Using Airport Express for AirTunes Only.

[Spikey115]

Is it possible to use my airport express only for AirTunes, not for connecting to the internet? Do I have to first create a network before iTunes can recognize remote speakers? I would love to be able to use the new airport extreme (n) to connect to the internet, but use my excisting airport express for airtunes only. I dont' want to "extand range" because of the speed reduction due to the addition of non-"n" devices. Help Please!

 

[mad jew]

There's no real way of doing what you want without the speed reduction. The Express will have to be on the same network as your Extreme because your Mac won't be able to connect to two wireless networks simultaneously.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I've connected my old AirPort Express to my new AirPort Extreme via an ethernet cable, then set the Express to allow AirTunes over ethernet and turned off its wireless altogether. Internet, disks and printer are all hooked up to my Extreme and our Macs only connect to the Extreme's network...

 

[mad jew]

Wow. Sneaky sneaky. I know it shouldn't in theory, but has it affected your network throughput speeds at all?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Not noticeably, but then we have only three G speed Macs (2 iBook G4s and one 1G MacBook).

 

[mrtg]

I had wanted similarly to run just airtunes from the express unit - but don't have a paricular wireless set up within the house, as this runs off my cell phone running data.

If I set up the express to bridge / extend a generally (public) available wifi connection & then set up the express to not run wirelessly a) will the bridged wifi service know I am present within its network (i.e. am I dependent on that wifi service being there to complete the link between my macbook & the airport) and b) is there someway of geniunely just running the airport without it being connected or set up to offer the wifi service ?

- If b) is possible which option to set up the airport should I use within the utility.

thanks for any help!!

 

[RHMMMM]

OP, just configure your Express to join an existing network. It won't "extend" it, it will just be a client and you can still use it for Airtunes fine, that's how I have mine set up...

 

[waw74]

I had wanted similarly to run just airtunes from the express unit - but don't have a paricular wireless set up within the house, as this runs off my cell phone running data.

If I set up the express to bridge / extend a generally (public) available wifi connection & then set up the express to not run wirelessly a) will the bridged wifi service know I am present within its network (i.e. am I dependent on that wifi service being there to complete the link between my macbook & the airport) and b) is there someway of geniunely just running the airport without it being connected or set up to offer the wifi service ?

- If b) is possible which option to set up the airport should I use within the utility.

thanks for any help!!

I wouldn't recommend connecting the express to a public network (If you are able to connect to the AE, so would anyone else with access to the network). And to extend it, the public network would have to be set up to allow you to extend it, which i highly doubt that it is.

You could make a private wireless network that only includes the express and your laptop, with no internet going through it, you would still be able to print and airTunes through it.

 

[mrtg]

hey there

thanks for the replies..

i tried setting up without a wifi connection coming into play & just running between the macbook & the ae, but the set ups all seem to ask to run with a wifi connection. This was the main question I was posing.

The public wifi available to me is open to all users so I've been able to set up the ae using that service... but I do worry about using the public wifi service & the fact that I might be extending it even further without license / agreement.

so how do you make a private wireless network that will be recognized by ae? - the utility doesn't seem to let me do that / offer it...? When I tried the various different set ups offered by the system automatically the ae froze out & needed to be re-set.. so at the moment I have to run it with the public wifi. To be cautious I've turned off the wireless function within the options, but wonder how effective this is..

Also as a another question re; public wifi network being used.. I can set this up within the utility to require a password to be used - does this mean I am barring other people from using the public wifi when I have bridged / extended it ? Its not clear as the public wifi is completely open to usage at the moment.


thanks!