioTunes. This could be it - but testing is early. I've already found one nasty bug; the author makes the common mistake of thinking everyone runs as Admin (bad, bad, bad practice). If you install this as admin then run it from a non-admin session the internal web server files are inaccessible. Dumb. I changed permissions and will write the author.

Ok, that aside, it's impressive. It's a Java web server that communicates with iTunes, perhaps via AppleEvents. Anything that runs a browser can access it, the only glitch is some obscure browsers need a manual refresh to see new playlists. Unlike the Apache solution you don't have to hand-build playlist references, it gets the playlists itself.

Cost is $15. Well worth it if it works!

[1] I took the easy solution and bought myself a new 30G iPod. The old one is now a fixed music server, permanently plugged in. It lives by the stereo. Since it's a 3G iPod I ordered a very cheap FM remote from Griffin (all the 3G/4G peripherals are being dumped because they don't work with the video iPod or Nano).

Update 2/18: The author is now working on the permissions problem. I don't think they'd understood it before. The author was likewise rather surprised to learn that PatioTunes is compatible with Fast User Switching. I guess it was a happy side-effect of using the web server approach. I re-enabled my OS X firewall adding an entry for the PatioTunes default port.

Allow two iTunes instances on one machine to stream to two AirTunes clients

This MacOSXHint is misleadingly titled: macosxhints - Simultaneously share iTunes on one multi-user Mac. The focus is on how two instances of iTunes on one machine can stream to two AirTunes clients from one library.

Fixing a broken WDS wired to wireless bridge on an Apple Airport Express

Subtitle: Who is Henry B, and why has he posted about 35,000 times to Apple's support site?

I recently bought an Apple Airport Express (discount) to stream AirTunes music to my compact AudioSource amplifier (inputs are Airport Express and iPod, output to local Mission and remote AudioSource speakers). I was unhappy with the usability of AirTunes (though TuneConnect is helping!), so I decided to investigate a SlimDevices Squeezebox. I figured I'd hook the Squeezebox up to the wired ethernet port on the Airport Express, and use the AExpBS simply as a WDS network extender and a wired to wireless bridge.

Problem was, when I tested with my iBook, the bridge didn't work. The iBook reported the ethernet cable was not connected. Research led nowhere (several sites mentioned that the AExpBS didn't support bridging using WPA encryption, but that's dated, it does now). In desperation, I tried Apple Discussions.

It worked. "Henry B." (level "four", @35K posts), who I hope is a pseudonym for many persons, came up with a response that worked:

Apple - Discussions - WDS bridge not working

...I should be able to use an AEX in WDS mode to connect an ethernet device to my WLAN, using the the AEX as a bridge.

It's not working here. All theWDS settings seem fine. I can stream to the AEX and use it extend my WLAN. If I plug an ethernet cable into it, however, no joy. My iBook says there's nothing plugged in.

...

1. Do a factory reset of your Airport Express to get it back into a known state per:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108044

2. Make sure your Powerbook, Airport Extreme Base Station, and Airport Express are all - for now - in the same room.

3. With your Powerbook connected to the wireless network of the Airport Extreme Base Station (prove it by making sure you have internet access) run the Airport Admin Utility. We are going to have you clean up some settings on it first:

• make sure the Base Station is running firmware version 5.5.1. If not ...
  install firmware 5.5.1 on the Base Station:
  http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportextremefirmware551formacosx.html
  and 6.1.1 on the Airport Express:
  http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportexpressfirmware611formacosx.html
  WPA on a WDS network works perfectly with these firmware versions.
  

• under the Airport tab, make sure you have NOT checked the box to "create a closed network"
• under the Access Control tab, remove ALL table entries
• under the WDS tab, remove all entries and uncheck all boxes

Then update settings to the Airport Base Station.

4. Make sure you have the Airport 4.1 update installed on your Mac:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airport41formacosx.html

5. Now run the Airport Setup Assistant. Use its guidance to configure the Airport Express as a new base station that "extends" the existing wireless network created by the Airport Extreme Base Station.

Incredibly, this worked. The bridge was restored. I noticed two things with this process:

1. After I'd installed the firmware 'downgrades' on both base stations I couldn't connect wirelessly to the Airport Extreme, I had to reset it first.
2. When I ran Airport Setup Assistant it complained that I didn't have IPv6 enabled (it's disabled on my older 10.3.9 machine). I skipped that step and it then hung after locating my base station. I went back and enabled IPv6 and it completed successfully.

Was it the firmware downgrade that did the trick, or was it enably IPV6 on the iBook?
I wonder if bridging from wired to WAN using a WPA encrypted WDS configured Airport Express Base station requires IPv6 ...

In any case, it's a relief not to have to call Apple tech support!

