Blue Tunes

The first application tested was an interesting and simple one entitled Blue Tunes.

What is it?

Blue Tunes is a software application that allows a user to control his or her music and video library via Wii remote.

What is required?

• Connection between a Windows based PC and Wiimote
• Blue Tunes software (Download)
• Media player

What media players can be used? (* indicates which media players were tested)

iTunes*
Winamp
Napster
Windows Media Player*
VLC*
Quintessential Player
Media Player Classic
Foobar2000
Yahoo! Music Jukebox
MusikCube
MediaMonkey
Apollo
BS.Player
Songbird (beta v0.3)
GOM Player
Creative MediaSource
JetAudio
Hulu Desktop

Impressions:

Blue Tunes is easy to download and install. Being able to run it successfully is simple and self-explanatory, too. There are a variety of control options available which allow the user to play, pause, skip forward/backward, increase/decrease volume, increase/decrease bass, go to the next/previous track, add to a playlist, and turn the shuffle on/off. Each individual button has two assignments. Its assignment is determined by whether or not the B-trigger is being held. Blue Tunes does provide a graphic layout explaining the functions of each button.

Blue Tunes would be a great and easy tool to use during a party scene or whenever music needs to be played in general. With iTunes, the response is nearly flawless, and the distance that one can use it from is exceptional. (Approx 50 yards)

General complaints: Using the Bluetooth connection in general can drain the Wiimotes battery rather quickly. If the user isn't careful, the Wiimote can be left on for a couple of hours without being used, thus requiring a fresh pair of batteries soon after. I see this as being an issue with multiple related applications, and wish there could be an easy way to turn the Wiimote on/off while being able to maintain a connection to the PC.

iTunes: Blue Tunes was designed around iTunes, thus no noticeable issues were found while using the Wiimote to perform based on the default button layout. The response time between the application and the Wiimote was great. All the buttons worked as described.

Windows Media Player: Although most of the basic functions worked like they were suppose to with WMP (play/pause, next/previous track, volume), some wouldn't work at all. Skipping forward/backward didn't work as expected, and once the shuffle was turned on, the only available working function was the play/pause button. Turning the shuffle back off didn't fix the issue.

VLC: Although VLC is a great media player for multiple media formats, using Blue Tunes with it does not seem practical. The play/pause and volume functions work fine. There are no playlists with VLC, so being able to go to the previous/next track is useless. The skip forward/backward functions did not seem to work either.

Connecting the Wiimote to PC via Bluetooth

In order to have the Wiimote interact with a PC, a connection via Bluetooth is required. Some computers, primarily laptops, do have a Bluetooth receiver already built in, but Bluetooth dongles that act as receivers can also be purchased at varying prices online and at retail stores. People have had issues with different Bluetooth dongles, so doing a little bit of research is a good idea when deciding which model to purchase. Wiibrew has a lengthy list of working dongles as well what is necessary to connect each specific dongle to the Wiimote. I am currently using a Cirago Bluetooth dongle, which has not required a third-party driver (like BlueSoleil) to work properly. I have not had any issues connecting to this dongle, and I personally recommend it.

After following the instructions when installing the driver packaged with the dongle, connecting the Wiimote is pretty simple. Have the receiver search for available Bluetooth connections or new connections. Shortly after doing this, hit buttons 1 and 2 on the Wiimote, which will sync it with the receiver. Blinking LED lights on the Wiimote will indicate this process has started. Note that the Wiimote does not need to be turned on in anyway prior to syncing it.

If connected properly, the Bluetooth receiver should have the Wiimote as an available device that is titled "Nintendo RVL-CNT-01." The LED lights will continue to blink on the Wiimote. Although different Bluetooth receivers will have different settings displays, a screen similar to this should display accessible devices:

That's it! The following entries will describe some of the available programs for the Wiimote-PC interaction, what is required to run them, and how well they work.

Sources:
Wii Projects (using BlueSoleil)
Youtube video by jdavidharper