Control iTunes from any Mac with PatioTunes

Here's an interesting application that will allow you to set up a Mac as a dedicated iTunes server, and control it from anywhere in your house. With PatioTunes, you can control a Mac running iTunes from any browser on your network. Once running, PatioTunes lists the internal URL that it's listening on, and waits for you to launch a browser. From there you can pick artists, albums, or playlists, control play and pause, set the volume and more. Best of all, you can leave your kung-fu at home, as there's no web publishing to enable, no Apache web server to tweak, no vulnerabilities to worry about.

The key phrase here is "from any browser on your network." PatioTunes supports several Palm devices, including The Lifedrive, the Tungsten C, several Sony Clie's and the Zire72. A number of PocketPC PDA's are also supported, like the Dell Axium X3i and the HP iPaq rx3115. For a full list of compatible PDA's, look here. Version 1.6 of PatioTunes will even let you use your Palm to quickly create a PatioTunes playlist.

Sounds pretty cool, and there is a 14 day free trial. A single license will cost you $15US. PatioTunes requires Mac OS X 10.3 and up.

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Source: http://www.mindola.com/patiotunes/index.html

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Here's an interesting application that will allow you to set up a Mac as a dedicated iTunes server, and control it from anywhere in your...

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Eric J

This seems like kind of a minor quirk, but the HTML that this app generates is just terrible. It'd be a much better program if they enlisted a DHTML/CSS guru to whip this thing into shape.

August 08 2005 at 4:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

d.w.

Maybe it works for people with small libraries, but it just flat out didn't work for me. The "artist" view tries to create a dropdown menu with my 972 artists, and I don't even want to talk about what happens when that gets sent to my PSP's browser.

August 07 2005 at 10:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iFelix

I already use my PocketPC as a remote control for iTunes using VNC to control my Mac which is streaming the music.

August 06 2005 at 7:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Justin

" I believe you'd just have to forward the port on your router (if you use one), and open the firewall on that same port..." Do you actually restrict ports within your own network? Seems a bit odd... I've got heavy security between the outside world and my home network, but on the network my computers are free to communicate however they want...

August 06 2005 at 12:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joe Buchheit

if you have a soundbridge and a pocket pc, you could use this program as a remote for your soundbridge. Go to my site for my blog on it. homepage.mac.com/buchheij/joe/

August 05 2005 at 8:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mark

"no vulnerabilities to worry about" wow! that's a pretty bold statement. I'm a programmer and that's one phrase you NEVER say!

August 05 2005 at 4:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gary Troup

PSP support, anyone?

August 05 2005 at 3:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lee

"from any browser on your network"... not entirely true. I believe you'd just have to forward the port on your router (if you use one), and open the firewall on that same port... And yes, Salling Clicker is great for this, and controlling just about any aspect of your mac from the other side of the house, and it only costs $5 more...

August 05 2005 at 2:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mr Yuk

What no bluetooth? I guess I'll stick with Sailing Clicker: http://homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Clicker/index.html Hell I can even use a cell phone,

August 05 2005 at 2:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply