14 DAY TRIAL // Playwatch 1.2 is now available from Aquarius Software and it comes with a lot of enhancements such as the ability to place iTunes remote control buttons directly in the menu bar next to the ticker but also new Cover-Art and track views. Another plus worth mentioning is the fact that certain bugs have been fixed as well.
Playwatch is an iTunes controller and information ticker that calls the menubar of your Mac "home". Using the app you always know what iTunes is currently playing, but also what title, artist and album you're listening to, without having to pull up the iTunes window. In fact, you don't even have to touch a button. With just a peek in the menubar you get all this information in a second (granted that you can read this fast). Information is provided as a ticker with smooth scrolling and transition effects, while the application itself is quite unobtrusive.
The app also adds a few remote control buttons right from the menu bar, so you don't get lost on your Apple keyboard, messing up your work in the process. Everything is controlled by mouse, whether you want to start, stop, skip, fast forward or rewind a song. If you want to see the cover-art or lyrics of a song (provided they're available) just hover with the mouse pointer over the ticker for a while.
Version 1.2 adds a ton of new stuff. Some highlights are mentioned below:
- Remote Control Buttons: Playwatch now has iTunes remote control buttons directly in the menu bar. Change songs or play/pause iTunes with just one click. - Cover-Art & Tracks presentation: Playwatch now has three different views for presenting Cover-Art. The old one, a smaller view with the tracks of the album in front of the cover and a perspective view with the tracks on the right. - Track switching: In the new Cover-Art views, all tracks of an album are selectable. Play the one you like with just one click. - Animations: The new Cover-Art views come with unique, nice and smooth transition effects on Cover-Art change. - Spaces-aware HUD
Aquarius Software also added support for Portuguese (besides the already existing German and English versions of the software), while several major and minor bugs have been squashed, the developer claims.
HERE's a 30-day (full featured) trial version of the software. Playwatch requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later and is a Universal Binary.