One thing about modern computing that has always surprised me is how many Mac users listen to iTunes while they’re working on their Macs. If it’s not sound emanating from the Mac as they type on some research paper, or work on a spreadsheet, or catch up on email, it’s music through ear buds connected to the Mac.
There are two things about listening to iTunes that bother me while I’m working on my Mac. The first is controls. My keyboard is a sanctuary so I don’t use Apple’s media keys. Diminishing iTunes to the small version doesn’t help to control songs or playlists because it gets lost in the onscreen clutter.
Enter a better, easier, cheaper, simpler way to control iTunes. Mucoce (I have no idea how to pronounce that name).
From an icon on the Mac’s Menubar, Mucoce controls iTunes. You can use keyboard shortcuts, rate the currently playing track, and view album artwork.
Mucoce also displays the current track’s name, the artist, and your ratings along with the album art– all nicely displayed in a pop down control box from the Menubar. It even lists how long the song has been playing, and the total song length.
Though not yet Notification Center aware, Mucoce is Growl capable and will display a Growl pop up when another song begins to play.
Leave iTunes playing in the background and never touch the iTunes interface.
As pleasant as Mucoce is to use, there are few additional functions I’d like to see. Playlists. With either a click or keyboard shortcut, Mucoce should display a list of iTunes Playlists which can then be selected.
Otherwise, this one is nicely done and well worth the less than $1 price tag.