If you are one of the millions of people who own and iPhone, iPod or iPad, you probably make use of iTunes. When you are listening to music in the background while you get on with other tasks, it can be annoying to have to switch programs if you need to quickly pause playback or if you want to skip to another track.

There are some keyboards that feature multimedia keys that can be used to perform basic playback option but iTunesControl is more advanced. This is a free program that enables you to control iTunes without the need to bring the program into the foreground first. It works by enabling you to set up dozens of keyboard shortcuts that can be used to access all manner of features of iTunes and information about what is currently playing.

If you’re listening to a track and you can’t remember the name of it, you can hit your chosen shortcut and a popup will supply you with the information you require. This popup can be customized in a variety of ways – from its color and on-screen position, to the size and style of the text. You can also customize precisely what will be displayed – so you could opt to see track number, name and artist.

Although this a program that is currently in beta, it already seems remarkably stable and can be used with all versions of iTunes from 4.6 upwards.

Version 0.61 brings:
•Added option to mirror display on all monitors to configuration application
•Added hotkey to restart current track
•Fixed "prompt to delete track" setting not respected