Controlling Apple AirTunes with SlimServer, or how I was turned to the Darkseid

I've been around long enough to know how pernicious and nasty these DRM (digital rights management) schemes are. I knew sooner or later they'd turn me to the Darkseid where one skirts the edges of the foul abyss of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. (DMCA badness befouls both Republicans and Dems alike.)

So my 3,500 iTunes tunes are 99.99% from our large CD library. Only a few are AppleStore FairPlay DRMd. Still, they are largely AAC, which is theoretically an open (mp4) standard. All the same, I've been cautious.

Good. Because Apple has broken their implied contract. The contract worked like this:

1. We will grudgingly accept Apple's four DRM scheme as the best of a bad bunch.
2. Apple will provide us solutions that work.

With their failure to provide a half-decent remote control solution for iTunes/AirTunes Apple has left us with no good way to stream music from a server based iTunes library to an AirTunes speaker. Even the Keyspan remote is a weak solution. We needed an Apple solution at least as good as the SoundBridge and SlimDevice solutions; Apple has persistently failed to provide.

So it's with a clear conscience that I now skirt the twilight zone of SlimServer, the iTunes LAME plug-in, and even (dare I mention the word?) JHymm (though the last is least important). Solutions that are legal today, but certainly unpleasing to Apple.

Thus far the results are remarkably better than my attempts with AirTunes (I walk upstairs to adjust the volume?!), TuneConnect (no playlists, still this is very promising) and NetConnect (disappointing). At the moment SlimServer and iTunes are running on my iMac upstairs in a background user session. SlimServer is reading in AAC files, transcoding them using the iTunes LAME plug-in, and streaming them as high quality .mp3 files to iTunes. iTunes is then transcoding them to FLAC (I think) files and streaming them to my remote AirPort Express, the music then plays on my speakers. I can control play from a web browser on my iBook, or I could use the Java softsqueeze app for remote control. This cost nothing, though it all works better if one buys the Squeezebox hardware remote.

Weird. Kludgy. Hard setup with a few odd bugs I had to work around. Limited documentation. Had to download and install several pieces. It will all work better, of course, the further I move from Apple's DRM vision.

I hope they're listening. Apple has the capability to provide a great solution, but they're choosing to really irritate their customers.

Keyspan AirTunes remote (Airport Express)

Amazon.com: Electronics: Keyspan URM-17A Express Remote Control

This is the only hardware device I know of for controlling AirTunes play. The only software option that works for me thus far is TuneConnect running on an iBook.

netTunes: remote control for OS X iTunes

I've been dismayed Apple's fumbled execution of the AirTunes vision. Then I came across netTunes ($20).

NetTunes is a "simple" remote control application for iTunes. You install it on server (one) and clients (multiple). It 'captures' the iTunes screen on the server and delivers it to the client. In other words, it's a "classic" raster based remote control application -- save that it only works for iTunes.

I've been testing it over a (slowish) 802.11b LAN with the client running on an iBook and the server running on a G5 iMac. I made two key preference settings:

1. Set for fastest display (ie. uglier but fast).
2. Set remote display to scale to size of client display (very important since my remote display is 1680 x 1050 and my local display is 1024x768) rather than downsample remote display.
   

And the result? Well, it's not lighting speed and it's not beautiful, but it does seem to work. I tested swiching users on the server (no apparently problem) [OOPS. Fast User Switching is indeed perilous. Further testing indicated] and I tried putting the client to sleep and restarting (took a few moments to reconnect). If it holds up in further testing I'll gladly pay $20.

Update 10/15/05: No, this one doesn't work. Once I'd registered ($20) I could do enough testing to show that the Fast User Switching is incompatible with netTunes server. The author had told me that beforehand, but I was having enough success on the 30 minute trials that I decided to give it a shot. It seems to work, but if one does something to open a new window the server dies. NetTunes really does require that iTunes run in the foreground session. That makes it of limited utility for me. I'm told that it work very well with folks using a headless Mac mini as a dedicated media server.

Update 10/23/05: I kept on using NetTunes, but things didn't get better. Even when iTunes was running in the GUI user session a screensaver would make it unuseable. The final straw was some new system instability and iTunes lockups. Probably unrelated to NetTunes, but the timing was bad. I removed the server.

The Apple AirTunes vision -- not really ready for primetime

[This post strains the blog metaphor. It's partly chronological, partly revised. In summary I was initially very unimpressed with the Airport Express and AirTunes -- but I'm beating it into submission.]

