My friend, Al, is responsible for the Remote app [iTunes link] on the iPhone. It's a great tool that allows you to control the music on your Mac or Apple TV using your iPhone.
The latest version added some really great features that aren't advertised very well. First of all, you can control your Apple TV using your iPhone using swipes and gestures. It's pretty neat, but the Apple TV hasn't gained enough traction for this feature to get noticed.
But one feature that deserves a lot of attention is iTunes DJ.
- Lets say you are having a party. Just select a song in iTunes and choose "iTunes DJ". This will create a new playlist around that song automatically
- Anyone at your party with an iPhone can launch Remote, connect to your iTunes, and see what's being played
- Your friends can click "Request song" to browse *your* music selection and add songs to the playlist
- They can also vote on songs in the list. The song with the most vote gets played next
Al is a DJ on the side and has always been interested in bringing a better DJ experience to bars and clubs.
This is the future of the juke box. The democratization of music wherever you are.