iTunes 7.7 Remote Control App for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch

When Apple released a pre-release version of iTunes 7.7 for developers on Thursday night, there was a leak buried in the Read Me file of the iTunes installer revealing that Apple will be offering a free app on the App Store that would allow you to remotely control iTunes in your home from your iPhone or iPod Touch. How cool is that?

“Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store,” - reveals the Read Me file. Besides the Remote application, the latest iTunes beta also revealed MobileMe support and a new “Applications” tab in iTunes that is used to choose between syncing “All” or “selected” applications with the iPhone or iPod touch.

A year ago, in July 2007, Apple’s Patent application (#20070169115) titled “Portable media player as a low power remote control and method thereof” described this invention as, “a method of providing wireless remote control of a remote media unit through use of a portable multimedia player and a personal computer… carried out by wirelessly receiving at the personal computer a multimedia file indication from the multimedia player, identifying a multimedia file stored on the personal computer using the received multimedia file indication, accessing the identified multimedia file; and wirelessly sending the identified multimedia file from the personal computer to the remote media unit.”