Did you know that there are three hundred different ways to control iTunes without even accessing its window? Well, maybe not three hundred exactly, but I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere close to that (and by “pretty sure”, I mean I just pulled that figure out of my hat). Although most of these methods require third party tools collectively referred to as iTunes extenders, there are some that are built right into the system.

iTunes, by default, neither has a menu bar item nor does it provide any keyboard shortcuts for pause/play/skip. But lest you forget, you are running Mac OS X Leopard, which is so powerful it could launch a missile that could effectively destroy Bill Gates’s house! So controlling iTunes should be a trivial task, right? With the post on how to target Gates’s house saved for a later time, let’s do something productive. 

First, I’m going to demonstrate how you can control the system without using any third party applications at all.

AppleScripts.
Mac OS X ships with built-in support for AppleScripts. You don’t have to learn any language to use them. Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes will give you more than your required dose of AppleScripts that you can use to do various things with iTunes.

Now, while you can browse through that directory, nothing beats a good ol’ fashioned DIY project. I’m going to show you how to write the simplest of iTunes controls yourself.

Launch Script Editor (via Spotlight) and type in:

tell app “iTunes”
playpause
end tell

That’s it! You can replace “playpause” with “next track” and “previous track” for some additional options.

Save this file in your /Library/Scripts folder. Then launch AppleScript Utility using Spotlight and enable the AppleScript menu. By default, there should be a bunch of scripts in the menu, but if you delete them from the Scripts folder, it’ll result in a much cleaner menu. 

To enable the Scripts menu in iTunes itself, navigate to your ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder (create the Scripts folder if it isn’t there) and place your scripts in there.

There are a lot of useful ones at Doug’s site for you to download. Once a script is placed in that folder, it will automatically show a scripts menu in your iTunes menubar. However, these scripts can only be keyboard activated if iTunes is active. 

Voice commands!
Using just your voice, you can tell iTunes to skip tracks. You will, however, need to use this in combination with AppleScripts. To make this work, copy any iTunes script (those Play and Pause scripts for instance) to your Speakable Items folder and, with Speech to Text enabled, speak the name of that file. By default, you will need to hold the Esc key while speaking each command.

Using iTunes Extenders. 
So, while you can potentially control iTunes using just a bunch of AppleScripts and your beautiful voice, there are a whole range of iTunes extenders out there which make the iTunes experience so much more pleasurable. I’m going to list just about five of them.

CoverSutra
In my opinion, other iTunes extenders should just stop production and let CoverSutra take over (uh, well, not really, but it just owns ’em all). This is what an extender should be like. It’s got everything, right from the basic keyboard shortcuts for iTunes actions to really useful Music Search, and a host of other well designed features that completely fit in with the Leopard desktop. However, at $15, this app might pinch your pocket if you don’t really need all those features.

Visit the website to take a look at the gallery of screenshots or check out the trial version.

You Control: Tunes
A very simple, free and lightweight application, You Control: Tunes just puts iTunes controllers in your menu bar which allow you to change tracks, browse by artists or ratings and do pretty much everything you can using iTunes. The list based interface, though, might not be the fastest way to navigate your library. But if you just want basic controls for iTunes, this one will do the job just fine.

Synergy
Synergy was one of the best iTunes controllers of yesteryears but the developers have failed to improve upon it, leading to a stagnant application. However, at €5, it does the job it is meant to do—control iTunes. Like You Control: Tunes, it puts controllers in your menu bar and also displays a floating window when the song changes. But if you can get the same functionality with You Control: Tunes for free, why pay for another application?

TotalTunes Control
Here’s an extender that’s very similar to CoverSutra in a lot of ways except that it isn’t designed as well. The countless floating windows it throws up makes for a lot of clutter and that’s not something I’d want to see on my desktop at all. However, it does come with some great features like automatic lyrics and album cover search that automatically searches for them on the Internet and adds them to your iTunes library if found. And at $8, it is not a bad deal at all.

Cover Stream
One of the most hyped eye candy features of the Mac, CoverFlow, began with iTunes. With album covers, digital music has suddenly become tangible, something that used to be the exclusive domain of the jewel boxes that CDs shipped in. Cover Stream extends this by putting CoverFlow right into its HUD, so you can browse through all your albums without opening iTunes. But, in my testing, I have found it a pretty useless investment just for the sake of having CoverFlow at your fingertips. It is better to just open the iTunes Window and look at your covers there. At €15, this application is the most expensive of the lot and it does have the usual suspects like search filters, Last.fm support, keyboard shortcuts, et al.

Other extenders you might want to try:
X-Tunes (Free)
SizzlingKeys ($5)
iTunesControl (Free) (Windows)

Notable mentions.
Just when you thought the list was done with, there’s more! Here are some alternate ways which didn’t quite fit into the categories above. Choose wisely. 

Your iPhone!
I’m pretty sure that you already know about and have downloaded Remote.app from the App Store. If you haven’t, then go ahead and do it—assuming, of course, that you have an iPhone or iPod touch. The Remote app is very handy and if you make your iPhone sit on its dock by the side of your desktop, it becomes like a mini display of your entire iTunes library. The super responsiveness of this app makes this feel like it was a native app for your Mac! Keeping the display Always On and the power plugged in is a good idea.

Quicksilver.
While the power of Quicksilver extends far beyond controlling just iTunes, it can provide an ultra fast, sleek and free way to control iTunes, specially if you are good with the keys. However, Quicksilver development has slowed down these days and the website is a little buggy so you might have to do a little work to get things working just right.

Dashboard widgets.
If you are a fan of the Dashboard, you will find plenty of iTunes controller widgets in the widgets directory. One of them even comes bundled by default.

iTunes mini mode.
Clicking the Zoom button in iTunes turns on its mini mode (which, incidentally, also happens to be the source of a lot of criticism about the inconsistent nature of the Zoom button) which can be kept in one corner for controlling iTunes, much like a Dashboard widget.

In Music, Reviews on 25 Aug, 2008| |