Signal - The Ultimate Remote Control for Your PC's Media Player

The main addition to Signal 1.1 was the ability to control AirTunes speakers, something I was very happy to finally be able to offer as it was by far the most requested feature over the life of the application. Of course, with this implemented one of the new most requested features is “show which speakers are actually active!”. This is something I’d very much like to see added myself, and the reason it’s not supported stems from the same limitation of the iTunes programming interface that caused AirTunes control to be delayed for so long.

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The Alloysoft Google Group has just gone live, providing a central and easily searchable forum for discussion of Signal and any other Alloysoft products that may appear on the horizon. Post your comments or questions, talk to other users, or just let us know what you think!

Signal 1.1.1 is now available and offers fixes for a variety of minor issues, with a few items of note:

• Albums are now sorted by disc number before track number
• When adding or playing an artist with only one album tracks are now sorted properly
• Resolved an issue that prevented the remote speakers menu from appearing for some Pocket PC users

The update is available now via software update or direct download, with the full list of changes available in the release notes.

Bonjour is a fantastic networking technology that supports automatic discovery of devices and services on your network. It’s how shared libraries and remote speakers automatically appear and disappear in iTunes without needing to configure anything, and it allows Bonjour-aware devices to connect to each other using just a name.

One of the handy but less obvious features of Signal is the ability to access the web interface from your iPhone or iPod touch using your computer’s Bonjour name instead of its IP address. Since not all devices support Bonjour, to ensure maximum compatibility Signal currently displays a web access URL using your computer’s IP address, but you can still access the interface using the Bonjour name. In the future the application will be updated to display both, with some guidance as to which is appropriate for your device. For now, here’s how to access Signal using Bonjour.

Mac

First you’ll need to find you computer’s network name. To do that, open System Preferences and click Sharing. Near the top of the screen you’ll see a message similar to “Computers on your local network can access your computer at:”. The name that follows is your computer’s network name.

To access Signal using Bonjour, just replace the IP address portion of the web address shown in the Signal application window with the network name and enter this address into your iPhone or iPod (you can leave out the http:// part):

That’s it! As long as your computer name remains the same you’ll be able to access Signal at this address no matter what the IP address is.

Easy access from other Macs

In addition, with Signal 1.1 it’s now much easier to access the web interface from other Macs on your network using Safari. Here’s how to do it:

1. Click on the Show All Bookmarks icon in the Bookmarks Bar
2. Click on the Bonjour collection
3. Double-click on the entry for Signal in the list

This will open the Signal web interface without you needing to type anything at all. Bonjour will automatically keep this list up-to-date so you’ll always be able to access any Signal server running in your network from here.

Windows

Although Windows does not support Bonjour by itself, Windows users can take advantage of the same discovery capabilities by installing Bonjour for Windows. Once it’s up and running, the first thing you’ll need to do is find your computer’s network name. To do that:

1. Click on the Start Menu
2. Right click on My Computer (XP) or Computer (Vista) and select Properties
3. If using Windows XP, click on the Computer Name tab

On the dialog that appears you’ll find your computer’s network name. To access Signal using this name, replace the IP address portion of the web address shown in the Signal application window with the network name displayed in the dialog, followed by “.local” (it’s a Bonjour thing). Then enter this combined address into your iPhone or iPod like so (you can leave out the http:// part):

That’s it! As long as your computer name remains the same you’ll be able to access Signal at this address no matter what the IP address is.

You’ve asked for it, and it’s here! Signal now gives you complete control of AirTunes speaker selection through iTunes. You can toggle multiple speakers on and off or easily redirect all audio to a single speaker, right from your iPhone, iPod touch, or Pocket PC. Here’s how it works:

If you tap on the album art image to display the additional controls, you’ll notice a new icon for multiple speakers. Tapping on this will take you to the speaker selection screen, and here you’ll see the list of all AirTunes speakers in your network as well as an entry for your computer and a switch to toggle between single and multiple speaker modes.

When set to single speaker mode tapping on a speaker name will redirect all audio output to that speaker, just like selecting it from the speakers drop-down within iTunes. This allows you to quickly send audio to a single room or back to your computer.

When set to multiple speaker mode tapping on a speaker name will toggle that speaker on or off, just like using the “Remote Speakers” window in iTunes. Signal will automatically remember the last speaker mode setting used, so if you’re always operating in multiple speaker mode you can just set the option once and never worry about it again.

The first time you use the speaker selection option on a Mac you may see a message asking you to turn on “access for assistive devices” on your Mac. This is a Universal Access feature that enables UI scripting, and it’s how Signal works around the fact that iTunes still does not include a proper API for AirTunes control. Signal will open up the Universal Access system preference pane for you, so all you need to do is check the box and you’re set.

But wait, there’s more!

It’s been a couple of months since the last update, and the time hasn’t been spent idly. In addition to the new speaker controls, 1.1 also includes some other great new features:

Alphabetic Media Library Jump

To speed media library navigation when browsing, an A-Z button is now included at the top and bottom of every media library group that spans more than a single page. Tapping this will bring up an alphabet overlay, allowing you to tap on a letter and have the media library scroll directly to the first entry starting with that letter. Coupled with Signal’s existing speedy search capability finding just what you’re looking for should be easy!

Landscape Support

Mobile Safari loves its landscape mode, and while for most web viewing it’s a great feature, for web applications it can sometimes get in the way. Since there’s no way to turn it off, why not use it! Signal will now properly re-arrange itself when in landscape mode, allowing you to utilize all controls and giving you more space to see media library artist and album names.

Back Button Support

Safari’s back button can now be used from anywhere within the Signal interface to take you back to the Now Playing screen with one tap. If you’re in the middle of browsing for something in particular but you want to skip a song or make a quick change to the volume, just tap the back button. When you’re done, tapping Safari’s forward button will take you right back to where you were.

Improved Podcast Organization

Podcasts are now a top-level category in the media library, organized by show rather than artist and sorted by date so you can easily find the latest episodes of your favorite shows.

…And the Details

• New icon!
• WebClip icon
• Previous now acts as backtrack in iTunes
• Bonjour advertisement for the HTTP interface
• The usual assortment of fixes and minor changes covered in the release notes.

This is a release that I’ve been looking forward to for some time now, and I’m very excited to see it get into your hands. It’s available right now on the downloads page, I hope you enjoy it!