It's never easy being an Apple fan, for so many reasons. When I started out Apple was circling the drain, and pencil-necked nerds like Michael Dell were smugly remarking how Apple should just pack it in and finally go away. After all, it would be so much easier if we all used the same operating system, right?

More than 10 years later and Apple's making way more money, and enjoying a greater overall market share. But still, we Mac users are in the minority. Badgered by PC users because we can't run the same number of third-rate games or crappy trojan-ridden shareware. People also think that I'm somehow obligated to defend all of Apple's products, such as the overly popular iPod or the useless, overpriced Macbook Air. And all the while I face fire from the Windoze crowd, I have to put up with the Linux geeks complaining about the DRM of iTunes purchases or the hardware lock-ins of Mac OS X. People say we're all smug (and those stupid "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" commercials certainly don't help.

So with that in mind, let me hock some Apple technologies. Recently, Apple added AirTunes support to the AppleTV. If you didn't know, AirTunes is a lovely technology which allows you to stream your music over your wireless network to devices which are connected to speakers. But the truly glorious feature is that you can play through multiple speakers at once.

Jeff will start his iTunes on his laptop in his bedroom, which is connected to his stereo. He'll then add my Airport Express (in the kitchen), and my AppleTV (living room) to his speakers list. iTunes streams music through the wireless network. So you hear the same music in the living room, the kitchen, and Jeff's room. It's all perfectly synced, there's no lag, it almost never skips (even if other people are using the network). The best is when you stand in a spot where you can hear the music from more than one stereo, it adds a huge amount of depth to the sound. Hot.

I bought the Airport Express years ago with 802.11g. Apple has since replaced it with an 802.11n model. I'm hoping I'll see the second-hand price for the older models plummet. If it doesn't break the bank, having one more set of remote speakers would be really cool.