Apple's AirTunes vision sounds good -- on the web page:

Apple - AirPort Express

AirTunes Unleashes Your Music

... AirPort Express with AirTunes brings your iTunes music in your Mac or PC into your living room — or wherever in your home you have a stereo or a set of powered speakers.(1) All you have to do is connect your sound system to the audio port on the AirPort Express Base Station using an audio cable (included in the optional AirPort Express Stereo Connection Kit) and AirTunes lets you play your iTunes music through your stereo or powered speakers — wirelessly. iTunes automatically detects the connection of your remote speakers, so you just have to select them in the popup list that appears at the bottom of the iTunes window and click play.(2)

Enjoy your playlists, set iTunes to shuffle through your entire library or repeat your favorite songs over and over again — however you like to enjoy your music on iTunes, you can now enjoy it that way through your stereo speakers, wherever they’re located in your house.

Buy more than one AirPort Express Base Station and connect one to every stereo or set of powered speakers in your house — one to your stereo in your living room and another to a pair of powered speakers in your kitchen, for example. Its small size and affordability make it perfect for having more than one. Imagine being able to play your iTunes music on whichever speakers in your house you prefer.

Ahem. Ok, now back to reality. iTunes will stream to one AirPort Express Base Station (AExpBS). So you might have 3 of 'em attached to powered speakers, but only one will play at a time. So much for music throughout the house!

In any case, it doesn't work all that well. Even when I stream to the AExpBS from a powerful server I get occasional pauses in the music (even with a large buffer set in iTunes -- I think the problem is that the AExpBS needs a much larger internal buffer - but see below, later I fixed this). The biggest problem, however, is the lack of remote control for iTunes (see below for workarounds).

The situation Apple ought to be encouraging is a media server holding music and Apple devices controlling that. For example, music on a G5 iMac, control via an iBook. One LAN with multiple Apple wireless devices. Well, that's what I tried:

1. G5 iMac with iTunes running in a Tiger login session, connected to AirPort Extreme Base station by 10 Mbps wired ethernet. iTunes is sharing Library.
   
2. AirPort Extreme base station configured for 802.11 b networking.
   
3. AirPort Express Base Station attached in bridge mode to the wireless LAN, with speakers.
4. G3 iBook with 10.3.9 connected via 802.11b to WLAN, with iTunes running locally. iBook streams to the AirPort Express Base Station.

So what did I discover?

1. Well, the above seemed pretty obvious to me, but when I wrote it down it occurred to me that very few people are going to be geeky enough to configure this.
2. The fundamental setup is stupid. The iBook isn't acting as a remote, it's actually streaming the music. Way too much work for something that runs on a battery. The iBook should be controlling the application running on the iMac. [1]
3. There were (initially) glitches and pauses in the music. Their are multiple bottlenecks in the situation I could improve (switch my ancient 10Mbps hub for a 10/100), but I suspect the G3 iBook is a key problem -- especially since I use WPA on my LAN. The G3 just doesn't have the firepower to do all the encryption and streaming -- especially since it's running multiple simultaneous users. [2] Actually, the problem persisted even after I eliminated the G3. The Airport Express really needs a large internal cache; which, of course, would make it impossible to synchronize output between multiple base stations (sometimes analog is just better!). Additionally, I've been told that the Airport Express requires an uncompressed audio stream -- this vastly increases the burden on even a perfect network. In reality, there are a lot of moving parts on a wireless LAN with two interacting base stations, not to mention my neighbors' WLANs.
   

I'll figure something out. I tried switching to running iTunes on an XP server and using Microsoft's pretty decent 'Remote Desktop Connection' client to connect from the iBook to the XP -- but RDC let me down. iTunes/Windows would stop responding when accessed via RDC.

[1] There's a neat 3rd party AppleScript application that does something like this, but it doesn't support use of remote speakers! Also, it's very early in development. This needs to be an Apple product. I also tried using 'Chicken of the VNC' to connect to the iMac's embedded Apple Remote Desktop Client, but 'Chicken' blew up. Might not have liked the large display area.

[2] Ok, so this is cruel. Bottom line though is that the media server should be streaming, the iBook should be a remote. Apple needs to provide the thin client solution I've been whining about for years.

Update 10/15/05

• Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection didn't work as well as I'd expected! It was fine when I used it with a new invocation of iTunes, but I couldn't reconnect to a running version.
• I went looking for TuneConnect so I could ask the author about enabling control of remote speakers. That, however, led me to NetTunes. This $20 shareware app seems more like what I need -- remote control of iTunes. So see my NetTunes review. [I registered NetTunes -- but it turned out to be incompatible with both Fast User Switching and with my OS X photo images screen saver. So it bit the dust too.]
  
• This stuff is really not ready. The Jobs reality distortion field has been working overtime when it comes to AirTunes.

Update 10/16/05

• Savvy users, I'm told, are using Mac minis as headless media servers, with remote control via NetTunes. iTunes is quite happy to work with a shortcut in place of the standard iTunes data folder, so one can in theory have iTunes on the mini and iTunes elsewhere manipulate the same data set. God knows what happens if both try to edit the db ath the same time!

