Apple's AirPrint, which lets you print from an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch running iOS 4.2, is a great feature—if you happen to have one of the group of HP printers it supports. If not, you have to make other arrangements to print from your i-gadget. Mac users have a very effective option in Ecamm's Printopia, a utility that when installed on an iMac or MacBook will let you print through AirPrint to a printer on your Mac's WiFi network, regardless of its brand or how it's connected.

Just to be clear, Printopia is not an iPhone or iPad app. It's a utility that runs on a Mac (which needs to have Bonjour installed). Installation couldn't be easier—once you download it, you double-click on the file, and it installs automatically. It should recognize all the printers on your network—even printers with a direct USB connection to the Mac. According to Ecamm, Printopia doesn't modify any of your Mac's system files.

When you try to print a document from your i-device—which must also be connected via WiFi to the Mac's network and be running iOS 4.2—Printopia lets you select the printer from which you want to print from (as well as the number of copies you want to print). You also see the choice "Send to Mac," which sends a PDF or JPEG copy of the document to a Printopia folder on your desktop. If you have a Dropbox online storage account, you can send files to it by clicking the option "Send to DropBox on Mac."

I tested Printopia on two Epson printers, one connected via WiFi to a Mac, the other via USB. (It was able to recognize networked printers from various other manufacturers as well.) I printed out photos from my iPhone 4's photo library, as well as e-mails with embedded photos, without any problems. The photos looked very good, even printed on plain paper. I also sent the e-mails as PDFs to my Mac through AirPrint.

Ecamm claims that if your Mac can print to it, Printopia can share it. To back this up, the company offers a 7-day free trial of this $9.95 utility.

Apple disappointed a lot of customers by releasing AirPrint—a major feature of iOS 4.2—with compatibility limited only to certain HP printers. There's no guarantee that any other company's printers will be supported in the future, either. But Mac owners needn't fret, as Printopia makes any printer on their WiFi network—regardless of brand—work with AirPrint. You can see for yourself with Ecamm's free trial.

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