This is an awesome announcement. I run my whole-house system off a Mac using iTunes and I've often thought it would be awesome to have complete control through my iPhone anywhere in the house.

ramman345

I hope its implemented like the Harmony media remote. In which it shows mp3 tags as well as cover art.

HoustonCougars

It's cool that it's free, because it's pretty much like a ghetto Logitech Duet. Neat nonetheless though!

[www.slimdevices.com]

EnochLight

That's not an actual screenshot of it, is it?

itchytooth

Well, if it's better than this [www.alloysoft.com] then I'm all for it, especially if it's free. I've been using this for months, and it's wicked sweet.

Combined with AirTunes I have music wirelessly throughout the house and Signal from Alloysoft makes the whole setup that much sweeter.

voicegy

Fuck yeah. I've been dreaming of this day. No more lame 'wireless' remotes for a fucking ipod dock! And no more airtunes - it was like an obnoxious reverse remote to me. Apologies for the french, i've just been dying for this announcement since before the fucking iphone even. If that makes since.

bmoctta

that should have been a no brainier from the jump apple. now i see what salling clicker has not been working on an app. i hope this is wifi and not bluetooth, o wait bluetooth is limited to just talking. maybe next year they will unlock that.

jupiterfish

Yeah now thats what I'm talking about. Maybe ATV remote in the future.

Ken_Darrow

I foresee Gizmodo getting banned from trade-shows due to this app.

thepeopleselbow

Is this for both Mac and Windows?

tandonmiir

OHHHH. So that's why Apple started to drop the $19 remote that came bundled with the Macbooks...NOW it makes sense....

How is this going to work for an iPod touch? Wi-Fi enabled? I don't have a Wi-Fi network at home yet. And the Touch doesn't have IR or Bluetooth....

CutePuppyz

i wonder if Apple is planning on publishing other apps in the store - other apps that *will* cost money? Maybe an MMS app for $4.99? Or a iChat app for $9.99?

michaelcalcagno

@CutePuppyz: Of course wifi, get with the times for god sakes.

yasth

The only reason I have two airport express base stations is for airtunes. I have their wifi cards turned off. Now we can use the apple tv as airtunes speakers as well. Pretty slick for parties, every stereo is playing the same music at the exact same time. Now we'll be able to control it from anywhere on the property.

Barry99705

@thepeopleselbow: Lawls! I had the same reaction.

SuperCollider

It's a great idea, and I'd happily buy in to the scheme if the Airport Express wasn't so bloody expensive. A free app is great, but if it requires a $99 piece of hardware to do anything, it's not really free...

weatherman

Why would AirTunes/AirportExpress be necessary? Granted, I have a limited understanding of these things, but I'd assume just linking your phone to your computer's IP address, like the Tivo remote iPhone app does, should do the trick. No?

SuperCollider

@SuperCollider: You don't need airport express, but the express base stations have headphone jacks. You don't need a computer to run the speakers. iTunes will stream music to the base stations as well as play locally on what ever computer is running iTunes. I think up to 5 different airtunes compatible devices can be streamed to at the same time.

Barry99705

Excellent!

If this is true, Apple has already fulfilled part 1 of my 3-feature request list for the iPhone 3G.. Part 2, printing! Part 3, UMA-support...

([blog.dreamhost.com])

With this, iPhone/iPod Touch plus iTunes plus Airport Express equals very good and cheap sonos competitor!

zhoujianfu

it would be nice if it worked like the apple remote, not just in iTunes, but for front row also. lousy g4 PowerBook without an infrared sensor.

kellygeorge

@Barry99705: I too have a very limited understanding of the Airtunes setup so i apologize ahead of time for my question.
Can you stream different things to different airtunes devices or do all of them have to play the same thing?

jeepingeek

MacMall is having a sale on the airport express. $59 each (down from around $99 each). I have one already, but just ordered 2 more because it is a great device for streaming my itunes. now that the iphone remote thingy is coming, my budget whole house audio system will be complete.

loserflame

@jeepingeek: You can only stream one thing to them, though if you have more than one machine with iTunes, they can stream to different airtunes devices.

Barry99705

@thepeopleselbow:

I believe Giz is still banned from all tradeshows until the year 2012. The only reason the ban ends then, is because the world will be imploding, and nobody will care anymore.

Chromeo

@loserflame: Note: these are the old versions ... "b/g" no "n".

aelver

@aelver: Fair enough, but for my needs, b/g will certainly suffice.

loserflame

thought this up a long time ago. back when the iPods still had black and white screens, i thought "while this thing is syncing, it serves no purpose. why cant i use it as a wired remote for iTunes?

the wireless function, obvious with the iTouch and iPhone, is even better.

rimplestultskin

Suhhhh-weet!

aelfin