Airport Express Streaming

[KeithL]

I posted this on pfm and didn't get any response.......

 

Can anyone explain why my itouch controls streaming better than a Sony xp laptop or a macbook pro? By that I mean I don’t suffer drop-outs at all using the Remote application on the itouch whereas the two laptops drop out all the time making the airport express stream unusable. The streams are all Apple lossless. I am not using any other applications when the laptops drop out.

 

The setup is an emac in a basement cellar, a Netgear wireless router on the first floor and an AE on the ground floor. Does the itouch communicate directly to the emac or does it transmit via the router on the first floor?

 

Keith

 

[Ashley James]

Keith

 

It will go via the wireless router and we never got a good one till we switched to an Airport Extreme, then the range doubled.

 

If you have a Touch you can download an App. that enables you to see if there are other routers within range that are interfering with yours and then trying fixing it to one channel.

 

Ash

 

[KeithL]

Ash, thanks for the reply. Your answer and suggestion still don't explain why the two laptops struggle while the iTouch has no problem.

 

Keith

 

[Ashley James]

Keith

 

I wasn't aware that you could stream from a Touch, only control iTunes in other computers. Therefore I'm stumped.

 

Ash

 

[KeithL]

Sorry, I'm not explaining myself fully. My music library is on the eMac plus usb drives in the cellar. I use Remote on my iTouch to control iTunes on the eMac. I attempted to use the Sony & the Mac laptops in a similar manner by opening the same library on the eMac through iTunes. The laptops dropout.

 

Keith

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Keith - I think we can find the problem but I'm a little confused as to what your exactly doing. Are you opening the eMac library through the Shared Library feature while one the Sony? Please explain and we'll figure this one out.

 

[KeithL]

Hi Chris,

 

Step by step..... I'm using either the Sony or the Mac laptop. I go into iTunes and see the shared library of the eMac. I open the shared library and select a track and play. It plays for a while and drops out for while.

 

Surely the Remote application for the iTouch is doing exactly the same thing, selecting an available shared library and commanding it to play the selected track.

 

Keith

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Keith - Now I understand what's going on. These two are vastly different. Using the Sony or Mac laptop you are pulling the music to the Sony or Mac laptop from the eMac. The whole file must be sent over your network to the laptop. The iTouch is only pulling a tiny list of music on your eMac and telling iTunes to play the song.

 

 

[KeithL]

Hi Chris,

 

So you are saying, in the case of the laptops, I'm pulling music from the eMac to the laptop then pumping it out to AE? Is there an application like Remote for the laptops?

 

Thanks

 

Keith

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Keith - Use Screen Sharing built into OS X to control your eMac. Works beautifully! Or use VNC as option B.

 

[KeithL]

Thanks Chris.

 

I'll give screen sharing a go.

We use VCN at work. I find it really clunky and clumsy.

 

Keith

 

[KeithL]

Leopard Screen sharing is a nice wrapper for vnc. It's clunky.

I bought an Apple Airport Extreme to replace the Netgear router. The results are astounding. No dropouts whatsoever.

 

[Ashley James]

Keith

 

I'm really glad the Airport Extreme was a success, that's what we found too. Many people complain about Apple's prices without realising and they are better built and better performing even than the ludicrously expensive Sony Vaios.

 

Hi enders get all snooty about Apple without realising that is is probably higher end than their audio kit. Presumably because Microsoft take such a huge wack out of every PC sale and because it's a price only market, most PCs tend to be cheap and cheerful, but usually last long enough for Microsoft's operating system to have ground to a halt!

 

This Macbook Pro is as good as the day I bought it three years ago and it's the longest any computer has lasted me. I was throwing PCs away at about 2 years because it was cheaper than paying an IT man to reload the operating system.

 

Ash