One of the first things I did eight years ago after converting my CD collection to MP3 files on my personal computer was to snake a cable from the PC to my stereo system in another room. The setup gave me the pleasure of piping music throughout my home.

But every time I wanted to change songs, I had to go to another room and make a few mouse clicks on my computer. Ever since then, I've been waiting for someone to come up with a good, affordable remote control that lets me change tunes no matter where I am in the house.

It turns out, I already owned that device. It's an iPod touch. A new program released by Apple in July was all it took to convert my MP3 player into a sophisticated remote control for my digital-music collection. That program, called simply Remote, runs on the iPhone as well as on the iPod touch, a version of the Apple MP3 player that has an iPhone-like touch-sensing screen and Internet-access capabilities using Wi-Fi wireless technology. Remote is available free of charge on the online App Store that Apple has used since July to distribute software for those devices.

In essence, Remote is a remote control for all music stored on a Mac or Windows PC that's loaded into iTunes, Apple's music jukebox software. It allows you to jump between playlists, browse artists and pump up the volume. For the program to work, you need to buy into using other Apple entertainment products.

In the simplest setup, Remote lets you control the music from stereo speakers connected directly to a PC. But it's most useful when you use a PC to deliver audio to additional speakers around a home -- say, a pair on the patio and in the living room.

Apple sells a couple of products that receive audio signals from a PC running iTunes. Both work wirelessly over a Wi-Fi home network so you don't need to put holes into your walls to run computer and speaker wires. I tested Remote using both. One is an Apple TV, a $229 set-top box in my living room that plays digital audio and video through a standard home-theater system. The other is an AirPort Express, a $99 Apple wireless networking device on my patio connected to a pair of powered A5 speakers made by Audioengine, of San Jose, Calif. A third set of speakers was connected to an iMac in the kitchen, where I store all of my digital music. (The least expensive iPod touch costs $299.)

It was a breeze to configure the Apple TV and AirPort Express to show up as remote speakers in iTunes on my computer. Setting up Remote to give me mobile control over this array of speakers was trickier. After installing the program on my iPod touch, I couldn't get it to work with iTunes on my PC. After 20 minutes of fiddling with the security settings for my Wi-Fi base station, iTunes finally recognized Remote. I was in business.

We all know how confusing the remote controls for TV sets and stereo systems can be. Remote, by contast, cleanly displays all the music on my PC on the color screen of my iPod touch.

The program let me flip through artists, albums and playlists with simple finger swipes. But I was sorry that Remote doesn't have a feature in the iPod touch called cover flow that lets users browse their music libraries by flipping through album-cover art. Apple says it may offer the feature in the future.

The software also let me easily turn on and off the music from my speakers in my kitchen, living room and patio. I could have all the speakers on at once -- good for a party. The sound was terrific. The crisp-sounding $349 Audioengine speakers don't require a stereo receiver.

Because Remote uses Wi-Fi to communicate with iTunes, I could control music anywhere around my house and backyard, which are small enough to be fully covered with a signal from my Wi-Fi base station. That's a big plus over conventional remote controls that use infrared, a technology that doesn't work through walls.

One drawback: The battery in my iPod touch drained overnight when I configured the device to stay connected to iTunes, a feature that increases software responsiveness. Changing the setting let me go days without recharging my iPod touch, but it meant I had to wait a couple of seconds for Remote to connect to iTunes when I started up the software -- an acceptable trade-off.

Another multiroom audio product with a good remote control is the ZonePlayer from Sonos, an equipment maker based in Santa Barbara, Calif. That system has some advantages over Apple's offerings, including the ability to access tunes from online music services, such as Pandora and Rhapsody, and separate volume controls for each set of speakers.

The Sonos system starts at $999 for a remote control and wireless receivers, without speakers, that can deliver music to two rooms.

For people who already own an iPod touch or iPhone, Remote is a good reason to buy an AirPort Express, and fill your home with music.

