Comprehensive Guide to the iTunes DJ

[wholikespotatoes]

Known to host the occasional party? Do your friends sport around iPhones and iPod Touches?

iTunes DJ is a feature quite often overlooked when it comes to the benefits of Apple's digital media player and was first introduced with iTunes 9.

iTunes DJ allows friends to remotely request and vote for their favourite songs chosen from the host's iTunes Library using their iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. These votes determine what songs are played during the party.

All they need to do is some basic set-up and ensure they have the Remote application downloaded from the App Store.


Setting Up:

Firstly as the host you will need to make sure you have the iTunes DJ functionality enabled within iTunes.

Click on iTunes DJ from the sidebar and here you will see the current playlist of songs. In the bottom right hand corner you will find an additional settings button. Click that.

You will want to double check that you have a few settings enabled.

The 'Play higher rated songs more often' check box relates to if you have given your songs a rating out of 5 stars. This however will be overridden once your guests start voting on songs themselves.

Restricting requests to a specific source (ie. a playlist) may be a good idea if like me you have one or two songs that shouldn't be played at a party. That said, you do want your guests to have as much choice as possible in order to prevent songs playing more than once.


Ok, now that iTunes is set up what you'll need to do is make sure guests can connect to your wireless network in order to communicate with the DJ.
If you are uncomfortable with this or do not have a wireless network, not to worry, you can set up a temporary ad-hoc network from your Mac which should do the job (although will have a shorter range).

If you go down this road, be sure to double check your sharing permissions from within System Preferences.


Now we get to the fun part, connecting and trying it out on our iPhones.


The iPhone

If you do not already have the Remote application, its a free download from the App Store. You will then need to pair the Remote with your iTunes library. This is done by entering a code displayed on your phone into iTunes.

Connecting the iPhone OS device this way will give the iPhone complete power to change the current song and delete songs from the iTunes DJ playlist etc. This should only be for the host!

Your guests will connect to your iTunes Library a different way without obtaining all these perks... but we'll get to that soon.

Now that your iPhone is connected you can have a play around with the system... not too bad hey

From the Playlists menu we can select iTunes DJ, where we're met with the iTunes DJ interface.



As host we are treated to the Edit and Add buttons up the top which allow us to delete requested songs from the playlist deemed unsuitable for the party and also add some more into the mix.
Selecting a song in the playlist will stop the current song and begin playing that selection. *Use with caution*

Touching the heart symbol next to a song in the playlist is how both the user and host can vote for a particular song. Essentially the iTunes DJ works by playing the song that the most people have voted for next in the playlist.



Before the party starts you'll want to make sure you have your Mac connected to the speakers for music. If you have an AppleTV or use an Airport Express, you can also use AirTunes functionality, wirelessly transmitting the music to your speakers.


Moving on to our guests...

When the guests arrive, setting up their iPhone is quite simple. They need to be connected to the wireless network your iTunes Library is on and then its a matter of making sure they have the Remote application (if they are missing the app, then perhaps they could wirelessly download it from the App Store upon connecting to your network.) Simply open the Remote app and select the name of your iTunes Library under the iTunes DJ heading. Done.



They now have the right to request songs and vote for songs, but that's it! You hold complete veto power.




Now that the music is organised for the party, your next task is to check the fridge and make sure there is a sufficient supply of beverages for the night.

Windows users... as far as I know all of this works the same for you guys too.

[Mecha]

Awesome. Didn't know you could do that!

[aero_nz]

thats awesome! did not know that cheers

[sirstaunch]

I knew this feature was available but never looked into it until after just reading this post. Pretty cool except for one slight issue is that when I select a song it plays straight away and not adding it into the que, any ideas? Ta

[wholikespotatoes]

I knew this feature was available but never looked into it until after just reading this post. Pretty cool except for one slight issue is that when I select a song it plays straight away and not adding it into the que, any ideas? Ta

As far as I can tell... selecting the Add button and choosing a song this way should only add the song into the DJ playlist and not immediately begin playing the song as it does when selecting a song already in the DJ playlist.



The add button is only available to those have connect directly to the iTunes Library and not just through iTunes DJ.


Let me know if this still doesn't solve your problem.

EDIT: Oh and make sure you havent accidentally left the iTunes DJ playlist and instead are just controlling the Library as you would normally with the Remote app.