New Airport Express

[John Duncan]

Finally, they make it pretty.

http://www.apple.com/uk/airportexpress/

Not sure what benefit it has for music over an @TV though. Although, am I imagining this or has it now become a simple wireless router? Can't quite work it out...

 

[6th.replicant]

So does new AE have a socket thingy for plugging into a landline's wall-socket thingy :?

 

[John Duncan]

No, but it does appear to have a socket thingy for plugging into a modem's socket thingy, which was why I was asking whether it was now a router. S'not clear.

 

[6th.replicant]

Clearly

 

[Paul.]

It was always a wireless access point wasn't it? Old one had a wan port for connecting to a modem, new one has a LAN port as well for hooking up a nas.

Now it has dual band goodness, I'm quite curious about this.

 

[6th.replicant]

Slightly OT: I was having a 'moist moment' oggling the new MBP, but then noticed that it does not have a CD/DVD drive - wut the...??!!

So, no ripping CDs to iTunes. Bad! :shame:

And, obv', the final nail/two fingers to Blu-ray :doh:

Not looking to attract Sony Vaio converts, Apple? :?

 

[professorhat]

Apple have gradually been removing CD / DVD drives from all their range (as noted earlier on another thread to do with the Mini). In the computer world, CDs / DVDs are old tech now, and I've not seen any companies distribute software on Blu-ray either - everything is just downloaded straight from the internet and networks or USB disks / sticks are used to transport data around from one machine to another where this isn't possible.

For ripping CDs, you can still get a USB drive and plug this in - it's a rare enough activity for this to be acceptable in my opinion. Of course Apple would rather you purchased everything from iTunes

 

[bigblue235]

I predict much wailing and gnashing of teeth if it's not bit-perfect. 48khz?

 

[jaxwired]

Great, I just bought the old one. #*@!&#&*!! |(

Edit: Found the receipt and I still have the box. Woo hoo! Ordering the new one now... Thanks John!!!

 

[6th.replicant]

Apple have gradually been removing CD / DVD drives from all their range (as noted earlier on another thread to do with the Mini). In the computer world, CDs / DVDs are old tech now, and I've not seen any companies distribute software on Blu-ray either - everything is just downloaded straight from the internet and networks or USB disks / sticks are used to transport data around from one machine to another where this isn't possible.

For ripping CDs, you can still get a USB drive and plug this in - it's a rare enough activity for this to be acceptable in my opinion. Of course Apple would rather you purchased everything from iTunes

AFAIK, the option to watch a BD movie or two on a laptop during a long train or plane journey is enjoyed by many?

And ripping CDs to iTunes in ALAC or AIFF is "rare"?

 

[Andy Clough]

Must admit I'm with 6th.replicant on this one. Sitting here typing this on my 'old' MacBook Pro (with CD/DVD drive) and will be taking very good care of it now! As journos, it's surprising how often we still get given press kits (text, images etc) on CD/DVDs, so would be lost without the drive.

 

[Andy Clough]

So does new AE have a socket thingy for plugging into a landline's wall-socket thingy :?

Looks like it just takes a conventional power lead, so not as neat as the old one IMHO as it won't plug directly into the wall socket.

 

[fr0g]

So does new AE have a socket thingy for plugging into a landline's wall-socket thingy :?

Looks like it just takes a conventional power lead, so not as neat as the old one IMHO as it won't plug directly into the wall socket.

 

[bigblue235]

Think I prefer the old plug-in one. The new one looks to be just the same size as an ATV, in which case I'd rather have an ATV.

 

[shafesk]

Hope its more reliable than the previous ones...went through a ton of those. John, the old AE also had

a router feature, it was just a well kept secret so that Apple could sell more of its expensive routers...

even the Apple "geniuses" I asked couldn't say for sure....shocking. The router feature wasnt advertised properly, so much so that most people didnt know about it at all!

 

[professorhat]

AFAIK, the option to watch a BD movie or two on a laptop during a long train or plane journey is enjoyed by many?

