Hi Esther. I've been working on this all morning and appreciate the guidance. I have a new airport express purchased a few days ago and of course, thelatest leopard but cannot make out whether any of the fixes apply to me. I think the older windows airport utility might but will have to hav a loook. I'm not using access control but I do get the error that the device cannot be found after clicking update and waiting. I have succeeded in connecting through ethernet wow! not what I want but was able to see the speakers in ITunes and play stuff through a headset. Apple care tells me that some security protocols can cause problems. I increased from 40 bit incryption to 128 and it didn't help. I'm going to see if I can take it down to none but I'm going to reinstate my firewall first.
I have a full fledged network here minus any server goodies but those with come with systems. I have several devices sharing my netgear router's internet connection but for some reason, this one causes them all to flutter. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Esther" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 11:18 AM Subject: How to set up AirTunes Streaming with an AirPort Express (long)[was Re: AirPort Streaming in iTunes [was Re: NavigatingwithVO+arrowkeysand alternatives [was Re:voiceoverquestion]]] Hi David, Are you using the AirPort Express just to stream music through iTunes? Is it joining an existing wireless network as a client (since you have another router for your wlan)? >I should also mention that my wlan is based on a non apple router. This is a long reply, with the first part dealing with how to setup your AirPort Express and iTunes preferences for streaming music to remote speakers, and the second part about known issues with the AirPort Express and recent Leopard software updates. Disclaimer: I'm not expert on networking (this would be hard since I only have one Mac laptop <smile>) and I'm still running Tiger. Most of this information is from the "Take Control of Your AirPort Network" guide (an excellent series of downloadable ebooks mostly on Mac-related topics in PDF format at modest prices). I read this before setting up my AirPort Express to learn about routers and wireless network configuration, but frankly, I didn't need this at all to get my AirPort Express working and it only took about fifteen minutes! >One more issue with airport express. I go through the setup and when I get >to the end and wait, I get an error message about not being able to find >the >wireless devic. At this point, the computer I am running will not connect >to the network. I hav tried a lot of things to solve this but so far no >joy. Just to check your setup, under the AirPort Utility's AirPort tab the popup button for wireless mode is set to: "Join an Existing Wireless Network (Wireless Client)", you typed the network's name in the Wireless Network field, clicked on the Security Options button to bring up a window with buttons to select your wireless security encryption scheme and text fields to enter password and verification (or a pre-shared key) following the rules for number of characters for your encryption type (VO-keys right arrow to read the format rules for password or key just after these fields). You also pressed the "Update" button on the AirPort tab to turn the AirPort Express into a client on your network. If you set up an access control list for your network, did you add the AirPort ID to this list? (I'm not sure how you discover this if you can't see the device in the AirPort Utility). Use VO-keys right arrow to move from the AirPort tab to the Access Control tab of the AirPort Utility. (If you have a Linksys WRT54G, connect via its Web interface, click the Wireless tab, and then the Wireless MAC Filter tab, and finally click the Edit MAC filter button.) To configure Music streaming, VO-keys right arrow to the Music tab and select (VO-keys space). Check the box(es) to enable AirTunes on this base station (to turn on streaming) and to enable AirTunes over the Ethernet port (if you want to let both wired and wireless computers stream music). In the field for iTunes Speaker Name, provide a name that will be displayed in iTunes for selecting a remote speaker location for streaming through AirTunes (e.g., "Study"). You can also password protect access to remote speakers from streaming. In iTunes, select your preferences menu (Command+comma), VO-keys right arrow to the Audio tab, and select it (VO-keys space). VO-keys right arrow to the checkbox for "Look for remote speakers connected with AirTunes" and make sure it is checked (VO-keys space). There's a checkbox for "Disable iTunes volume control for remote speakers" if you want to control volume from your stereo, and not iTunes. Return (or navigate to the "OK" button and press it with VO-space) to update your preferences. The update to 10.5.3 is supposed to resolve AirPort connection issues, most of which were not seen under Tiger. There should be no special issues connecting to a non-Apple router and the setup is usually very fast. Is this one of the new AirPort Express models (since March) that can support 802.11N connections? MacFixIt reports that some AirPort base stations can't be seen with the latest version of the AirPort Utility (5.3.1 for Leopard released March 11, 2008) because many people are running old firmware in their AirPort base stations to improve the reliability of connections: <begin excerpt> Why some AirPort Base Stations