AirPort Remote?

[MacRumors]

Hyponoticnet reports on a new error message that pops up in iTunes 4.8 which suggests there is an upcoming Airport remote coming from Apple.

The error message displays:Your computer is using a firewall software that prevents you from sharing music or using a remote control for AirTunes

Article Link: AirPort Remote?

 

[MattG]

This would be great. Hopefully it'll be RF instead of IR, so I don't actually have to be right up next to the thing to change songs.

 

[Steven1621]

I'll buy one if there is a remote. That is what I have been waiting for a while.

 

[biohazard6969]

i've always thought that the best and coolest remote for airtunes would be a wifi equiped ipod shuffle. now how cool is that?!

 

[asif786]

dear steve,

please, please, please

can i have an lcd airtunes remote? pretty please?

 

[TyWahn]

AirClick?

I use AirClick by Griffen Technologies for my Airport Express.. It controls iTunes 4.8 and most other media players with RF.. Works great for me. It has been out a few weeks. $39. Sweet!

 

[edgar_is_good]

This would be great. Hopefully it'll be RF instead of IR, so I don't actually have to be right up next to the thing to change songs.

Based on the quote, it seems it will be 802.11x, otherwise the firewall wouldn't matter I think.

 

[xli_ne]

dear steve,

please, please, please

can i have an lcd airtunes remote? pretty please?

Be sweet if it controlled everything else too. TV, dvd player and whatever else.

 

[auxplage]

Hopefully, one would be able to use the remote with the existing AirPort Express as well.

 

[dloomer]

I'd love a remote, although when I think of the kind of remote you'd use for a CD player, it still leaves a little to be desired. Sure you can stop, pause, skip tracks, but without some sort of GUI it's pretty hard to set up a playlist, and that's the main drawback of AirTunes right now -- if your Mac isn't in the same room as your stereo, you have to get up and go to another room whenever you want to queue something up.

I'd like -- and will probably not get in the near future -- a way for iTunes to control other instances of iTunes over Bonjour (Rendezvous). iTunes can currently play songs from other instances of iTunes, but what I'd really like is:

1) Desktop Mac has music library, iTunes installed, plays music to remote speakers through AirTunes
2) PowerBook / iBook, functioning as a remote control, can control the desktop's iTunes by browsing its library and setting up playlists, pausing, playing, skipping tracks, etc. All audio plays through the Desktop Mac (or to remote speakers through AirTunes)

This is much better than just hooking the laptop to the remote speakers through AirTunes -- because once you're done queuing up the music and want to keep listening to it, you can't close the laptop and put it away or it will stop playing.

 

[Crunchy]

Not LCD

I use AirClick by Griffen Technologies for my Airport Express.. It controls iTunes 4.8 and most other media players with RF.. Works great for me. It has been out a few weeks. $39. Sweet!

The crucial thing for me with an AirTunes remote is a way of visually (or audibly?) navigating through playlists, as well as through a massive library (think 100GB+). Preferably I should be able scroll through the library as fast as I can on an iPod. This is why I think this feature is natural to put on an iPod, and my money for replacing my reliable 1G iPod waits until they do something like this.

 

[abrooks]

For it to be affected by the firewall it would have to connect directly to the computer, so we're looking at something very different to what's on the market at the moment. Apple definitely have built a feature in, either that or its a mix of some real bad typos which relates to Remote playing of music.

 

[Crunchy]

Firewall message

Weren't people reporting the firewall message on earlier version of iTunes too? We speculated then that a remote was forthcoming, and it was---but only the Griffin thing. Though I'm really excited about having a real remote for AirTunes, I don't think this rumor gives us much basis for thinking one is forthcoming in the near future.

 

[dloomer]

1) Desktop Mac has music library, iTunes installed, plays music to remote speakers through AirTunes
2) PowerBook / iBook, functioning as a remote control, can control the desktop's iTunes by browsing its library and setting up playlists, pausing, playing, skipping tracks, etc. All audio plays through the Desktop Mac (or to remote speakers through AirTunes)

Or like Crunchy said ... through an iPod. Now that would be slick. You wouldn't even need the desktop Mac that way.

 

[Bibulous]

Well this just about guarantees an updated AE in June, hopefully with some involvement with Sony, can't see Apple turning into a full fledged home electronics company (they would have to increase manpower x10), would be outstanding to team up with Sony

 

[rlreif]

ive been doing this for years

I'd love a remote, although when I think of the kind of remote you'd use for a CD player, it still leaves a little to be desired. Sure you can stop, pause, skip tracks, but without some sort of GUI it's pretty hard to set up a playlist, and that's the main drawback of AirTunes right now -- if your Mac isn't in the same room as your stereo, you have to get up and go to another room whenever you want to queue something up.

I'd like -- and will probably not get in the near future -- a way for iTunes to control other instances of iTunes over Bonjour (Rendezvous). iTunes can currently play songs from other instances of iTunes, but what I'd really like is:

1) Desktop Mac has music library, iTunes installed, plays music to remote speakers through AirTunes
2) PowerBook / iBook, functioning as a remote control, can control the desktop's iTunes by browsing its library and setting up playlists, pausing, playing, skipping tracks, etc. All audio plays through the Desktop Mac (or to remote speakers through AirTunes)

This is much better than just hooking the laptop to the remote speakers through AirTunes -- because once you're done queuing up the music and want to keep listening to it, you can't close the laptop and put it away or it will stop playing.

Ive been doing this for a few years now.. using remote desktop. It is the only reason i bought that program in the first place. Originally (before airtunes) the desktop was wired to the stereo and the powerbook acted as a remote... now an airport express takes the stereo mini cord out of the picture, but it is easy to set up.

