iTunes Accessory

iTunes Accessory is a small widget that provides users with immediate access to iTunes player controls. It can be easily configured and used, even by novices.

The interface of the app is based on a small, rectangular frame with media player controls built in. You can increase its size and set its opacity, or make it stay on top of other windows, an option which is useful when you want to quickly switch through songs on iTunes while you're working on other applications.

In order for this widget to work, the iTunes process must be active. You can pause the track, play the previous or next one, adjust the volume level or mute it, as well as navigate back and forth within the stream.

It is also possible to choose one of the available playlists and equalizer presets, enable shuffle mode, set ratings, and show or quit iTunes.

A few settings can be made from the Options panel, such as changing the frame theme (Dark or Light), docked and layout (e.g. no artwork). Plus, you can make iTunes Accessory download artwork when the image is clicked, and scroll the title, artist and album.

iTunes Accessory is very light on the system resources, using a minimal amount of CPU and system memory. It has a good response time and works smoothly, without causing the OS to hang, crash or pop up error dialogs; we have not encountered any issues throughout our evaluation. Unfortunately, iTunes Accessory has not been updated for a while.