How to Control iTunes On Your Computer From Apple Watch

After setting up Apple Watch as a remote for iTunes (see How to Set Up Apple Watch as Remote for iTunes), you can use Apple Watch to control playback on iTunes. The Remote app enables users to control playback, moving forward and back as needed. Users can direct iTunes’ output to an AirPlay device on their wireless network. They can switch quickly from one iTunes library to another.

Contents

1 How to control music on Your Apple Watch [Video]
2 Apple Watch: Controlling iTunes on Computer
3 A Few Words about iTunes
4 Links

How to control music on Your Apple Watch [Video]

Video uploaded by PCMag on April 24, 2015.

Apple Watch: Controlling iTunes on Computer

How to Open the Remote App

Lift your wrist to wake Apple Watch.
When the watch face appears, click the Digital Crown.
On the Home screen, tap Remote, and the Remote app will open.

How to Connect to Library and Control Playback

Tap the library to which you want to connect.
When Apple Watch connects to the library and displays the current song, tap Play to play the song.
When the song starts playing, turn the Digital Crown to change the volume.
Tap Previous to go back to the beginning of the song. You can tap Previous again to go back to the beginning of the next song.
Tap Quieter or tap Louder to reduce or increase the volume.
Tap Next to make iTunes play the next song.
Tap Pause to pause playback, and tap Play to restart playback.

How to Play iTunes Output to an AirPlay Device

Force-touch the screen (with Apple Watch connected to the library).
When the Options screen appears, tap AirPlay.
On the AirPlay screen tap the AirPlay device you want to use, and Apple Watch will cause iTunes to switch its output to that device. The Now Playing screen appears again.

How to Switch Libraries

Tap Back on the Now Playing screen.
On the Devices screen that appears, tap the library to which you want to switch.

A Few Words about iTunes

Apple Inc. developed iTunes is a media player, media library, online radio broadcaster, and mobile device management application. iTunes serves to download, play and organize digital downloads of music, video and other types of media available on the iTunes Store on personal computers running the macOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Through the iTunes Store, users can purchase and download music, television shows, audiobooks, podcasts, movies, and movie rentals in some countries, as well as ringtones, available on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Users can download from the App store application software for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. iTunes 12.2 added Apple Music to the application, along with the Beats 1 radio station. Introduced in September, iTunes 12.5 offers a refinement of the Apple Music interface.

In fact, iTunes is one of the best ways to organize and enjoy the music, movies and TV shows you already have — and shop for the ones the user wants to get. It’s home to Apple Music, which offers unlimited access to millions of songs, curated playlists and Beats 1 radio, hosted by Zane Lowe and a team of acclaimed DJs. Apple Music makes it easy to play the music you love and the music you’ll love next. Users can choose from millions of songs, including exclusive releases you can’t get anywhere else. So the user never has to miss a beat.

If we refer to iTunes history, we’ll say that SoundJam MP, developed by Bill Kincaid and released by Casady & Greene in 1998. Apple renamed the feature for iTunes after the company had purchased it in 2000. Jeff Robbin, Kincaid, and Dave Heller moved to Apple as part of the acquisition, where they continue to work as the software’s original developers. They simplified SoundJam’s user interface and added the ability to burn CDs. They also removed its recording feature and skin support. On January 9, 2001, Apple released iTunes 1.0 at Macworld San Francisco event.

Originally a Mac OS 9-only application, iTunes began to support Mac OS X when Apple released version 2.0 in October, 2001. This 2.0 version added support for the original iPod. Version 3 dropped Mac OS 9 support. This version added instead smart playlists and a ratings system. In April 2003, Apple released version 4.0, which introduced the iTunes Store. The same year, in October, version 4.1 added support for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Introduced at Macworld 2005 event with the new iPod Shuffle, Version 4.7.1 was the first version to have the ability to automatically convert higher-bitrate songs to 128kbit/s AAC as these devices did not natively support audio encoded in AIFF or Apple Lossless formats. The version 4.7.1 also improved the value proposition of the Shuffle’s limited flash-only storage. iTunes Version 7.0 introduced gapless playback and Cover Flow in September 2006. Seven months later, in March 2007, iTunes 7.1 added support for Windows Vista. Version 7.3.2 was the last Windows 2000 version. Version 7.6 of iTunes added support for 64-bit versions of Windows on January 16, 2008. Today iTunes is supported under any 64-bit version of Windows Vista, although the iTunes executable is still 32-bit. The 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are not supported by Apple, but a workaround has been devised for both operating systems. Version 8.0 added Genius playlists, grid view, as well as a new default visualizer. iTunes 9 added “Homeshare” feature, which enables automatic updating of purchased items across other computers on the same subnet and offers a new iTunes Store UI. Genius Mixes were also added, as well as improved app synchronization abilities, extending the iPod Shuffle 128 kbit/s down-convert feature to all of Apple’s AAC-capable devices. It also added iTunes LPs to the store, which provides additional media with an album. Apple added iTunes Extras as well to the store, which adds content usually reserved for films on DVD and Blu-ray discs. Both iTunes LPs and Extras use web-standards HTML, JavaScript and CSS.