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iPhone/iPod touch now officially an iTunes remote!
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kman42
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Jun 26, 2008, 11:19 PM
 
The latest iTunes 7.7 beta mentions that Apple will be making an iTunes Remote application available in the AppStore for the iPhone and iPod touch. It says you can control iTunes from anywhere in your house (I'm assuming using a wifi network). Now that is kick ass.

Apple to Offer iTunes Remote Control App for iPhone and iPod Touch - Mac Rumors

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Cold Warrior
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Jun 26, 2008, 11:26 PM
 
It'd be cool to control my AppleTV with that. View media, select it from there, fast forward/skip better than the current remote's lousy settings.
     
- - e r i k - -
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Jun 26, 2008, 11:32 PM
 
Excellent.

There's already a third party solution for this, but I'm hoping Apple's will be at least as slick.

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Jun 27, 2008, 01:29 AM
 
Rumored to officially be
     
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Jun 27, 2008, 06:58 AM
 
@ - - e r i k - -
Didn't know about this app but I always loved Clicker on my Treo, which does this and a whole lot more.
Any word on an iPhone version? Currently the site says the iPhone does not support third-party apps. I'd love to see this appear in the App store.
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imitchellg5
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Jun 27, 2008, 11:32 AM
 
There is already a thread for this in the iPhone/iPod forum.
     
turtle777
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Jun 27, 2008, 02:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
It'd be cool to control my AppleTV with that. View media, select it from there, fast forward/skip better than the current remote's lousy settings.
Heck, I'm still waiting for Apple to put a $ 0.50 IR diode into the iPhone, so it can be used as a universal remote. *THAT* would be a killer app in my book.

-t
     
BRussell
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Jun 27, 2008, 02:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
Heck, I'm still waiting for Apple to put a $ 0.50 IR diode into the iPhone, so it can be used as a universal remote. *THAT* would be a killer app in my book.

-t
That would be useful, and frankly I don't see the use of a wifi iTunes remote. How often do people really need to remotely control iTunes?
     
Atheist
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Jun 27, 2008, 02:44 PM
 
Originally Posted by BRussell View Post
That would be useful, and frankly I don't see the use of a wifi iTunes remote. How often do people really need to remotely control iTunes?
I play music via iTunes on my home audio setup all the time. I would find this very useful! I also love the idea of a more powerful remote control for the ATV.
     
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Jun 27, 2008, 04:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
There is already a thread for this in the iPhone/iPod forum.
Indeed, where it belongs.
     
Captain Obvious
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Jun 27, 2008, 06:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by BRussell View Post
I don't see the use of a wifi iTunes remote. How often do people really need to remotely control iTunes?
Its useful to those of us who have friends and host parties.

The makers of Salling Clicker made a good sum of cash from the concept.

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BRussell
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Jun 27, 2008, 07:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by Captain Obvious View Post
Its useful to those of us who have friends and host parties.

The makers of Salling Clicker made a good sum of cash from the concept.
Yeah now that you mention it, I'm not sure how it's possible to have a party without a wifi remote.

I think it's probably useful in some situations, and it's certainly worth the price Apple is charging for it. But it would be very cool to do what turtle suggests and make the iphone into a true universal remote.
     
imitchellg5
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Jun 27, 2008, 08:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by BRussell View Post
Yeah now that you mention it, I'm not sure how it's possible to have a party without a wifi remote.
Chrissakes, I've never had a party without my wifi remote!
     
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Jun 27, 2008, 08:31 PM
 
Originally Posted by BRussell View Post
That would be useful, and frankly I don't see the use of a wifi iTunes remote. How often do people really need to remotely control iTunes?
Do you have an Airport Express? Or several of them?

The basic concept behind that device is that you are listening to music in a room where the computer that is hosting the music is not.

Change music? Skip a song?
Get up and go over to the other room, where the computer is.
     
BRussell
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Jun 27, 2008, 09:19 PM
 
Originally Posted by analogika View Post
Do you have an Airport Express? Or several of them?
No, and I think only a very small percentage of people do (or connect them to speakers).

