AirTunes to AirPlay

Although it appeared to be a simple Wi-Fi base station at first glance, Apple’s AirPort Express had a trick up its sleeve: it came with AirTunes.

The forerunner of AirPlay, this allowed you to stream music from a Mac on your network to speakers connected to the Express. However, unlike AirPlay, AirTunes was only used for music; it couldn’t stream any other type of media.

While AirPlay is still actively being developed by Apple, it appears that the AirPort line has fallen by the wayside. In late 2016, it was reported that Apple disbanded its AirPort team and moved its members to other projects. Time will tell if Apple ever decides to resume development.