I would disagree. I've got several Airport Expresses in use around the house for streaming music to in-ceiling speaker sets, at least one is from the days when it was originally called AirTunes. All function flawlessly without a glitch or Airplay issue. I would guess you may have a faulty device. As it is new, you might consider exchanging it.
Your welcome to disagree, and I'm glad it's good for you, but I have used many streaming devices (helped develop the Squeezebox) for audio and video, consoles, iPhones, android devices, smart TV... with my wireless network and this first time in 8 years I have had make changes to it for it to be OK with my ape and Apple TV. Research over the last couple of days has shown me that the issue of dropping out is very common. Apple networking gear does not like other non-apple gear and struggles with anything other than strong wifi signal more so than any other device I have used.
It's great when it works though. Airplay is very limited in it functionality, but it's very simple and integrates with my iphone and ipad better than anything else I have tried. On the whole I'm very happy with it.