I understand the use, I just think it's extremely limited compared to a true universal remote that you could get with IR. The ratio of the number of people who would use the latter to the number of people who would use the former is probably on the order of a hundred million to one.
     
analogika
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Jun 27, 2008, 09:33 PM
 
I disagree completely. I don't really find myself ever needing more than a single remote at a time, and placing that next to the device it's used for, and grabbing it when I turn that on, is perfectly fine for me.

What I *really* want is a remote that works through walls, and, more importantly, lets me SEE through walls - namely, at my iTunes library.

The world really doesn't need Yet Another Universal Remote.
     
BRussell
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Jun 27, 2008, 09:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by analogika View Post
I disagree completely. I don't really find myself ever needing more than a single remote at a time, and placing that next to the device it's used for, and grabbing it when I turn that on, is perfectly fine for me.

What I *really* want is a remote that works through walls, and, more importantly, lets me SEE through walls - namely, at my iTunes library.

The world really doesn't need Yet Another Universal Remote.
So you're the 1 in a hundred million.
     
Captain Obvious
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Jun 27, 2008, 09:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by BRussell View Post
No, and I think only a very small percentage of people do (or connect them to speakers).

I understand the use, I just think it's extremely limited compared to a true universal remote that you could get with IR. The ratio of the number of people who would use the latter to the number of people who would use the former is probably on the order of a hundred million to one.
Glad you like being part of the same segment as the NASCAR crowd.

This integration is what was needed to give iTV and Apple computers in general the flexibility that higher end systems like Sonos had for years. Its more complex than just FF through a song. Its full control of your music library from anywhere on your property.

Niche, maybe but for those people who do more than have uncle Ted and the in-laws over for supper in your tract house it makes having a large party easier to host.

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Jun 27, 2008, 10:16 PM
 
You're right C.O., some of us are just not cool or popular enough to use a wifi remote.
     
kman42  (op)
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Jun 27, 2008, 10:36 PM
 
Everyone I know uses an Airport Express to send music to their stereo in the living room. I'd love to be able to use my iPhone from the kitchen, living room, or back patio to control the music.
     
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Jun 27, 2008, 11:16 PM
 
Universal remotes are the pinnacle of geekdom and rarely even work. Cut down on your devices.

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imitchellg5
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Jun 28, 2008, 09:33 AM
 
Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - View Post
Universal remotes are the pinnacle of geekdom and rarely even work. Cut down on your devices.
Exactly.
     
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Jun 28, 2008, 12:21 PM
 
Well for people who want this, it's available now: remote buddy and google's telekinesis, for example.
     
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Jun 28, 2008, 07:01 PM
 
I'm going to use the hell out of this. I listen to music all the time, not just when people are over. My music source is my iMac, and it plays through my stereo in the living room via Airport Express. And being able to see and control my music from anywhere in my apartment is going to be sweet. And I know other people personally who will love this as well.

And I don't hack my iPhone, so the current solutions for this don't interest me.
     
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Jun 28, 2008, 08:08 PM
 
There's an app called Signal 1.1.2 - MacUpdate which runs on your Mac as a web server, so you can control iTunes via iPhone/iPod touch's Safari. No hacking necessary. Of course, it's not free either...
     
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Jun 28, 2008, 09:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by cybergoober View Post
There's an app called Signal 1.1.2 - MacUpdate which runs on your Mac as a web server, so you can control iTunes via iPhone/iPod touch's Safari. No hacking necessary. Of course, it's not free either...
Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - View Post
Excellent.

There's already a third party solution for this, but I'm hoping Apple's will be at least as slick.


.

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Captain Obvious
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Jul 12, 2008, 07:07 PM
 


Better than expected. I may end up picking up a couple Airport express boxes because of this added functionality.

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- - e r i k - -
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Jul 12, 2008, 08:42 PM
 
The remote is kick ass. The absence of CoverFlow is really conspicuous though since it seems to handle my 25000+ media /232GB library quite admirably over WiFi. More instantaneously than the built in iPod in fact

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Jul 13, 2008, 02:24 AM
 
Works wonderfully. Couple your Mac with an Airport Express and you have a well-integrated solution for controlling your music with the elegance of an Apple device.

