Apple tv v. AirPort Express

Well Maccaguy I have both. I keep my apple TV hooked up to the Living room for my home theater and use the air port express to listen to music outside, on my porch, ect. I bought the AP EXPRESS and then got he Apple Tv for Fathers day. It depends if you will want to listen to music in other parts of the home. The Air Port was a pain to move from behind the home theater and then reconnect ect.

I think you will find these things are addictive and you will find the Express useful even if you get an ATV. I use a combination of 2 ATVs and 3 Expresses along with Remote on an touch around my home. ATVs get connected to TVs and home theaters of course with the Expresses connected to speaker only devices. One of my Expresses does double duty as a portable wifi access point in motels with ethernet connections when I travel.

The Express is useful as a wireless server for a printer or USB drive as well.

Oh, okay, so with the Apple TV, I don't need the AirPort Express at all?

Unless you are going to use the airport express as a router. If you have a router already, then no you will not need the airport express.

Oh, so the router is separate from the iMac AirPort is what you're saying? I'm still a newbie to wifi...thanks for any help!

You cannect a Mac two ways. With a cannel from your modem or wirelessly with a router. When you turn on the "air port" on a Mac it allows you to connect wirelessly to a router. The air port on the Mac is not a router to use with a I phone app,e tv ect.

Macca: Make sure that they are powered or they won't work with the AE.

Okay, I understand now. Is there a less expensive router than an Apple? Any recommendations?

Well I have an Apple Time Capsule and Air Port Express and they both work great for me. There are cheeper routers out there though. Since I have an I mac, ect, they seem to work and set up easier for me.

Well, for now, I'm going to just try the AirPort Express when I get the Apple TV.

Well, after a visit to the Apple Store here, I find that my wireless modem will suffice for a network, so I'm told anyway by the guy there, so I'll try that first!

An Airport Express can be configured from your Mac, an Apple TV is going to need a display to get configured. Presumably once configured though (basically, connected to your network), an Apple TV can be moved to a speaker-only set up to play music through, just like an Airport Express.

The ATV does not have speakers; it has to be connected to an output source such as the TV and/or home cinema audio and you can effectively do that with the Airport Express without having the ATV in the loop. The advantage of incorporating AppleTV in the set-up is that (at least for the current model but apparently not for the new one) you can store your music on it and play back without having a computer "on" and delivering content from your iTunes library.