Remote Control of Itunes

RealVNC client does allow controlling Mac Mini from Windows. I have used it before. It is not as fast as going from Mac to Mac using OS/X screen sharing but it works.

No unfortunately not, sorry for the confusion. I've been testing this on Window units. I may however see if I can link it up to a friends Mac Mini for kicks. From the instructions it should link across platforms just fine.

The VNC enterprise edition I'm using does allow this as well as file sharing. I can also cut and paste programs from one screen to the other. Basically sharing certain files between PCs.

I'm not sure you would need to select screen sharing in OSX. Looks like the Real VNC takes care of all that within its own program.

Essentially it is allowing me to work on three different screens at the same time. Select/view and play music or a movie in one, surf the internet on one and do maintenance and driver upgrades in the other. lol

I use the free version of www.logmein.com from work on occasion to access my home computers from work when I need to. It works pretty well also. However it didn't give me the option to use both of my screens on the HTPC, just the main screen.

As a joke, I would sometimes go in undetected and start a movie or music from work. It scares the hell out of my girlfriend!LMAO
She thought someone had broken in the place while she was there.

That's great news about RealVNC. Did you try setting up screen sharing in OS X? I'm curious if that works.

Thanks Mingles, I was playing around with the Real VNC today. It works well for me. Unlike Windows remote that is fine for music, but not enough options for movie playback. I want to be able to play movies off the remote PC as well without locking the screens out. Windows remote PC locks both of my remote extended screens out when I log in to my main HTPC.

I think the real VNC and a Archos 9 will work nicely for me doing remote music and movies.

The real VNC allows me to see both of my monitors(main and extended) on the remote computer...very cool!

Gmood1, I haven't had a chance to test this, but you should check it out:
Windows => OS X Leopard VNC?

Thanks Sidssp for the info..that's a bummer! OSX is supposed
to do it all. lol..;-)

Gmood,

OS/X doesn't support Windows' Remote Desktop protocol. You need a VNC client.

Windows has a remote desktop option that should work. I'm rusty with the XP as I use Win 7 exclusively now.

All you need is your Mini's username address for your network. Pick the option in the windows(remote desktop connection) menu to run sound from the remote computer. You can also have windows to start a certain program on connection, such as Itunes.

I was just playing around with this tonight..works like a charm between my PCs.

Understand you want to use a laptop... but have you considered using iphone or itouch as a remote? (http://www.apple.com/itunes/remote/)

If you use Windows, you should turn on Leopard's Remote Management feature from System Preferences. Leopard has a full featured VNC server built in. All you need from the Windows side is a VNC client and you can remotely control your MacMini, no Apple Remote Desktop required. There are a lot of fee VNC clients available on the web. Just Google it and download a few to see which one you like best.

Thanks so far guys. Any information on how to share screens using my Dell PC laptop as the remote would be much appreciated. Although I have an older Mac laptop (running OS 10.3.9), it is slated for other service and my preference is to use the computer I drag around for work (using Windows XP Professional). Given that the OS on my Mac Mini is 10.5.7 (that is Leopard, right?), I'm not sure whether I'll need to use Apple's Remote Desktop in conjugation with its screen sharing functionality, but that's all I know so far. Thanks, Peter

you can also just share multiple itunes from each itunes screen. just turn on sharing and look for other itunes and you will get icons for each itunes it finds. plus you can screen share. i import into my local itunes. then i screen share the itunes on my mac server, then from the servers itunes, i connect to my itunes that i just imported to, and copy the tracks to the server.

this allows copying itunes from 1 itunes library to another to sync up iphones/ipods, setup multiple zones to multiple airport express or apple tv's, etc...

Some useful links:

Apple: About screen sharing

CNET: Tutorial: Screen Sharing in Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): How it works and how it doesn't

Yes, this is possible. I run iTunes on an iMac 24" and control it via my Macbook Pro via screen share. Very simple to do.