 

[Daveway]

I don't think the error is saying a literal "remote" as in the one you hold in your hand. A remote is anything that can control a device remotely. Your computer is the remote control. Your computer is being blocked by a firewall, remotes don't get blocked by firewalls, but actuall walls.

 

[Gee]

I'd love a remote, although when I think of the kind of remote you'd use for a CD player, it still leaves a little to be desired. Sure you can stop, pause, skip tracks, but without some sort of GUI it's pretty hard to set up a playlist, and that's the main drawback of AirTunes right now -- if your Mac isn't in the same room as your stereo, you have to get up and go to another room whenever you want to queue something up.

I'd like -- and will probably not get in the near future -- a way for iTunes to control other instances of iTunes over Bonjour (Rendezvous). iTunes can currently play songs from other instances of iTunes, but what I'd really like is:

1) Desktop Mac has music library, iTunes installed, plays music to remote speakers through AirTunes
2) PowerBook / iBook, functioning as a remote control, can control the desktop's iTunes by browsing its library and setting up playlists, pausing, playing, skipping tracks, etc. All audio plays through the Desktop Mac (or to remote speakers through AirTunes)

This is much better than just hooking the laptop to the remote speakers through AirTunes -- because once you're done queuing up the music and want to keep listening to it, you can't close the laptop and put it away or it will stop playing.

Get yourself a copy of VNC (a client, like chicken of VNC, and a server like osxvnc - see versiontracker). You can then use and control the copy of itunes on your desktop using your laptop as a remote, over the network. Dead easy to set up as well.

 

[Crunchy]

Get yourself a copy of VNC (a client, like chicken of VNC, and a server like osxvnc - see versiontracker). You can then use and control the copy of itunes on your desktop using your laptop as a remote, over the network. Dead easy to set up as well.

This is pretty easy, in Windows XP terms. But it's not Mac easy, and it ought to be made this way. I'm even willing for Apple to milk a few more bucks out of us by putting this functionality on the iPod rather than on PowerBooks (supposing that few of us would buy PowerBooks solely for this functionality.

I speak Windows XP-easy from the heart, having spent several hours this weekend updating the drivers on my XP gaming box. What a hassle, and at the end of the day, my TV tuner software stopped working. This was after numerous different downloads, installations, and reboots---of ridiculously cryptic software packages like Microsoft .Net framework redistribution package 1.1. I'm no dummy, but I'd way prefer Software Update, install OS 10.4.1 etc. This is why I pay the Mac premium: it's a quality of life issue, not a quality of raw numbers (dollars, ghz) issue. It would be great for the remote music experience to enjoy the same Mac quality.

 

[dloomer]

Get yourself a copy of VNC (a client, like chicken of VNC, and a server like osxvnc - see versiontracker). You can then use and control the copy of itunes on your desktop using your laptop as a remote, over the network. Dead easy to set up as well.

I actually have been doing this (PowerBook Client, Win2k server no less). It's just so unsexy that I barely use it anymore. I'm not saying it doesn't do the job -- I'm not even saying I'm not just being too picky -- but the fact that I first have to enter a password to get to iTunes in the first place, and then the GUI is sooo sluggish -- and the drag and drop is just not clean and reliable at all -- compared to using iTunes natively on my PowerBook, it's almost too frustrating to even use. Sometimes it seems easier to just walk downstairs and set up the playlists standing physically in front of the PC. Like I said I know I'm being picky, but on the other hand Apple could come up with something a heck of a lot more usable (and cool) than this.

I'd like to just open the PowerBook, drag some songs over, press play, and close the lid. I'd like it all to be snappy, and done in ten seconds time, tops. It's not asking a lot -- that's just the Apple Way.

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

How would this remote look like? I mean Apple wouldn't just take any generic remote and spray paint it white.
I might be stupid, but I don't see what the big fuzz is about. Ok, I would probably buy one (did I say I was consistent?), but still...
Inform me please

 

[dloomer]

How would this remote look like? I mean Apple wouldn't just take any generic remote and spray paint it white.
I might be stupid, but I don't see what the big fuzz is about. Ok, I would probably buy one (did I say I was consistent?), but still...
Inform me please

Well if you're in the same camp with some of us here, anything that's just a stick with stop/pause/play/previous/next buttons without a display is not worth any fuss. Then again, I'm also in the camp that says the iTunes Dashboard widget is completely pointless.

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

Well if you're in the same camp with some of us here, anything that's just a stick with stop/pause/play/previous/next buttons without a display is not worth any fuss. Then again, I'm also in the camp that says the iTunes Dashboard widget is completely pointless.

For me the iTunes widget is redundant at best. I must have missed the entire point with it. Why press F12 to change tune when you have iTunes there on your desktop??? I just hit F12 to get the weather and some other info fast. I stay at dashboard max 20 secs. So the itunes widget is completely wasted on me.
I dont see why people would want another shuffle like gadget just to change tunes. If you could use your iPod as an remote ok, be another gadget just for this? I would probably lose it...
Besides wouldn't it have to be equipped with wifi? BT wouldn't do much good, then you could just walk over to the computer and change the tune.

 

[slammedwagonist]

ive been seeing this message as well.. sounds like its been thrown out of context as this is the actual message below:

 

[dloomer]

ive been seeing this message as well.. sounds like its been thrown out of context as this is the actual message below:

Well AirTunes is the AirPort Express being remotely controlled by iTunes ... so is this all it's saying? The firewall is preventing iTunes from remotely controlling AE through AirTunes? Oh well....