Not to mention now that with Apps, the Touch becomes a portable streaming radio device!
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moonmonkey
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Jul 14, 2008, 05:42 AM
 
It works fantastically.
Im sure many people will buy touches just to control the media centre now.
     
subego
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Jul 14, 2008, 06:49 AM
 
Is anyone experiencing some spottiness WRT whether you get cover art for a song?

Separate from that, I have to agree that this app is bottled awesome-sauce.
     
Jashue
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Jul 14, 2008, 11:48 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Is anyone experiencing some spottiness WRT whether you get cover art for a song?

Separate from that, I have to agree that this app is bottled awesome-sauce.
I notced that. But I believe that cover art appears on the remote (iPhone) only when the art already exists locally on the phone itself. I could be wrong.

I for one, think that this remote application is totally cool. It has given me a jolt of enthusiasm for my iPhone not experienced since the day I got it a year ago.
     
subego
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Jul 14, 2008, 11:56 AM
 
Originally Posted by Jashue View Post
I notced that. But I believe that cover art appears on the remote (iPhone) only when the art already exists locally on the phone itself. I could be wrong.

I thought that might have been the problem too at first, but I don't have any songs on my iPhone, so when the art started showing up for some tracks, I knew it had to be something else.

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I have art that I pasted in which shows up, and art that came with the song when I bought it from the iTunes store that doesn't show up.

At least I'm not the only one so it will probably get fixed sooner or later.


Originally Posted by Jashue View Post
I for one, think that this remote application is totally cool. It has given me a jolt of enthusiasm for my iPhone not experienced since the day I got it a year ago.

I've had a few since, but yes, even with my complaint I agree it is that good.
     
Jashue
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Jul 14, 2008, 11:59 AM
 
Very interesting. And very peculiar too. I'm curious to find the reason for that now!
     
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Jul 14, 2008, 12:33 PM
 
I'd really like to get an iPod touch, but I'm hoping it'll get GPS... or at least a GPS add-on.
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subego
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Jul 15, 2008, 10:01 AM
 
Originally Posted by Jashue View Post
Very interesting. And very peculiar too. I'm curious to find the reason for that now!

Restarting iTunes on the computer the Apple TV is synced to did the trick for me.
     
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Jul 15, 2008, 10:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by legacyb4 View Post
Not to mention now that with Apps, the Touch becomes a portable streaming radio device!
Which app enables audio streaming from the Touch? Or, do you mean stream from Last.fm to the iPod?

One app I'd really like to see is one which enables AirTunes streaming to or from the iPhone/Touch. The remote is nice, but I'd like to be able to stream to a bunch of AirPort Expresses without having to involve a computer.
     
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Jul 15, 2008, 07:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by olePigeon View Post
I'd really like to get an iPod touch, but I'm hoping it'll get GPS... or at least a GPS add-on.
I think its more likely to get a camera first, that's what I want.
     
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Jul 15, 2008, 07:16 PM
 
How hard would it be for Apple to add a setting of "Pause playback when phone rings"? Seems rather obvious to me.
     
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Jul 15, 2008, 07:22 PM
 
It is amazing how responsive it is. Dragging the volume on a touch screen and hearing the music go down in real time is real fun.

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Jul 15, 2008, 08:04 PM
 
I love it!

Mac Mini hooked up to my 42" LCD TV, with El Gato TV Tuner, and iPhone.

iPhone as iTunes controller.

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Jul 15, 2008, 09:17 PM
 
Remote for the iPhone is totally awesome.

Too bad that Apple's implementation for the Airport Express leaves much to be desired. The connection with the AE playing iTunes isn't always 100% stable, and the Airport Utility software is crap. Very, very un-Apple in its crapness.
     
analogue SPRINKLES
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Jul 16, 2008, 12:12 AM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
Remote for the iPhone is totally awesome.

Too bad that Apple's implementation for the Airport Express leaves much to be desired. The connection with the AE playing iTunes isn't always 100% stable, and the Airport Utility software is crap. Very, very un-Apple in its crapness.
Crap how? Other than a so so port forwarding setup I have never had a problem with it. Much better than the usual router web interface.
     
