It’s amazing how a single iPhone application can change your life. Okay, not change your life, but allow you to do something you either never thought possible or thought could only be possible by spending hundreds of dollars. I had originally been looking at a Sonos system several years back. It basically allows you to stream your itunes collection to multiple rooms and control your collection via a Sonos remote. Problem was, it’s expensive and not guaranteed to work seamlessly. So I put it off, my iTunes collection trapped in my iMac to only be played through my harman/kardon SoundSticks or shared through my library on my MacBook and rigged to my stereo via an RCA cable. That didn’t allow any type of control whatsoever, and I just had to run to the iMac upstairs if some NWA song came on when the kids were present. Not a great option.
And then along came the fortuitous theft of my Nokia N95–giving me the perfect excuse to go out and finally purchase aniPhone. I’ve also owned an AirPort Express for several years, using it to wirelessly network my printer. And then, unbeknownst to me at the time, I completed the full DJ experience by discovering the most useful iPhone app there is, iTunes Remote. Remote allows you to see your entire iTunes collection (which in my case sits entirely on my iMac), make playlists and basically control the thing as if you were sitting at your computer–all from the palm of your hand.
And then it hit me. I could take the AirPort Express, hook an RCA cable from it to my stereo, set my iTunes to broadcast to the Airport Express and voila! So now I can broadcast to my harman/kardon DPR 2005 and Paradigm Reference Studio/80 speaker setup rather than relying on my computer speakers, which are sequestered in an upstairs room, tiny and not at all convenient for soirées. Beyond the convenience of now being able to play all of my iTunes library in a public space, I can control exactly what’s playing, volume and everything else directly from my while walking around, pouring drinks, making idle conversation and telling other people’s kids not to touch my television.
So every time that cool vaguely British kid in the skinny jeans tells you he DJs at some hot club in DUMBO, you too can say, “Oh yeah, I totally rocked my Christmas party this year! Went from Perry Como to The Smiths to Run-D.M.C. all with the flick of a finger!”
iTunes Remote in action