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Remote (Apple software)
Encyclopedia
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
(version 9.2.1 or later) library in an area with Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
connectivity using the proprietary Digital Audio Control Protocol
Digital Audio Control Protocol
Digital Audio Control Protocol is a protocol used by the Apple Remote application on iOS mobile devices to control iTunes running on a remote computer....
(DACP). It is currently available as a free download from the App Store for users of iOS 3.1.2 or higher on the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
, or iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
.
Patent filing
Unofficial software modifications for including this functionality in both iOS and the Apple TV OS had existed previously, but rumors of Apple giving remote control capabilities between iOS and Apple TV had existed since early 2007, when the U.S. Patent Office published a patent filed by Apple on September 11, 2006 that depicted a "media-player with remote control capabilities" alongside a "multi-media center for computing systems".Releases
On July 10, 2008, Apple released Remote on the App Store. That same day, Apple released the Apple TV 2.1 software update that added recognition for the iPhone and iPod TouchIPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
as remote control devices.
Version 1.1 was released on September 16, 2008, and brought the following improvements:
- Create Genius playlists
- Create and edit playlists in iTunes
Version 1.2 was released on March 11, 2009, and brought the following improvements:
- Control the music on iTunes or Apple TV
- See the album artwork on your Remote
- Search your whole iTunes library
- Control your AirTunes speakers
Version 2.0 was released on September 28, 2010, and brought the following improvements:
- Designed for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
- Optimized for Retina displays and large screen real estate on iPad
- Support for Shared Libraries on iTunes and new Apple TV
- Bug fixes and compatibility with iTunes 10 and the new Apple TV
- Control iTunes and Apple TV, from anywhere in your home
- Pause, rewind, fast forward, shuffle, and adjust the volume from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
- View album, movie, and TV show artwork
- Create and update Genius playlists
- Create and edit playlists in iTunes
- Search your entire iTunes library
- Control iTunes to send music to AirPlay speakers
- Control the volume on each speaker independently
- Control Apple TV with simple finger gestures
- Enter text with the keyboard
- Even control Shared Libraries on iTunes and the new Apple TV
Version 2.0.1 was released on October 15, 2010, and brought the following improvements:
- Includes stability and performance improvements
- Improves performance using Remote on an iPhone when Bluetooth is enabled
- Addresses a problem browsing artists with a large number of albums
- Addresses some issues waking up computers when using Home Sharing
- Addresses some issues with connecting to an iTunes library or Apple TV when using Home Sharing or a Passcode
- Addresses some issues with connecting to a Wi-Fi network
Version 2.1 was released on December 22, 2010, and brought the following improvements:
- AirPlay video support to control iTunes on your computer to stream videos to an Apple TV
- Internet radio control to play thousands of internet radio streams in iTunes on your computer
- The ability to control iTunes on your computer to play Movies and TV shows that are rented from the iTunes Store
- Addresses issues connecting to an iTunes library or Apple TV
- Includes stability and performance improvements
Version 2.1.1 was released on March 15, 2011, and brought the following improvements:
- Improvements when connecting to iTunes or Apple TV
- Addition of a "skip back" button when playing video
- Additional stability and performance improvements
Version 2.2 was released on October 12, 2011, and brought the following improvements:
- Provides compatibility with iOS 5
- Provides additional stability and performance improvements
Features
Remote, similar to the Apple RemoteApple Remote
The Apple Remote is a remote control made for use with Apple products with infrared capabilities released after October 2005. The device was announced by Steve Jobs on October 12, 2005. The remote is largely based on the interface of the first generation iPod Shuffle and has only six buttons...
, allows for one to adjust iTunes volume, play, pause, skip or shuffle media playback on an iTunes library on either Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
or the Apple TV OS through the AirPlay
AirPlay
AirPlay is a proprietary protocol stack/suite developed by Apple Inc. that allows wireless streaming of audio, video, and photos, together with related metadata between devices...
capability. The metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
from an iTunes library is streamed to the iPhone or iPod Touch, which then renders a graphic of the currently playing media (usually album art) from the particular iTunes library.
Remote has a menu of items to choose from:
- Playlists (including Genius)
- Artists
- Albums
- Search
- More (which gives access to Audiobooks, Composers, Genres, Movies, Music Videos, Podcasts, Songs, and TV Shows)