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Jul 16, 2008, 12:43 AM
 
Airport Utility is both unstable and unreliable. It can hang, but more importantly it has problems detecting the Airport Express (or my old graphite Airport Base Station) in certain situations. After settings have been altered and updated, if the settings don't work properly, Airport Utility would no longer be able to detect the AE, even after it was power cycled. This makes troubleshooting VERY irritating. What I had to do was to change the setting and test. If something didn't work, I often would have to hard reset after the change and start all over again, despite the fact I was still physically connected to the AE via Ethernet. I blame both the software, and the AE itself. Their combined implementation simply sucks.

P.S. After posting my troubles in the Networking forum, I discovered that the feelings about Airport Utility are unanimously negative.

BTW, Airport Express has serious problems with certain invisible networks. If the SSID wasn't broadcast, I couldn't get the Airport Utility to join the network. This was true with two different routers. Broadcast the SSID and suddenly it works. As I said in the other forum, it's a major embarrassment when an Airport can't deal with hidden SSIDs, despite the fact that my two Cubes, iMac, iBook, MacBook, Xbox 360, and iPhone can all join such networks just fine.
( Last edited by Eug; Jul 16, 2008 at 01:14 AM. )
     
analogue SPRINKLES
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Jul 16, 2008, 08:50 AM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
Airport Utility is both unstable and unreliable.Their combined implementation simply sucks.

P.S. After posting my troubles in the Networking forum, I discovered that the feelings about Airport Utility are unanimously negative.
Yikes, sounds bad. So when and what you replacing it with?
     
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Jul 16, 2008, 01:13 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
Airport Utility is both unstable and unreliable. It can hang, but more importantly it has problems detecting the Airport Express (or my old graphite Airport Base Station) in certain situations. After settings have been altered and updated, if the settings don't work properly, Airport Utility would no longer be able to detect the AE, even after it was power cycled. This makes troubleshooting VERY irritating. What I had to do was to change the setting and test. If something didn't work, I often would have to hard reset after the change and start all over again, despite the fact I was still physically connected to the AE via Ethernet. I blame both the software, and the AE itself. Their combined implementation simply sucks.

P.S. After posting my troubles in the Networking forum, I discovered that the feelings about Airport Utility are unanimously negative.

BTW, Airport Express has serious problems with certain invisible networks. If the SSID wasn't broadcast, I couldn't get the Airport Utility to join the network. This was true with two different routers. Broadcast the SSID and suddenly it works. As I said in the other forum, it's a major embarrassment when an Airport can't deal with hidden SSIDs, despite the fact that my two Cubes, iMac, iBook, MacBook, Xbox 360, and iPhone can all join such networks just fine.
I think what you're describing is the Bonjour service rather than the Airport Utility. I've read reports from Mac and Windows users encountering much difficulty with iTunes trying to find AirTunes base stations (AppleTV, Airport Express, Computers running Airfoil speakers). From my own experience, after I installed the AppleTV update that enabled Airtunes for that device, connection from my PC to the AppleTV became very flaky; running the Bonjour installer to repair Bonjour would correct the problem until iTunes was closed or until the computer was woken up from sleep with iTunes running.

Somehow, iTunes seems to corrupt the Bonjour service. And, if iTunes could corrupt it, I'm certain other applications could as well.
     
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Jul 16, 2008, 01:28 PM
 
I have the perfect use for this,as I often listen to music on the Mac in the same room while on my ipod across the room. Now I no longer need my apple remote.yay.
     
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Jul 16, 2008, 02:34 PM
 
Of my few years using Airport Express with AirTunes, it has worked flawlessly. My wireless network isn't complicated at all, so that may be a reason for the trouble free use.
     
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Jul 16, 2008, 05:53 PM
 
I was able to get my Airport Express to extend my Linksys WiFi network, and to work as AirTunes at the same time. So I extended my wireless range and still have AirTunes.

I'm probably going to get an Apple Time Machine/Extreme to make it easier.
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olePigeon
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Jul 16, 2008, 06:04 PM
 
I wonder if it'd be possible to make an iPhone app that uses GPS to tell where you are in your home, then automatically moves the music source to whatever room you're in via your iPhone.
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