Airport Express/AirTunes Plug-in

[cortana]

Well, this was just announced today, and it looks awesome - but there's no way I'd switch to iTunes in order to use it. Anyone got the knowhow to reverse-engineer the AirTunes protocol and get a Winamp plugin going to work with this?

Airport Express: http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/

[inthegray]

someone (who might actually be able to do it) has already mentioned they might reverse engineer it when it comes out, to work with winamp. so hopefully, you'll hear about it a little after they come out for sale.

[CaboWaboAddict]

Its simply a Wireless bridge connected to a sound card and a USB print server in one package.

Most likely the sound card and print server portion are very proprietary!

Not sure if I like the concept. You can do the same thing with off the shelf components in the Windows world, but why would you need to?

[cortana]

I know what it is. I want one, and I want it to work with Winamp instead of being forced to use iTunes.

[CaboWaboAddict]

Why not buy the DLink one and have something designed to work with Windows? (assuming that is why your asking in the first place)

I also assume even if you wanted a print server and a remote music player, I doubt many people would want their printer by their stereo!

Its not designed for the Windows environment, it costs more than the combined Windows compatible products and it has stuff you possibly don't need anyway. I was just pointing out that this may be the best thing since sliced bread for Apple users but not necessarily so, for everyone else.

[electricmime]

i dont get the point of it... at all

i mean, can you select songs from your stereo? if not, then why would you care if its playing through your stereo?

[CaboWaboAddict]

among other things it lets you select MP3s and such on your computer to be sent over wireless to play on your stereo.

It seems kinda silly to me to have to have wires from this device to connect to your stereo and have a printer port there too.

[inthegray]

information:

according to this article, the music is decoded "on the fly" to apple's new lossless format, encrypted, and then sent to the airport express to be decrypted and played.

[CaboWaboAddict]

so its gotta be processed 3 times before being used? Sounds like someone at apple had to do some busy-work to fill their schedule.

[electricmime]

but whats the point? you still have to go to your computer to select the music you want played, so you have to go to a different room from where your music is playing to choose a different song... (unless your computer is in the same room as your stereo, in which this thing would be even dumber to have)

and for the few cases i might want this, it would DEFINATELY not be worth $130

[cortana]

Agreed, the lack of display or remote makes it kinda silly, but I've never seen a NAT router, USB print server, music streamer, 802.11g access point, and 802.11g bridge in one package before, or such a small package. Personally I'd prefer something like the Squeezebox, but that's more expensive. The reason I'm excited is that I think this thing *will* have a remote - the next iPods. They'll probably have wireless capability and be able to control/stream to this thing.

[electricmime]

why not just hook your ipod up to the stereo?

unless of course you have more than 40 gigs (which i dont, but im sure some people do) and i think it would be better to pay the extra money to get the 40 gig, compared to the 5+ instead of spending the 130 on an airport which will only play in my house

though, i would like the ability to stream to my ipod in my house, i doubt i would pay 130 for it, and i would still have the limit of being wired (this thing connects to the wall, and i have to connect to the airport)

but even if the ipod works as a remote (in the future)... would it really be worth paying 299 to 499 plus 130 just so you could listen to some songs in your living room from your computer(for those few who have more than 40 gigs of music, which while im sure there are alot, are not the majority, since i think they said most people have less than 5 gigs..).. plus you have to use itunes to play your music

[cortana]

Well, that last part is why I want a Winamp plugin ;-)

[Russ]

You're unlikely to get one from the looks of things.

[electricmime]

wouldnt winamp need to be able to play apple lossless codecs first?