Update 10/18/05

• Slimdevices Squeezebox2 is looking better all the time. I'd need eed to get rid of that pesky DRM of course. Why can't Apple manage something like this? They have a very interesting discussion on the impact of streaming audio on wireless LANs:
  

  What kind of impact will Squeezebox2 have on my wireless network?

  While streaming music, Squeezebox2 will use some network bandwidth. The amount of bandwidth depends on the bitrate of the audio file. MP3 files use up to 320k bits per second, AIFF, WAV, AAC and other formats may use up to 1.5M bits per second, but since Squeezebox2 supports FLAC, this can be reduced to around 800k bits per second on the fly. A solid 802.11g network can generally support around 15-20M bits per second of data, even though it's rated for 54M bits per second. This means that you can support more than one Squeezebox2 on an 802.11g network, but the number depends on the audio data rate and how busy the network is otherwise.

  I've switched the WLAN from mixed 802.11 b/g to 802.11b and simplifed parts of my network. Airport Express is skipping less. I've seen this before -- 802.11g smells more and more like a failed standard. Now we all wait for 802.11n.
  

Update 10/19/05

• Things are looking better. My network reconfiguration (moved iTunes files off server to iMac, switched to 802.11b/locked, reset to default channel configuration) seems to have eliminated the skipping problem. Esoterica though, most won't have a chance with this.
• NetTunes often works even with Fast User switching. It's not supposed to and it's very fragile, but if I connect, make my changes, don't cause any windows to open, and disconnect I can sometimes escape alive. In fact since it's incompatible with my screen saver, it works better this way. NetTunes is really for remote control of a headless Mac Mini.
  
• TuneConnect is back up front again. It can't control speaker selection, so I have to remember to leave iTunes directing output to the Airport speakers - but otherwise it's a decent little remote. It DOES work fine with fast user switching on the media server, I've even had several clients connected simultaneously. Main annoyance is that it's designed to work with a string matched set of tunes -- not a playlist. Sigh. I'm hoping the developer will fix this.
  

Update 2/18/06:

TuneConnect failed. Fast User Switching breaks remote AppleScript. Now I'm trying PatioTunes. It does look like the web server method is the only one that really works. I do love embedded web servers.

Update 8/10/2008:

I ultimately gave up around 5/06. Now the iPhone has an iTunes remote control app ....

AirPort Express: toy of the month

MacInTouch Posting by Kevin Klein

[Kevin Klein] First impressions: Wow, Wow, Wow. This new Apple accessory is ridiculously cool and I am really blown away with the new features I am now able to bring to my home network and stereos with the Airport Express.

 It integrates seamlessly with iTunes 4.6 by adding a "speaker output selection pop-up" in the bottom right of the main browser window. It took me a while to find it, but this was by far the hardest part of the installation. Now my output choices are "Computer" and "Home Main Stereo System" (you can choose the name of each Express as it appears in iTunes). When I add more Airport Expresses later, I'll have more choices from this pop-up menu to choose from
 
One other note, the Mac does not control the volume the Airport Express passes the stereo it's connected to.
 
In addition to the usual security options (WEP, WPA, etc), I can also password protect each Express for AirTunes access too (using the included Admin Tool). This will can help limit AirTunes availability in more robust, less private environments other than my home (like businesses, coffee shops, hot spots, etc.). I can envision an Airport Express even working as the source for "on hold" music for business phones systems.
 
Now what about my older, legacy Airport Extreme Base Station?
 
I chose to setup WDS using the Airport Express as the main WAP and relocate my older Extreme BS to my second floor home office and set it up as the remote WAP for my home network. I used same network name for both and now have a perfect, full-coverage WiFi network for my entire home (including my rooftop deck and backyard).
 
Another cool thing is with WDS and multiple Expresses/Base Stations, I can have multiple USB printers available via Rendezvous concurrently. Now I can print to my USB Brother Fax machine or my USB Epson 880 without any other computers sharing these USB printer connections and making them available by bridging over wireless or Ethernet.
 
The Airport Express is small and therefore highly portable and it can save up to five (5) LAN/WAN configurations to help accommodate its portability. If you have one that moves around a lot (it is, after all, the size of an iBook power adapter and can fit in your front pocket), you can save multiple configurations for common destinations like your car, your office, your summer home, your house and your best friends house, etc.).
 
Because it's very portable and I am sure that the one I have permanently connection to my home Cable Modem/Home Stereo will not be enough for me.
 
Although I have not yet tested it with XP, If it works as well with Windows (as advertised) this will be the must-have gadget of the upcoming year.

Ok, I'm sold. I may just buy one. One thing I've heard is you can't listed to both local speakers from the iTunes host and distal speakers from the AirPort Express -- a time delay puts the music out of sync.