Controlling iTunes from another computer

April 16, 2008 11:28 PM

Help me control iTunes from another computer!

So here's my set up. I have a lot of music on my laptop, which is running XP Pro. In the other room, I have a mac mini running 10.4, hooked up to the TV and a nice stereo system. I'd like to be able to play the music that is on the laptop through the speakers that are hooked up to the mac mini. I would like to be able to do this, while being able to control which tracks are being played and being able to pause/skip tracks, etc. all from the laptop. I assume this is probably easiest done through iTunes and some other program, but any option that doesn't use iTunes is fine with me (with the caveat that I think remote desktopping to the mac mini would be a little overkill). I'd just like the program to be free if at all possible. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If you need any more information, feel free to ask. Thanks!

posted by sepsis to computers & internet (12 comments total)

this is easy to do while controlling from the Mac Mini... but that's not what you asked.

you could just buy an Airport Express and hook it up to the stereo system (not the mini). Then just make sure iTunes is looking for remote speakers via AirTunes.
posted by blastrid at 12:28 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I have an identical setup to yours (music stored on WinXP PC, stereo connected to Mac Mini in other room). I'm not saying it's necessarily the best solution, but what I do is to have iTunes running on both computers. iTunes on the Mac connects to iTunes on the PC and plays its music library via the network.

You say you want to control the Mac from the PC. Just use VNC for that. I have UltraVNC Viewer on the PC, and Vine VNC Server on the Mac. (Both are free.) I don't know about overkill, it certainly is pretty simple.

The main problem I have with this setup is that iTunes is such a piece of crap. Compared with WinAmp 5, the interface sucks, and worst of all, it doesn't automatically rescan your music folders to keep its library updated.

So I'm eager to see what other people suggest.
posted by snarfois at 1:25 AM on April 17, 2008

Signal from http://www.alloysoft.com/ lets you control itunes from any browser (as well as iphones and pocket pcs). You could set the mini up to use the music library from the laptop and use signal on the laptop to control the mini.
posted by figment at 1:34 AM on April 17, 2008

Hmm, off the top of my head I'd say you should map a network drive from the Mac to the PC. Listen to the MP3s in whatever network-drive-aware app you want (I'm sure Foobar2000, Winamp, and VLC are capable and well-supported) and send the output to an Airport Express with Airfoil.
posted by rhizome at 1:45 AM on April 17, 2008

SlimServer?, err, "Squeezecenter"?

The software's free (the hardware isn't). Browser interface. Accepts all your iTunes playlists and etc (but won't play your AppleDRM'd tunes).
posted by notyou at 6:50 AM on April 17, 2008

I use Simplify Media to play music on my iTunes library (appx 20,000 songs) at home on my work computer and even on my phone.
posted by sourwookie at 8:01 AM on April 17, 2008

That is, the files are stored at home and I stream them them to work.
posted by sourwookie at 8:02 AM on April 17, 2008

Some kind of remote desktop solution?
posted by stackhaus23 at 10:35 AM on April 17, 2008

@figment: Signal looks like what I want, however, I can't access the website from my laptop, only from the Mac Mini that it's installed on. Both devices are connected to the same wireless router. I've tried using both the internal IP address and the external IP address with port forwarding set up on my router, and I can't access the webpage either way. The firewall on XP isn't turned on. Do you have any suggestions?
posted by sepsis at 10:39 AM on April 17, 2008

Seriously-- Simplify is what you want. Small, free, and designed to do exactly ad you ask--and nothing else.
posted by sourwookie at 11:14 AM on April 17, 2008

@sourwookie: Simplify looks like a good program that I will probably use for other things, but it does not do what I asked. I want to send my music to the macmini without having to touch the macmini. With this program I have to be at the macmini to play the music, and since both computers are on the same network, they show up on iTunes anyway, without this program. Thanks for the recommendation though, it definitely has its uses.
posted by sepsis at 1:54 PM on April 17, 2008

@rhizome: Airfoil is exactly what I was looking for. Don't need to map a network drive since the music is already on the laptop, but it does exactly what I needed it to do and it does it very well. Thanks so much!
posted by sepsis at 2:27 PM on April 17, 2008