NEW TECHNOLOGY

Daniel Ionescu, PC World

Mar 13, 2009 10:20 pm

The new 8.1 version of iTunes that was launched yesterday has a cool new feature prone to spice up your parties when the music gets lame. Together with the revamped Remote application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iTunes DJ feature can breathe new life into your music library.

Previously known as Party Shuffle, iTunes DJ randomly selects popular songs from your music library to play out at parties. And when the feature is paired with new version of the Remote app on iPhone and iPod Touch, your guests can request songs and then vote for the next one up in the queue.

As the resident DJ of your party, all you have to do is fire up the new iTunes and go to the iTunes DJ section. From the settings button you can then allows guests to request and vote for songs from your music library, which are then queued up in your playlist. A welcome message for guests can be customized also.

As the DJ, from the Remote app on your iPhone you can control what's playing from iTunes while your guests can browse through your library and select songs that they would like to play. The requested songs are then queued up in your playlists and listeners can vote for the song they would like to listen next. The song with the most votes is moved up automatically in the playlist.

While this may sound like anarchy for some, it could be bliss for others. Probably the iTunes DJ wouldn't be the best idea for a large party or club setting, but it could certainly be an interesting distraction while having drinks with your mates at a local bar (I often find myself in a bar with lousy music and I would love to have some control over it -- only if for a song or two).