Controlling your music while you're working (or playing) on your computer should be virtually seamless. While these days it's almost impossible to buy a keyboard without media keys built-in, there are many users that either don't have media controlling keys on their keyboards, or would simply prefer to keep their hands on the actual keys. While iTunes is not capable of assigning hotkeys on its own, there are a number of iTunes controller applications on the market that can add this functionality.

In my opinion SizzlingKeys deserves to be at the top of the list of iTunes controller apps for its simplicity, reliability, and extra features. SizzlingKeys installs as a preferences pane, and has a very intuitive interface that allows you to choose which functions to enable, and what the hotkeys should be for those functions.

The list of things you can control with hotkeys is fairly comprehensive:

• Play / Pause
• Previous / Next Track
• Volume Down / Up
• Mute / Almost Mute
• Show / Hide iTunes, Playlists, Search
• Set song rating
• Show floater (song information)

In addition SizzlingKeys offers some non-iTunes "extras" that you can control:

• Sleep computer
• Lock computer
• Activate screen saver

The standard version of SizzlingKeys is free, but there is also a Pro version for $5 that includes the ability to skip forwards and back by a customized interval, the ability to toggle shuffle and repeat modes, and the ability to control the system volume.

For today's TUAW Tip, I thought I'd cover some of the basic essentials for starting up your Mac, especially for recent switchers who feel naked and lost without their BIOS. I compiled the list I have here from Magical Macintosh Key Sequences (which Dave mentioned last September), Apple's own keyboard shortcut documentation and personal experience:

• X during startup - Force Mac OS X startup
• option - (eventually) brings up a screen with startup volume choices
  
• Option-Command-Shift-Delete - Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
• C - Start up from a CD that has a system folder
• N  - Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)
• T - Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode (very handy for plugging your Mac into another as an external hard drive)
  
• Shift - start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)
• Command-V - Start up in Verbose mode.
• Command-S - Start up in Single-User mode
• cmd-opt-p-r - Zap PRAM. Hold down until second chime.
• cmd-opt-n-v - Clear NV RAM. Similar to reset-all in Open Firmware.
• cmd-opt-o-f - Boot into open firmware
• hold mouse click - force eject a CD/DVD

While this by no means is a definitive list (and I'm not sure if every one transfers over to the new Intel Macs), it should get you started with what your Mac is capable of on startup. Feel free to add your own in the comments. One word of caution, however: some of these shortcuts aren't meant to be used on a daily basis. For example, Apple doesn't recommend (and neither do I) that you use the Zap PRAM or Clear NV RAM shortcuts any old time your Mac starts acting funny; those are mainly for situation-specific troubleshooting circumstances.