[Macworld]

Post your comments for Control iTunes in the background here

[Ventzi_Zhechev]

Wait a minute now. Showing the now playing song as your status message in iChat is a built-in iChat function…
Also, I’ve been able to control iTunes with the Apple Remote or the RWD/Play/FFD buttons on my BlueTooth Apple keyboard all along, without any extra software.
Therefore, I cannot see how are these GimmeSomeTune extras :/
I personally use iMote, which unfortunately hasn’t been updated in quite a while. Still, it’s proven sufficient for my needs and I’ll probably be using it until a system update finally breaks it…

[Rhywun]

I use Butler and I like to leave the iTunes window in mini-mode over all windows, too. When I'm not using Butler I like Sizzling Keys.

[GeorgeCY]

I use Apple remote. It cover my needs

[kirkmc]

Regarding status messages, GimmeSomeTune gives you much more control over what displays: you can choose from a number of different mixes of tags, and you can have album art display as your iChat icon.

[kirkmc]

Re the remote: not everyone has a Mac that supports the remote. And it's another device, rather than just using the keyboard.

[aussiecam]

ByteController is a great little utility for changing the volume, skipping songs, pausing/playing etc when iTunes is in the background- controlled either by user-defined keyboard shortcuts, or the menu bar.
Probably isn't as fully featured as some of these, and hasn't been updated in a while, but I find it great.

[leary]

I use Sizzlingkeys as well - there's a pro version but the free app does everything I need. As a matter of fact it does pretty much everything listed here, including full searches via a floating window that's triggered via a customizable hotkey.

[popshed]

Before I had the media keys (on my old computer) I used a load of Applescripts activated using On My Command to skip tracks or rewind. I even went a stage further and had them work for QuickTime and iTunes and it would default to whichever was more appropriate at the time, and I had scripts for editing and exporting from QuickTime which was a lot more accurate than trying to line up the little edit markers. I use the same scripts in Salling Clicker so I can edit files using my phone.
Ooh yeah, come to think about it. Salling Clicker is another solution for controlling iTunes in the background.

[robmorton]

SizzlingKeys is my vote. If nothing else, I hate hot corners and SizzlingKeys allows a custom key combination to lock the screen as well as all of the iTunes controls.

[JaredR]

Even though I have a keyboard with dedicated buttons, I've used spark for quite some time now as it allows you to set hotkeys for quite a few things. It's not the only one, but definitely my favorite thus far.

[dmhuff]

I use SizzlingKeys as well. It does everything I need and uses very little system resources.
-Dave

Mac Home Support

[jakecross]

SizzlingKeys is the boss! Really happy to see other people here mentioning it. The same company makes an excellent app called TapDex which lets you search your address book from anywhere, using the keyboard as well.

[zwei]

I use Quicksilver. I have triggers that use applescript to play/pause, skip song, and bring iTunes to the front via global key commands.