Front Row

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Macintosh computer application. For the BBC Radio 4 programme, see Front Row (radio).

Front Row
<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"> Front Row v2.0 (also known as 1.2)</td></tr><tr><th>Developer:</th><td>Apple Computer</td></tr><tr><th>Initial release:</th><td>October 12th, 2005 (released with iMac G5 (iSight) Revision C)</td></tr><tr><th>Latest release:</th><td>2.0 / September 27th, 2006</td></tr><tr><th>OS:</th><td>Apple Mac OS X v10.4</td></tr>
Use:	Media Center <tr><th>License:</th><td>Proprietary</td></tr>
Website:	www.apple.com/imac/frontrow.html

Front Row is a software application for Apple's Macintosh computers that acts as a front-end for QuickTime, DVD Player and the iTunes and iPhoto libraries and allows for users to browse media on their computers using the Apple Remote (which is based on the interface of the iPod shuffle and contains only six buttons). The software ships only with the iMac G5 with iSight, iMac (Core Duo & Core 2 Duo), MacBook and MacBook Pro (Core Duo & Core 2 Duo), Intel-based Mac minis, and Mac Pros (though not enabled). It was announced by Steve Jobs at an Apple special event on October 12th, 2005.

Some view this move by Apple as one entering the media center market and establishing the Mac as the digital hub it has been called in recent years, while others see this as a simple sales boosting gimmick. Others have criticized the lack of features compared to those seen on Microsoft's competing Media Center, such as TV tuner support or radio reception (broadcast or streaming).

Apple has announced that the next generation of Front Row will be available for currently unsupported Macs, along with Photo Booth, with the release of Mac OS X Leopard, though it is unknown how it will interact with the Apple Remote without the built-on support of the remote on a computer.

The upcoming iTV device will feature an interface and remote very similar to the one used in Front Row.