八年前，將自己收藏的CD全弄到電腦上轉換成MP3文件后，我做的第一件事就是拉了條纜線將電腦和另一個房間的立體聲音響連接起來。這番設置讓我享受到在家里隨處聽音樂的樂趣。

但每次我想換首歌聽聽時，都得跑到另一個房間，用鼠標在電腦上點那么幾下。從那時起，我就一直盼望著有人能做出物美價廉的遙控裝置，好讓我無論身在家中哪個角落都能換曲目。

結果，我其實已經(jīng)擁有了這樣的設備。那就是iPod touch。要將我的MP3播放器變成可控制我的數(shù)字音樂庫的復雜遙控裝置，只需要裝上蘋果公司(Apple) 7月發(fā)布的一個新程序就夠了。這款程序名字就叫Remote，可以在iPhone和iPod touch上運行。iPod touch是一款蘋果MP3播放器，有跟iPhone一樣的觸摸感應屏，還可以利用Wi-Fi無線技術上網(wǎng)。Remote可以從App Store在線商店免費獲得，蘋果公司從7月起就利用App Store銷售適用于這類裝置的軟件。

本質上，Remote就是一個遙控器，可以控制蘋果電腦(Mac)或Windows電腦上儲存的所有已上傳至iTunes（蘋果的音樂播放軟件）的音樂。它可以讓你在播放列表之間選擇、瀏覽藝術家以及調節(jié)音量。為了讓該程序發(fā)揮作用，你得付費使用蘋果的其他娛樂產品。

通過最簡單的設置，Remote就能讓你控制直接連接到電腦上的立體聲音箱播放的音樂。但如果你用電腦將音頻輸送到家里另外的音箱上──比如說在院子里或客廳里的音響，那才是最能體現(xiàn)Remote功能的。

蘋果公司銷售兩種可以從運行iTunes的電腦接收音頻信號的產品。二者都可以通過Wi-Fi家庭網(wǎng)絡無線連接，這樣你就不用為了電腦和音箱布線而在墻上打洞。我用這兩種產品測試了Remote。一個是Apple TV機頂盒，價格229美元，放在我的客廳里，通過一個標準的家庭影院系統(tǒng)播放數(shù)字音頻和視頻。另一個是蘋果的無線網(wǎng)絡裝置AirPort Express，價格99美元，放在我的院子里，與一對Audioengine的A5有源音箱相連。還有一對音箱連到了廚房的iMac電腦上，那臺電腦里存著我所有的音樂文件。（最便宜的iPod touch售價為299美元。）

將Apple TV和AirPort Express設置成我電腦上的iTunes軟件的遠程音箱只是小菜一碟。對Remote進行設置，讓我可以隨處控制這一大堆音箱則要難得多。將Remote程序安裝到我的iPod touch上之后，我沒法讓它跟我電腦上的iTunes兼容。折騰了Wi-Fi基站的安全設置足足20分鐘，iTunes終于識別了Remote。我成功了。

我們都知道電視機和音響系統(tǒng)的遙控器能復雜到什么程度。相比之下，Remote只是清清楚楚地將我電腦上的所有音樂顯示在iPod touch的彩色屏幕上。

這個程序讓我動動手指就能瀏覽藝術家、專輯和播放列表。可惜的是Remote沒有iPod touch中的“封面瀏覽”(cover flow)功能，這個功能可以讓用戶通過瀏覽專輯封面來瀏覽他們的音樂庫。蘋果公司表示將來可能會提供該功能。

利用這個軟件，我可以很方便地打開或關掉廚房、客廳以及院子里的音箱。我可以讓所有的音箱同時打開──這在朋友聚會時會很棒。音響效果棒 了。音質明快的Audioengine音箱（價格349美元）不需要立體聲接收器。

由于Remote使用Wi-Fi與iTunes連接，因此我在家里和院子里任何地方都可以進行遙控，我的房子和院子不大，Wi-Fi基站的信號足以覆蓋。這一點大大優(yōu)于傳統(tǒng)的紅外遙控，這種技術隔著墻就不能用了。

Remote的一大缺點是：我將iPod touch設置為保持與iTunes的連接，這個功能可以加快軟件的響應速度，結果iPod touch的電池一夜之間就耗盡了。更改了設置后，iPod touch可以幾天不用充電，但這就意味著當我啟動Remote時，得等上幾秒鐘才能連接上iTunes──這種代價還算可以接受。

加利福尼亞州圣巴巴拉的設備生產商Sonos生產的ZonePlayer是另一款帶很好的遙控功能的多區(qū)域音響產品。相對于蘋果公司的產品，該系統(tǒng)有一些優(yōu)勢，包括可以從Pandora和Rhapsody等網(wǎng)絡音樂服務獲取音樂，以及可以單獨調節(jié)每組音箱的音量。

Sonos系統(tǒng)的遙控和無線接收器起價999美元（不含音箱），可以在兩個房間播放音樂。

對于已經(jīng)擁有iPod touch或iPhone的人來說，Remote是購買AirPort Express的一個很好的理由，它可以讓音樂在整個家中奏響。