January 13, 2007
Posted by Tyler
Control iTunes from the Desktop with iTunesVolume
iTunesVolume (download link below) is an awesome little program that I found a few days ago via macosxhints. It has a number of features – the ability to start and stop iTunes, change the volume, rate the current track, and display the current track’s info and lyrics – all conveniently accessed from the desktop! My favorite feature, however, is that it displays the current track’s album artwork on the desktop (fully resizable). I love being able to see the album artwork of the track I’m playing, and I think that the desktop is a perfect place to put it, but few programs offer this option.
I’ve been using iTunesVolume for a few days now and it works well, always changing the artwork within seconds of changing tracks on iTunes. The display preferences are numerous – the three components can made transparent and not all of them need to be shown. I only have the volume controller and the artwork running, as seen in the screen capture below:
One caveat: activity monitor shows that this program seems to utilize the CPU more than it should. I didn’t notice any significant speed issues while I was using it, but bear that in mind if your Mac seems slower after installing it.
The author’s website is currently down due to overusage of bandwidth, but the program can be downloaded at this mirror until the site is fixed.
P.S. Jokes relating to Coldplay and The 40-Year Old Virgin will not be appreciated 
