[kirkmc]

I actually used SizzlingKeys for a while, but at some point it didn't work - I don't recall if it was when Leopard came out, or if it was because of some other upgrade. So at that time, I looked around and found GimmeSomeTune. I especially like the ability to automatically add lyrics to tracks, in addition to the hot-keys.

[jakecross]

I've definitely been a very satisfied SizzlingKeys user, and haven't experienced any incompatibilities. Those extra features in GimmeSomeTune are enticing, though, so I think I'll give it a test drive.

[bigbadvoo]

I bought Synergy years ago and it served me well. However, about half a year ago, it became so unstable that it would crash almost every 10 minutes. So I switched to You Control: Tunes. Fine product, free (with e-mail registration), does what it says.
Most recently, I've been using CoverSutra because of its Last.fm support. Now if it just did lyrics like GimmeSomeTune, it'd be perfect.

[Debo]

SizzlingKeys (free version)! The feature that brought me to it several years and many versions ago was the ability to rate songs from the keyboard as they're playing. It does everything else I want, and more. It's been well supported over the years with timely compatibility updates, and is easily accessed through System Preferences. Love it.

[AnubisIV]

X-Tunes.

It's simple, clean, only stays on the screen as long as I'm displaying it, and only really eats up one key combination of your choice. All of the other actions, such as play/pause, volume up/down, prev/next track, etc. are handled by pressing an additional key while the first key combination is down.

I've been using it since back when Panther was out, so I had Command+Space set as my hotkey. That brings up the floating window that shows the track details (and launches iTunes if it wasn't open), and then a quick press of Enter pauses the music. Or I could press the Right Arrow to skip to the next track. Things like that. It works great, it's easy on the RAM, and it gets out of the way.

[spuds]

No mention of the iTunes dashboard widget or the "mini-player" window in iTunes which floats on top of everything yet doesn't become foreground when you click one of the buttons one it - no mention of the speech control or keyboard short cuts on Apple's recent keyboards and many 3rd party keyboards? This article doesn't match it's title very well as it only mentions one way to control iTunes in the background offered by Apple then dives right into 3rd party apps. Doing a little free marketing here?
Personally, since my iTunes runs 24/7 feeding into my whole house stereo, I get a lot of use from my iPhone using Apple's free remote application. I can be working on my car in the driveway and enjoy full control of what is coming through the speakers out there. Before my iPhone, I used to use Griffin's RF USB remote. Both of these allow background control of iTunes.

[hillstones]

It has already been said, but the article should have mentioned that the first way to control iTunes while it is running in the background is with the audio keys on the aluminum keyboard, not the Dock. That is much faster than reaching for the mouse to click on the Dock or the floating iTunes Mini Player.

[FarmerBob]

I have used Keyboard Maestro for complete iTunes control at any time. I use Command-(key) combinations that have yet to interfere with any applications to control pause, volume, skip < or >, and to activate iTunes and other applications from FKeys as I became addicted to in OS9.

[Arlew]

Using and iPhone or iPod Touch with the Remote application is my favorite. You can even use it when multiple users are set up on your computer and one of the other users is logged in, making your user id inaccessible.