It’s been a long standing dream of mine to have some remote control stream music from my computer to a device in some other room. After a lot of waiting, a failed rails project, and a few years, the answer finally came in the form of the Airport Express, iPod Touch and iTunes.
Unfortunately, this was not the smoothest install ever. I was completely unable to get my AirPort Express to join my wireless network. My network uses a Linksys WRT150N as it’s access point. When the AirPort was on the desk, next to the Linksys, it would connect, but refuse to acquire an IP. When it was in the workout room, it simply flashed the error light. The logs showed that the AirPort was connecting, but not staying connected to the AP. A little bit of trial and error exposed that the auto-band selection on the Linksys was throwing the AirPort off. Which is completely not what I expected, since no other Apple product that I own has experienced this problem. Once I selected a specific channel for my Linksys AP, all has been well.
I’ve now got my iPod Touch with the remote control app to control my iTunes, which can stream to the AirPort in the workout room. Since this works, I’ll likely add a few more AirPorts to get the rest of the rooms online. This is where the iPod Touch RC app really shines. It allows you to remotely select which remote speakers are connected to the current library. It’s nice to finally have this, under budget, and only requiring one evening of clueless tinkering.