can't be seen with AirPort Utility 5.3.1 [Monday, March 18th] Last week we noted that several users are reporting an inability to recognize otherwise fully operational AirPort Base stations in the newly updated AirPort Utility (5.3.1) included with the AirPort Base Station 2008-001 update. With some help from MacFixIt reader Pax Whitfield, we've now identified the cause: old firmware. Here's the brief backstory: several users have found that downgrading the firmware on their AirPort Base stations resolves a variety of issues, including lapses in network connectivity, problems with connected disks, printers, etc. and more. The firmware downgrade process is as follows: In AirPort Utility, select your Base Station, then select "Base Station" from the menubar, and choose "Upload Firmware." From the "Upload Firmware" menu, select an older version then press "OK." We've recommended the aforementioned fix on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, firmware versions other than the most recent releases (dependent on Base station model) are causing Base Stations to go unrecognized by AirPort Utility 5.3.1 This leaves users in a precarious position: update to the latest firmware, reintroducing problems that were resolved by downgrading to older firmware iteration, allowing Base stations to be seen by AirPort Utility 5.3.1, or use the older version of AirPort Utility to match the older firmware iterations. <end excerpt> I've also read that some users have resorted to configuring their AirPort Express modules by downloading old Windows versions of the AirPort Admin Utility and running this in the virtual environment to configure their AirPorts (since they've already updated to more recent versions of the AirPort Utility on the Mac side; others just run older Mac versions of this Utility if they have it and haven't updated). <begin excerpt> Re: Airport Express Setup doesnt Work with Leopard! I have just lost 2 hours to exactly the same problem; configuring my Airport Express (firmware 6.3) with the Airport Utility (5.2.2) turns it into an unresponsive orange blinking christmas decoration. Thank you for your suggestion of the Windows software; I have succeeded in configuring it using version 4.1 of the Airport software for Windows, version 4.2 had the same affect as Airport Utility! I downloaded version 4.1 from http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airport41forwindows.html Airport 4.1 was released in 2004. Must have been a good year. <end excerpt> Hope this helps. Cheers, Esther >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Esther" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by >theblind" <[email protected]> >Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 11:22 PM >Subject: AirPort Streaming in iTunes [was Re: Navigating with VO+arrow >keysand alternatives [was Re:voiceoverquestion]] > > >Hi David, > >The button for the remote speakers doesn't show up in iTunes if you >are not within range of an AirPort Express that you can stream to. > >>Does the button for the remote speakers appear if you don't have airport >>express? I can't find it and I'm trying to setup my airport express. >> >>Thanks! >> > >When you setup your AirPort Express, one of the things you do is >give it a Base Station name like "Study". This allows you to check >the IP Address, form of wireless security used, firmware version, >and wireless channel for that unit through the AirPort Admin Utility. >Once you've set up your AirPort Express, whether or not you have >speakers connected to it, when you start iTunes there will be a >button that allows you to stream your music away from your speakers >to any available AirPort Express location. The easiest way to >navigate to this button is to use VO-keys left arrow from the >"Previous" button you'll be on when you open iTunes. VO left past the >eject button, the browse button, and possibly the burn or import >CD button (depending on whether you have a playlist selected in your >source list, or whether you have a CD in your drive). There should >be a button where you can reset your output from your computer >speakers to any of the available AirPort Express base stations by >name (e.g., "Study", "Living Room", "David's Den" or any other such >location). > >HTH. Cheers, > >Esther > >P.S. I just noticed that I reversed the keyboard shortcuts for the >previous and next buttons in my post on iTunes -- a moment of >dyslexia because I actually press the left arrow (with Command-left >arrow) to get the previous song in a song list when songs are playing. >I don't type "left arrow" or "right arrow" <smile>. So, for the >"previous" button, read Command-left arrow as the shortcut, and for >the "next" button, read Command-right arrow (or switch "left" and >"right" in my description of shortcuts in the previous post). > >>----- Original Message ----- >>From: "Esther" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by >>theblind" <[email protected]> >>Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 7:54 PM >>Subject: Navigating with VO+arrow keys and alternatives [Re: >>voiceoverquestion] >> >> > <snip from examples of navigation in iTunes> > >>About the only button I think I have to >>get to via VO and the arrow keys on the iTunes player is the one for >>streaming your music to another location if you have an AirPort Express >>wireless base station with speakers connected in. I don't think the >>streaming location can be selected anywhere else in a menu. > >
