Does anyone have any idea how music data flows when using an Airport Express in client mode?

My setup is as follows:

a) Wireless (non Apple) router;
b) PC server, with iTunes ALAC library, attached via wire to the router;
c) Airport Express in living room in "Client" mode (ie, nothing else connects to it for data access, but it is available as a destination for iTunes);
c) Laptop in living room wirelessly accessing the library via iTunes shared music function (ie, the laptop has no iTunes library itself, and does not have a drive mapping to the server).

So what happens when the Laptop requests to play a song? I'm guessing:

i) The laptop sends a request via the wireless network to the server;
ii) The server sends the result back to the laptop;
iii) The laptop then sends the result back again to the router;
iv) The router sends the data to the Airport;
v) Music!

It would be much better if ii) and iii) weren't happening. But I think they are, as I've found that if I play music from the server directly, there is no dropouts to the Airport, however if I play it via the laptop, the music drops out fairly regularly, no matter how strong the Wireless signal is on the laptop.

That means that the song data is being transferred too many times - from the server to the laptop and back again, and then back again to the Airport. Or is it smarter than that - does the server send it directly to the Airport once it's received the request from the laptop? Using ALAC, this means a lot of data is zipping around unnecessarily.

Can anyone see a way to bypass the intermediate data steps? Having the library on the laptop, and/or the Airport in non-client mode would do it, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a server and single wireless network.

Thanks.

Maybe I'm not understanding the question, as I don't understand how client mode would affect this, but I think there are a few programs available to allow you to control iTunes remotely. So the laptop just acts as a big remote and the music is only streamed once from the desktop to the Airport.

I've not used these myself but try:

patioTunes : http://mindola.com/patiotunes/

or

webRemote iTunes : http://www.deadendsw.com/Products/webRemote.html

or

iHam on iRye : http://swssoftware.com/products/iham/

Hmm, I've just noticed it's a PC server, which may not have as many options for remote control.

Thanks for the reply - so that kind of software means you control the server remotely, which would seem to take the duplication out of the equation, you're right. I'll have to track down a version that will run on a Windows server (and a Mac laptop - arrgh!).

My understanding of client mode is that the Airport becomes just like any other device connected to the router, so the laptop is not connecting directly to the Airport. Hence the data has to move around a lot more (assuming it does get streamed server->router->laptop->router->airport as I'm guessing). If it wasn't in client mode, then the data would move server->router->laptop->airport, as the laptop would connect directly to the Airport.

Unless that assumption is completely wrong of course ! Not much doco around about how it actually works from what I can find??

PatioTunes has been updated to support iTunes on Windows as well as OS X. Free trial is available at http://www.patiotunes.com.

I'm using iTunes on a Windows PC and streaming the audio to Airport Express.

I use my mobile as a bluetooth remote control of the Windows PC.

Salling Clicker

However this solution requires that
- you have bluetooth on your PC,
- you have one of the supported mobiles,
- the distance between your Windows PCøs bluetooth antenna and remote is limited to 10 m in open air or less if walls are involved.