Possibly, I thought most people watched stuff they'd downloaded / ripped now (well I do), but may be wrong. Certainly I see more people watching stuff on their iPad / iPhone / Android device than I do on their laptops these days (all of which of course also don't have CD / DVD drives). It gets rid of the faff of having to carry around a load of DVDs. But you're right, this is probably the feature most home users will miss the most.

And ripping CDs to iTunes in ALAC or AIFF is "rare"?

It is for me (and I did say "in my opinion" ) - maybe once every couple of weeks at most? How many CDs do you buy? If you're constantly adding new music then I suppose this would be a pain, but I couldn't afford to buy that many!

 

[AnotherJoe]

It is for me (and I did say "in my opinion" ) - maybe once every couple of weeks at most? How many CDs do you buy? If you're constantly adding new music then I suppose this would be a pain, but I couldn't afford to buy that many!

If you cant afford to buy a few cds a week then you cant afford to buy apple products anyway

 

[professorhat]

If you cant afford to buy a few cds a week then you cant afford to buy apple products anyway

It's the other way round actually

In all seriousness though, you'd surely have to be buying very large numbers of CDs to be needing to rip new ones more than once a week wouldn't you?

 

[Clare Newsome]

it's surprising how often we still get given press kits (text, images etc) on CD/DVDs

Not so surprising when you see the cost differential between disc and USB sticks

 

[6th.replicant]

Exactly.

And, obv', a tidy few designers still work from hi-res scans supplied on CD/DVD - it's not always possible to access sufficiently swift broadband.

Meanwhile, what does Apple expect me to do with c. 1200 audio CDs, which I rip/delete/re-rip in ALAC to my MBP to load/delete/reload onto an iPod 120GB? And 99% of my new music is still bought on CD because 16/44 downloads are rare, or more pricey than CDs.

And before anyone suggests iTunes Match - 256 AACs instead of ALACs is not an option.

Yup, I too will be taking extra care of my old-school CD/DVD-drive MBP.

 

[professorhat]

Meanwhile, what does Apple expect me to do with c. 1200 audio CDs, which I rip/delete/re-rip in ALAC to my MBP to load/delete/reload onto an iPod 120GB? And 99% of my new music is still bought on CD because 16/44 downloads are rare, or more pricey than CDs.

Ahh, that makes more sense now - so you're constantly having to re-rip CDs because of lack of space available on the Macbook, is that right? In which case, I can see why having the drive would be important.

Just a thought though, have you considered getting a large external drive (I'd think 1 TB would be enough for 1,200 albums) and keeping all CD rips on this (in a separate iTunes library maybe to keep it separate)? This woud make the process a lot easier than having to keep re-ripping CDs as you want them, just by dragging and dropping the files between the disks.

 

[6th.replicant]

Ta for the thought

Assuming I did upgrade to the sans CD/DVD-drive MBP Retina - how would I rip new CDs to an external HDD?

Or is one of these the only solution - Apple USB SuperDrive?

Love the product blurb's "let them eat cake"-style assertion that the SuperDrive "fits easily into a travel bag", erm, it would be much easier if it was built into a MBP.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

how would I rip new CDs to an external HDD?

Or is one of these the only solution - Apple USB SuperDrive?

one of many. look for an external usb DVD/CD rewriter.

 

[bigboss]

Ta for the thought

Assuming I did upgrade to the sans CD/DVD-drive MBP Retina - how would I rip new CDs to an external HDD?

Or is one of these the only solution - Apple USB SuperDrive?

Love the product blurb's "let them eat cake"-style assertion that the SuperDrive "fits easily into a travel bag", erm, it would be much easier if it was built into a MBP.

If you have access to another laptop or desktop with a CD/DVD drive, there's one more option:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5287?viewlocale=en_US

(As long as it's not an Audio CD or DVD movie) :?

 

[professorhat]

how would I rip new CDs to an external HDD?

Or is one of these the only solution - Apple USB SuperDrive?

one of many. look for an external usb DVD/CD rewriter.

Indeed - I use one I bought a while back. Here's a few on Amazon.