Fanboy?

I largely abandoned the world of Windows about 5 years ago when I bought a MacBook laptop computer after a nearly new Compaq laptop had it's fourth or fifth hardware failure. Hard drive, optical drive, and several other components managed to break on that not inexpensive Compaq in less than 2 years. We had similar problems with my wife's Dell desktop, and had to deal with Dell's reluctance to stand behind it's product warranty. As an avid computer user for a few decades (dating back to the Commodore 64), I had lots of experience with the Windows/PC "it's not our problem" method of dealing with computer malfunctions. Either the hardware manufacturer (Compaq, Dell, whatever) blamed the erratic behavior on a Windows glitch, or Windows insisted that the problem was rooted in hardware issues. Frustrating, tiresome, and remarkably unfulfilling.

So I bought a Mac. The transition was surprisingly easy and for the very few Windows programs I needed to use (my genealogy program mainly) I could still run it in a Windows virtual machine. When problems occurred, Apple seemed to just fix things, rather than try to blame the problems on another company. Of course, since Apple produced both the hardware and operating system, it had only itself to blame, and what's the point of that?

So the point of this post is that while I have thoroughly enjoyed my Mac, my iPod, and most recently, my iPhone, I don't consider myself an Apple "fanboy."   The term is sometimes used to describe people who are utterly devoted to Apple and its products, even in the face of evidence that they are merely bits of plastic and metal.

Yesterday, I bought a $99 device called an Airport Express.  This thing is amazing. The device is tiny, about 3 x 4 inches and plugs directly into a power outlet. It has three ports, or connections, for USB, ethernet, or audio output. It performs a ridiculous number of functions, from serving as a wi-fi hotspot, hosting a USB printer or external hard drive on a home network, to my purpose and the reason for my rapture.  You can travel with it and use it, for example, in a hotel that offers a wired connection for internet, but not wireless.   Plug in the Airport Express to the wired connection and you have your own wireless network.

We listen to a lot of internet radio. There are thousands and thousands of internet radio stations, mostly free, for any type of music you can think of, from Jazz to electronica to classical (one of our favorites is Radio Paradise). For a long time, we used a desktop computer (the afore-mentioned Dell) to receive the signal and route it to our home stereo system via wires in the wall and attic. During that time, we've had to endure repeated hiccups and failures as the computer froze, spontaneously rebooted, or issues with the wires connecting the computer to the stereo.

The Airport Express connects to our existing home wi-fi network, and uses a $3.99 cable from its audio jack to the stereo amplifier. Now comes the really cool part. Any computer on the home network which runs iTunes can stream music to the Airport Express and therefore, to the stereo. No wires needed. And it works out of the box. Even the windows computer can send internet radio to the stereo with iTunes. And since iTunes is aware of our collection of 7500+ song files, iTunes can also stream them to the stereo. It was so easy to set up and run, it was surprising even to someone predisposed to Apple products. The stuff "just works."

But wait. There's more. Apple also offers a free iPhone app. You know, "there's an app for that." There's an app for this. The iPhone app offers the ability for you to control iTunes from your phone. So if the stereo is in the other side of the house, and you're in the family room listening to music, and the phone rings, you can use the iPhone "Remote" app to pause the music, lower the volume, or just stop the playback. And you can 'link' the iPhone app to any computer connected to your home network that is running iTunes. You can control music or internet radio from any of these computers using your iPhone. It is very slick and "just works."

I just may be an Apple fanboy now. I don't think I've been this excited about a computer since my Commodore 64.