Aren’t there enough iTunes controllers out there?
As it turns out no. Bowtie is the latest to the party, and I think its pretty good. Its still a beta, so it does have some bugs. Yes, I managed to crash it within the first 5 minutes of using it. So what makes Bowtie different?
Everything and nothing. It does things that other iTunes controllers do, but it does it better. The preferences interface is very simple, with only a few options, but you only need a few options for something like this. Most other apps are overly complicated.
You can have it sit on the desktop, always float on top, or behave like a normal window.
Themes are easily added, although Bowtie does require a restart before they will show up in the menu. There is also a theme pack with 11 themes currently available for download now.
Since Bowtie is based on WebKit, creating a new theme is very simple. You just need to know some basic css, xhtml and javascript. From the Bowtie theme guide:
Bowtie is based on the powerful WebKit engine, the same one that powers Safari and Dashboard. In fact, creating a Bowtie theme is akin to creating a Dashboard widget: it’s as simple as creating a standard web page, only you also provide a bit of metadata (in Info.plist), and have a handy JavaScript API to access special Bowtie features.
But where are all the other shortcuts? You don’t really need them. Bowtie includes the 3 important ones. Most themes also have controls on the display, and will let you rate the song directly from the app.
Last but not least, probably one of the most important aspects of Bowtie, Last.FM support, so you don’t have to worry about your songs not getting scrobbled.
I’ve been using the “Wet Glass” theme, which includes the pop-up controls, star rating, and song/artist/album details:
I’d highly recommend checking it out, it is current a free download, but please do remember it is beta, so it may have a few bugs.
Phil aka SgtStretch is the newest member to join up with the Smoking Apples team. The 22 year old has grown up all his life using Apple computers, and is an avid Photographer and music aficionado. When not writing for Smashing Apples, he writes on his own blog, and leaves interesting musings about working at a veterinary clinic on Twitter. Read more about him and the rest of the Smoking team on our About page.
