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But, do you **really** think Apple the iTunes team of developers haven't ever brought up the notion of providing multi-zone audio support especially when a complementary Apple product (the Airport Express) practically screams out for it to become an iTunes feature!
The thing is, though, that it doesn't...scream out for it to become an iTunes feature...that is. Sure it would be nice, but I'm sorry, it's probably extremely low on the low-priority list to try to serve what might be termed the "cheapskate whole house audio only" crowd, or rather perhaps more accurately the "cheapskate whole house audio only crowd with a little attitude and misplaced sense of entitlement." You know, that target demographic that actually writes things like:
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if you want to play 1 song in the kitchen, a different one in the bedroom, you need more than 1 computer to do this. stupid, but thats apple for you.
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Clearly not optimal when compared to just having iTunes support streaming different tracks to different AExpresses but when you only have lemons to work with...
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perhaps this silly limitation will go away in a future version of iTunes or perhaps some smart folks will find a way around this silly little issue
stupid...silly...lemons...
That vast niche defined by:
1) ONLY having a single Mac in the house;
2) ONLY wants to buy Airport expresses;
3) ONLY is interested in whole house audio and not video;
4) and is mainly interested in sending independent simultaneous streams to those Expresses in multiple zones.
This isn't the customer Apple targets. Apple cuts broad swaths when it acts, which in turn lead to increased spending and purchasing additional Apple devices--their customers upgrade, they have several Macs, they add iPods, Time Capsules, aTVs, iPhones, churning through them fairly regularly, etc. I really don't think their focus is on leveraging the Express any further--look how long it took for an "n" Express to be released.
I'm sorry, but as dbfreq has clearly explained, the custom whole house audio thing is a very, very expensive proposition, even proprietary out of the box solutions like Sonos are very expensive...and, it's both an elite and very small segment, even if you added up ALL the people trying to do it. The much, much larger market that Apple serves are folks who just now are getting used to having their music on a hard drive--"you mean I don't have to play cds anymore in the living room?"--and they're wondering how to play music back in one location.
And yet here is Apple, right now, with Leopard, built-in screen sharing, and one basic iLife app, fully and relatively easily enabling whole house audio and video for anyone willing to add a new Mac, or pick up a second or third used Mac, or add an aTV or two to their lineup, with practically ALL of it remotely controllable via wireless touchpad (iPhone/Touch) or Leopard screen sharing or via the Apple remote itself (if that's all you happen to have in that location.)
Do you have any perspective just how special this is, right now?
Not to mention that the stubborn cheapskate niche, those with but a single Mac and a bunch of Expresses, have already been able to stream to those multiple Expresses and play back locally with everything in sync since January 2006. Do you realize how special THAT was? That means a large part of this very small niche, those who mainly want to stream the same thing everywhere--a la a big party at the house--are actually very satisfied that they've had this capability for so long.
Crunch the numbers for
1) a few used Macs (+/- $300) or refurb aTVs ($199) and
2) an iPod Touch (only if your main Mac is not a laptop) and
3) realize we're talking independent simultaneous audio AND video to multiple locations
and I think you'll very quickly find out that relying on that stupid, silly, citrussy Apple/iTunes/Front Row solution right now is really quite nice, very adaptable based on personal needs and a darn good value.
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I think the ATV in each room with a Touch remote would be a great way to go....
Me, too. Add that second or third Mac, buy that aTV instead of the Express, and you won't be fretting about one instance of iTunes not being able serve up multiple independent streams. Everyone in the house will be too busy enjoying all that they have at their disposal.