The Complete List of iTunes Controllers

If you’re using Apple’s latest keyboard, released in August, or if you’re fortunate enough to have a MacBook Air, you’re already enjoying the benefits of dedicated iTunes keyboard buttons.

However, not everyone is so lucky, which is probably why iTunes controller applications are so popular and plentiful.

An iTunes controller is a companion to Apple’s jukebox that allows you to play, pause, skip between tracks and adjust volume using either keyboard shortcuts or buttons in the menu bar. As more people listen to music while surfing the web, with a recent survey by Olswang finding about one in five computer users listen to music on their computers daily, there’s a big market for these apps.

Application launchers like QuickSilver (free), Butler (free), LaunchBar ($19.95) and ClawMenu ($19.95) offer basic iTunes controls via customizable keyboard shortcuts. Firefox users also have the option of installing the FoxyTunes extension, which places a bar along the bottom of the browser with buttons to control iTunes.

There are a ton of options in the realm of dedicated iTunes controllers. I’ll start by breaking down the freeware options (because everybody loves free). But for a small price tag, you can find some really solid apps that can be worth the purchase if you use iTunes as often as I do. More advanced features can include support for system-wide Growl notifications, album art fetching and syncing with Last.fm, so if you can’t live without these extras, you might want to skip to the end of the list.

Free Controllers

Bytecontroller - This is a fairly no-frills menu bar controller. When opened, it places a set of three small buttons for advancing the track, select the previous track and play/pause, with a list of decent skins to choose from. It also supports keyboard shortcuts and Growl notifications, but it’s a basic controller that does what it sets out to do.

GimmeSomeTune - With hotkeys, album art and lyric fetching, remote control support and Last.fm syncing, GimmeSomeTune has more features than most of its peers. If it weren’t for the optional, hideous menu bar buttons and the lack of Growl support (it uses an oversized, cluttered bezel notification window instead), this would really stand out as one of the best controllers out there.

iController - The controller is very simple and optionally scrolls information about the currently playing song in the menu bar. It’s got hotkeys and its own notification system, which automatically switches to Growl if you have it installed. Sure, iController hasn’t been updated in more than a year, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

iMote - Hotkeys, Growl notifications and a menu bar with iTunes controls make this a useful app. And for those of you who still haven’t installed Growl, it has its own floater — no additional software necessary. iMote also has a feature called StepBack, which lets you specify an amount of time for the app to rewind when playing a song that was paused. It doesn’t seem very useful for music listening, but for podcasts, I can see it really coming in handy.

Maestro - Especially handy if you use a lot of playlists, Maestro is a compact app featuring controller buttons and a small list with available playlists and the songs within those lists. But it doesn’t provide much advantage over iTunes’ own mini controller, so unless you switch between playlists a lot, it’s hard to recommend Maestro.

Menuet - Standing as one of the strongest free options, Menuet places a small image of the currently playing song’s album art in the menu bar. You can click on it to get a larger version of the artwork as well as next, previous and play/pause buttons. It’s got Last.fm scrobbling, Growl notifications, keyboard shortcuts, controller skins and a sleep timer for stopping iTunes after a period of time. It even comes packaged with Art Collector, a nifty app for retrieving album artwork. Previously freeware, Menuet has since become charityware, meaning if you use and like the app, the developer encourages you to donate to a charity.

Play MiTunes - It has a nice little controller window interface, but it’s main attraction is the “type-and-play” feature, where you can type the first few letters of a song and play it. Unfortunately you need to specify whether your search applies to artist or song, so it makes the search feature somewhat less useful than opening iTunes.

QuickTunes - It’s certainly not the most attractive app, but it’s got some useful features. It can do hotkeys and places the name of the currently playing song in the menu bar, with additional controls when clicking in the menu bar. Some great options it offers is to play another song by the currently playing artist, play another from the same CD or play another from the same genre. Of course the pastel controller is hideous, but if you don’t care about aesthetics (but you probably do if you’re a Mac user) give this one a shot.

Radion - According to its developer, Radion was the best of its kind when it released. With a skinnable control window, artwork downloading and hotkeys, it has plenty of nice features. But the app hasn’t been updated in quite a while, although developer Ninja Kitten promises version 2 is in the works. In order to use the app, you’ll need to punch in the following details into the registration: Name - Ninja kitten / Email: kitty@ninjakitten.us / Serial: RADION-XkUmXF-WeDEE-hFCwY-kwEHz-wazc

Sizzling Keys ($5 for Pro version) - If you’re all about the keyboard, Sizzling Keys is a great option. It doesn’t offer a menu bar or window controller — it’s all done via customizable hotkeys in System Preferences. It even lets you add shortcuts for some actions unrelated to iTunes, like accessing the login screen. It also has a bezel notification feature and a search and play popup. My only complaint is that I keep running into a bug with the search, where I have to restart the app for it to recognize my keystrokes.

You Control: iTunes - You Control places the control and rating buttons right in the menu bar, with access to recent tracks and a ton of other information right within the contextual menu. It also has hotkeys and a notification bezel. I found You Control eating up quite a bit of memory in my use, but you might want to give it a shot to see how it runs on your system. You’ll need to register for free at the You Software web site to get a license.

Not Free Controllers

Barquee ($10) - Elegant and customizable are what defines Barquee. With a combination menu bar controller/song info marquee, which can be command-clicked to access the song’s progress bar, Barquee is a nice option whether you plan to use the menu bar controls or hotkeys. It’s also skinnable.

CoverSutra (14.95€) - As the most expensive app on the list, it’s ironic that CoverSutra happens to be one of the best. Complete with sexy pop-up alerts, Growl and Last.fm support, and a really nifty menu bar music search feature, this one is really hard to resist. One unique feature is a CD case that can be dragged around the desktop, showing the currently playing song in iTunes. With all the other options, it’s hard to justify the price tag, which works out to about $22 at the current exchange rate, but it really is a full package.

Synergy Classic (5€) - Synergy has long been one of the most popular iTunes companions. Recently the app has been completely rewritten for the Leopard version, which brought with it a number of random bugs. It offers all the basic features you would expect from a shareware controller, hotkeys, floaters and menu bar controls, but not really much “wow.” Fortunately Synergy is one of the less expensive shareware options.

TuneBar ($12) - This is probably the most attractive controller on the list. Sure, it has Growl support, hotkeys and playlist access, but it’s the interface that makes it truly shine. Everything is skinnable, from the floating controller to the incredibly well executed library search popup. TuneBar borrows one excellent feature from WinAmp — a thin controller, called SlimBar, that sits just below the menu bar, providing all the basic iTunes controls including a track timeline and search.

TuneHound ($9.95) - Put simply, TuneHound is bad. With an ugly controller window, lack of full hotkey support and an unintuitive rating system, TuneHound is a worse option than most of the freeware apps on the list. The only thing it really has going for it is the ability to edit track information from within the small TuneHound interface.