05/02/06
17Mac Media Centre - iTunes Remotes
Despite constant bribes the children still haven’t broken the old telly, so for now, the Mac Mini is acting solely as a server for iTunes and iPhoto. Thats just fine though, as it was mainly for music that I wanted to use it, and there isn’t much time for TV/DVDs. What I have done though is pick up a cheap Airport Express off ebay which is a great for sending music to the stereo without trailing wires.
So far, I’d been using my s700i phone with Salling Clicker to control everything, and this worked great. The only drawback is that when I’m away with my phone, Leigh is left without a remote. (There’s still VNC of course, but its not really a ‘small remote’!) . So I’ve been looking into other options available.
The Keyspan Express remote and particularly the ATI Remote Wonder, are possibilites, but when navigating iTunes without the TV & FrontRow, you really need visuals for choosing albums and playlists. What you need is basically an iPod Nano that acts as a remote. Actually, hang that, how about a 40” screen displaying Coverflow with just a Griffin PowerMate underneath?!
Next up was Coverbuddy. If you have a Sony PSP, Coverbuddy’s web interface has a special version sized for it, and it makes a nice remote. However, not only do i not have a PSP, but Coverbuddy only plays albums, not playlists. webRemote does both playlists and library, but seemed quite clunky after what I was used to on Salling Clicker. Like Coverbuddy, it also needs a web browser to work from.
Cut to the chase, it just occurred to me that Leigh had a Palm Tungsten C, and that I could use Salling Clicker with that. This meant enjoying the full graphics glory of the buillt-in iTunes Controller that I didn’t get on my Sony Erricson s700i. It worked so well, I just laughed for about an hour, punching the air like I was ‘Living on a Prayer’. Job done.
The 3 yr old Tungsten C is a maybe little bulky by todays PDA standards, but I’m sure that somewhere there is a smallish, light, supported handheld (or phone with a reasonable sized screen) thats also cheap to grab off ebay. I’d be keen to hear what device you’re using with Salling Clicker that gives you graphics.
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Keith Mason said 915 days ago:
My Sony Ericsson V600i on Vodafone works a treat with salling clicker- graphics and all in a small package. I used the S700i for ages but it’s quirkiness finally got the better of me a few months back so sold it on ebay.
The V600i is only £90 ish with pay as you go so couldn’t resist. Couldn’t be happier.
Drew said 915 days ago:
Wooaaah, you’re half way there.
Thom said 915 days ago:
I use a Nokia 6600 smart phone. It’s still a bit on the ‘clunky’ side, but it has an awesome colour screen.
Siobhan Curran said 915 days ago:
Ah, a k750i here.
Not only is is a gorgeous little thing, it’s totally changed the way I live. Because of it, I feel connected wherever I am.
The only gripe is that for some reason, you can’t do Phone Events and control iTunes at the same time through Salling Clicker
Julian Schrader said 915 days ago:
Very nice, I’ll have to try that Salling Clicker thingy… Let’s see if it works with my Siemens S65… ;-)
Lode said 915 days ago:
Hi Jon,
I use a Qtek S100 with Clicker. It works great, with graphics and all. Too bad it runs Windows (Mobile).. Other than that, i kinda like my “smartphone” (pda+phone+camera+...)
Barry said 915 days ago:
I use a Nokia 6230i – no phone events, but beautiful color screen with album art and all, and super tiny (which does mean the screen is small, though high res). BluePhoneElite works really well with it for phone events and more – even dialing phone numbers and sending SMSs from the computer.
John said 915 days ago:
I’m using a Palm T|X handheld and it works great, and best of all, it works over WiFi and Bluetooth!
Anthony Baker said 915 days ago:
Sweeet!
Had never tried the Salling Clicker because I just never saw the need for it, but when I saw your pic of your Tungsten C and then looked to the lonely Tungsten C on my desk, well just had to try it.
Damn fine application, that. Will now be able to stream tunes to the downstairs stereo system and control what we’re listening from the handheld to boot.
Lovely.
Cheers,
Anthony
Matt Lindop said 914 days ago:
Leigh is one understanding lady!
I rigged up our Mac Mini to the TV for Christmas so we could enjoy some cheesy tunes over the turkey, and all I got was “what’s the point, we’ve got CDs, and do we really need any more wires in the room”...!
Mrs hicks said 914 days ago:
‘what’s the point, we’ve got CDs, and do we really need any more wires in the room’ .... haha! you think I don’t say this?
Also …
Nope, I still don’t really get it, why can’t I download ALL the photos? Is that noise the Mac Mini? Media Centre!? Will it make sense soon? Sigh! Why is my iPhoto so slow? OK it’s faster now but where’s the plug in gone? sigh! Is this easy? hmm??
But, hey, he’s happy and I’m sure I’ll see the light ;o)
AJ said 914 days ago:
I use it with a Sony Ericsson p910i -looks great on it!
Mark Hunte said 914 days ago:
I’m using Clicker also with a Nokia 6230i, Looking at you Palm makes me think I should switch to my Toshiba Pocket PC.
Salling Clicker is a great app. But on the 6230i it is limited, no phone events and You have to quit the Salling app. to use the other phone functions.
.
P.S
Thanks for posting the link to CoverflowRemote,
I only expected it to get one or two hits but its suddenly up to over 300
hits..
Jesse Endahl said 914 days ago:
It’s all about the k750 =)
alex morris said 912 days ago:
pick up a tungsten t2 on ebay for about 40 quid. works great with salling clicker over bluetooth. nice big screen and you can navigate with the rocker…
Jon Hicks said 912 days ago:
Thanks Alex – that was exactly the kind of recommendation I was looking for!
garrett said 901 days ago:
Unfortunately I don’t own a small, Bluetooth device. However, I do own a laptop and a wireless network so I set up VNC and just use that to alter what’s playing on the powermac from anywhere in the house. This way, there’s no limit to what I can do, but I tend to use Front Row so I can see what’s on the 20” screen because the laptop’s VNC viewer suffers some serious lag.