Since its insertion last dusk , one of the most attention - catch Apple products has beenFront wrangle . Offering an iPod - carte du jour - same interface to your movies , music , and photos , Front Row — along with Apple ’s six - clit remote — has turned several new Mac models into up - and - coming media centre . The interface is n’t perfect — Jason Snell covered its deficiencies during his review of the iMac G5 — but it ’s attractive , easy to habituate , and offers the basic features you need to range your media files .
regrettably , unless you ’ve grow a G5 iMac or an Intel - based Mac ( a MacBook Pro , an Intel iMac , or a new Mac mini ) , you do n’t get Front Row . Sure , there are hacks blow around , but running aver hacks is not without its risks .
What ’s a Front - Row - want Mac drug user to do ? Until Apple releases Front Row for all Macs — which it may never do — you’ll have to make due with one of the Front Row imitator out there . As of right now , the one I care the unspoiled is Equinux ’s freeMediaCentral 1.2.1 . With MediaCentral installed and run , constrict geological fault - escape brings up the Front - quarrel - like , onscreen internet browser , which get you access music in your iTunes Library , in a divvy up iTunes Library , or on a connected iPod ; video in your Movies folder ( and VIDEO_TS folder ripped from DVD anywhere on your drive ) ; exposure in iPhoto ; and , if you have a wideband cyberspace connection , movie trailers and streaming cyberspace video . ( The latter requires that you have the Windows Media and Real Player web browser plug - ins installed . )
In most ways , MediaCentral looks and feels very much like Front wrangle : You use the keyboard ’s arrow key to navigate card ; Return reach the next carte or begin playback ; and Escape takes you up one menu level . It ’s leisurely to nagivate your media , and the onscreen showing establish you canonical entropy about playback .
However , MediaCentral outflank Front run-in in a few areas . For object lesson , you get quite a morsel more restraint over playback viaMediaCentral ’s keyboard shortcuts , admit the ability to chute to items startle with a particular letter by pressing that alphabetic character on the keyboard — great for navigating sizeable iTunes Libraries . Unlike Front Row , MediaCentral get you shuffle playbackwithinan iTunes playlist , and it also supports more video formats than Front Row , including AVI , DivX , DV , Xvid , MP3 , AC3 , MPEG1 , MPEG2 , and MPEG4 . And if you ’ve got an eyeTV , a unexampled eyeTV item will appear in MediaCentral ’s TV bill of fare , allowing you to watch bouncy TV . you could evencreate your own soundsetsfor audio feedback .
On the other bridge player , MediaCentral also has a bit of quirks that run me to name it a “ bright Prospect ” instead of a full - fledged Mac Gem . For example , when shop a shared iTunes Library , tracks from the iTunes Music Store wo n’t play in MediaCentral ( even if the information processing system running MediaCentral is authorized ) ; they will in Front Row . On the user interface front , when surf your iTunes Library , you ca n’t shop by composer ; when browsing by playlist , the playlists are at time listed in an apparently random order , and some ( Smart Playlists , for example ) are unavailable for range ; and if you pop play an individual song in a play list , only that song play — the playlist does n’t continue from that point . I also experienced a crash when running MediaCentral on my PowerBook after connecting a second display , and several when browsing large share iTunes Libraries . Finally , MediaCentral does n’t automatically find moving-picture show Indian file in your iTunes Library ; although the caller plans to add support for iTunes - managed video in a future version , you may work around this limitation by produce aliases to those video file and placing the assumed name in your Movies leaflet .
Remote ?
Of of course , if you do n’t have a Front - Row - equip Mac , you ’re also miss the power to practice Apple ’s remote command . fortunately , there are a few solutions that work with MediaCentral . Griffin Technology ’s diminutive $ 40AirClick USBprovides an RF - based remote with five button that can even transmit through wall . Button configurations for many app are build - in , but you ’ll need to make a custom form for MediaCentral — instructions can be foundhere . Keyspan ’s $ 60 infraredExpress Remoteuses a bulkier remote and USB - associate liquidator , but is much more capable thanks to 17 clit and software program for configuring those clitoris for any software . If you ’ve stupefy a Bluetooth - capable mobile phone , Jonas Salling ’s $ 24Salling Clickerlets you employ that phone to control the multimedia apps on your Bluetooth - equipped Mac ; even better , Thomas Bonk has offer a script , MediaCentral Remote , that ’s designed specifically for using Salling Clicker with MediaCentral . Finally , if you have a Front Row - equipped Mac , but simply prefer to apply MediaCentral , you’re able to practice your Apple Remote .
Bright future
Despite the problems observe above , I ’ve been using MediaCentral quite a bit lately . Combined with a comme il faut remote control , it bend my PowerBook into a mini amusement system when I ’m on the road . Those wish their honest-to-goodness Macs had Front quarrel should give it a try , flaws and all . It should only get better .
MediaCentral works with Mac OS X 10.4 ; it requires QuickTime 7 .
UPDATE 3/13/06 : Clarified outcome with purchased music not playing via shared Library browse .
