Front Row

Front Row Main menu screenshot

Front Row Music menu screenshot

This article is about the Macintosh computer application. For the BBC Radio 4 programme, see Front Row (radio).

Front Row is an application that ships with iMac G5, iMac (Core Duo), MacBook and MacBook Pro, and Intel-based Mac minis that is designed to allow users to browse media on their computers using the Apple Remote. The remote is based on the interface of the iPod shuffle and contains only six buttons. It was announced by Steve Jobs at an Apple special event on October 12th, 2005. Some view this move by Apple as one entering the media center market and establishing the Mac as the digital hub it has been called in recent years, while others see this as a simple sales boosting gimmick. Others have criticized the lack of features seen on Microsoft's competing Media Center computers, such as a TV tuner or radio reception (broadcast or streaming).

Front Row was introduced with the final revision of the iMac G5, along with the built-in iSight camera. The software is now included in all new Macs shipping with an Intel processor.

Contents

1 Features
2 On unsupported Macs
3 Notes
4 External links
5 Blogs

Features

Front Row includes a number of features including:

A large, iPod-like user interface
Browse for and play songs from playlists or the iTunes library.
View slideshows and look at albums from iPhoto.
Watch television episodes and music videos that the user has purchased from iTunes.
Watch movie trailers.
Watch DVDs without the DVD player application
Watch home-made movies that the user has filmed and edited in iMovie.
Watch non-iTMS video in Quicktime to the iTunes library or the user's Movies folder (such as video ripped from DVD using Handbrake)
View "Video Podcasts" (Vodcasts).
Watch, view or listen to any of the above media types, streamed from nearby computers and any connected iPods running iTunes or iPhoto via Bonjour.

On unsupported Macs

While Apple does not support its use on Macs with which it did not ship, Front Row is able to run on any modern Mac by using [Front Row Enabler] to install it.

As an alternative, there are also other Mac Media Center applications currently being developed for both supported and unsupported Macs. Two major open source media center projects are iTheater and CenterStage. Both are free and available for download at their project web sites. Neither work with the Apple Remote.

Notes

The 'digital audio out' port will function as a line-level port, ie the volume from this port cannot be controlled via the remote.

External links

Blogs

Apple Computer software
Consumer	.Mac > Front Row \| iLife \| iWork \| Mac OS X \| Photo Booth \| QuickTime
Prosumer:	Final Cut Express > Logic Express
Pro:	Aperture \| Final Cut Studio \| Logic Pro \| Shake
Server:	Apple Remote Desktop > Mac OS X Server \| WebObjects \| Xsan
Discontinued:	AppleWorks > HyperCard \| MacDraw \| Mac OS \| MacPaint \| MacProject \| MacTerminal \| MacWrite

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