Epic YES! Since the moment the original iPhone came out with its WiFi goodness, I’ve been begging asking for a way to use the iPhone to control the similarly connected iTunes, Front Row, and Apple TV. And now Apple has answered! (Er… except for Front Row, see below). And not only for the iPhone. While I’ll use that term exclusively below, everything here also applies to the iPod Touch.
Remote is FREE, and available either via iTunes (picture above) or right from your iPhone 3G via the App Store. It’s not hard to find, currently dominating the Top Free Apps charts. If you’re not sure how to use App Store yet, check out Brian’s excellent overview to get you started.
I chose to download directly from the iPhone so I could test out the 3G experience. It was fast. (However, when I later synced back with iTunes — my first time post App download — I was asked to re-authenticate my MacBook with the iTunes Store before it would sync the App for backup).
How did it work? Read on!
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Saw this one coming, didn’t you? Apple’s new App Store Remote app (FREE!) lets you control iTunes or Apple TV, and .Mac Galleries are now MobileMe Galleries, so that means Apple TV needs an update to.
Could Apple’s servers get any busier today? (And how ’bout ours! Yowzers!) Just fire up your Apple TV, go to Settings, General, Software Updates, and let it rip!
My Apple TV updated this morning, and Chad’s already thrown his old cable box out the window. Are you updating yet?
iPhone 2.0 and its App Store are almost upon us, and while deep-delving every new SDK/firmware beta has revealed many a gem before, this time it’s the Read Me file from the new, developer-only, iTunes 7.7 beta that’s giving up the goodness:
Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.
YES!
This feature — and hopefully parallel Front Row and Apple TV remote control — has been near the top of my wish list since the iPhone was announced, and while this type of functionality (and much more!) has been hinted at before, it looks like we might finally see it.
Now how about hurrying up with 2.0 already, Apple, you teases!
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One of the features I most want for the iPhone is the ability to use it as a Wi-Fi remote for iTunes (and related services like Front Row or the Apple TV). Sitting back, multi-touch flicking through lists of content, finding something interesting, tapping, and — boom — having it “just work” on my TV or Mac would be Jobsian perfection.
Well, if TUAW’s latest rumor pans out, Apple may be about to deliver, well… not exactly that, but something just as cool:
Apple is working on a new iPhone application called iControl. Like Apple TV and other remote controllers, it would allow the iPhone to connect wirelessly to local iTunes libraries and browse through and play media from those sources. TUAW is told that a media navigator will allow you to view videos, play podcasts, listen to music and even support shuffle playback.
As is increasingly the case, the rumor comes via deep delving into the latest firmware and discovering all sorts of interesting localization strings. Whether this means we’ll just be able to play iTunes content on the iPhone as though it were a mobile Apple TV, or if I’ll be getting my dream iTunes/Front Row/Apple TV remote control via the iPhone as well, we’ll have to wait and see.
And I really am finding it harder and harder to wait. How about you?
