Control iTunes from Your Palm

You can access your playlists, pause and play music, and much more, all from your Palm Pilot or other web-enabled handheld device.

If you have AirPort Express set up in your home Stream Music with AirPort Express [Hack #26] , you have probably noticed one catch in the whole wireless-music deal: in order to change songs, you have to schlep to wherever your host iTunes machine is. Not very convenient, is it? This hack will turn your wireless, handheld, web-capable device into an iTunes remote, allowing you to control iTunes from anywhere in the house.

Software

So, how is this magic possible? webRemote (http://www.deadendsw.com/Products/webRemote.html; $\1), a piece of software that you install on the machine that runs iTunes, is a server package that acts as an intermediary between your web-enabled device and iTunes. It allows you to control iTunes from any web browser and, for the purposes of this hack, from a wireless PDA.

To check it out for free, simply download and install the software. The unregistered version works for only one hour at a time and limits you to using only two skins (more on these later).

The settings of webRemote are all accessible from the Preferences menu shown in Figure 2-1.

webRemote’s Preferences panel

Figure 2-1. webRemote’s Preferences panel

webRemote uses port ...

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