Use your iPod Touch as a two-way remote with Signal
A few years ago I used to use an old Mac Mini as a basic FTP server on a fast broadband connection. In fairness, it was a flawless setup, never went offline (unless the broadband line went down), remained quiet in operation and is a recommended setup. However, as the need for a faster connection drove us away from providing content from within the office, the Mac Mini was made redundant. Although it's a Power PC system, we realised recently it could be used to stream audio around the home. Connect an Airport Express to every audio device where you want to play your tunes and you're away. Well, nearly.
Signal 1.1.3 enables you to control your streaming audio through your iPod Touch, iPhone or similar device. Simply install Signal on to your Mac Mini (or another computer, Mac or PC, with iTunes installed) and you can see your music and control output from your iPod Touch. Wherever you're in the house, you can move to another track, control volume, speaker distribution and more.
Signal link.






Setting up your own home media server isn't particular easy for the majority. How do you configure your system to share audio and video files across different computers, enable playback through your TV or via your hi-fi? You could purchase something like the Windows Home Media Server or the Apple TV. Alternatively, you could find and use some simple software that will enable you to take your audio collection and stream it to various locations in your house.
Even the average user will have their own music library stored on their computer, yet sometimes it can be tricky to get some of your personal music in to your collection. Maybe you have rare or live recordings want to be more accessible for you to listen to by adding them to your PCs library you can then edit, equalise and burn to a CD. Some of these rare recordings may be stored on vinyl, cassette or even video.
Managing and editing your music library can be tedious. Correcting names, track information and searching for album artwork can be time consuming. It would be great if you had one tool which enabled you to all of these things with relative ease.