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There are tons and tons of iTunes controllers on the market. But taking out all the basic apps, and weeding out the ugly ones, I’ve only found three that really get the job done: SizzlingKeys, Synergy, and CoverSutra. Here I’ll lay out what makes them unique.

SizzlingKeys

SizzlingKeys is the only choice on this list for people looking for a free iTunes controller. It is very basic in terms of user interface, a feature that led me to stick with it for a long time. “All” it does is show a simple bezel at song change or with a shortcut key. The bezel shows current album artwork, name, artist, album, and rating. There is also a search window that can have a shortcut assigned to it. Where SizzlingKeys shines is its wealth of shortcut options. Everything resides in a simple preference pane in the System Preferences app.

What makes it good: It’s the most unobtrusive and lightweight of all controllers I’ve used, while still having all the features needed.

Synergy

Synergy is very much like SizzlingKeys, in that it isn’t a full iTunes interface replacement, but instead is an addition, adding features like a bezel at song change, shortcut keys, etc. Synergy optionally places three buttons in the menu bar: previous, play/pause, and next. It shows a bezel with song info at song changes, but I found the bezel to be rather ugly, and not thought out from a design standpoint. The very smallest setting is useful for not taking up screen real estate while still showing what song is playing. Beyond that, it isn’t useful for much. Synergy costs 5 euros, about $6.30.

What makes it good: Other than the menu bar controls, Synergy really does nothing SizzlingKeys can’t, so try SizzlingKeys before shelling out the money for either Synergy or CoverSutra.

CoverSutra

CoverSutra is the most expensive and also most full-featured application on this list. It differs from the others in that it is more of its own application, as opposed to an add-on to iTunes. Of course, it still requires iTunes to play music, but CoverSutra’s bezel (pictured above) shows all the usual song info, plus gives playback controls, a timeline scrubber, volume controls, and shuffle control. CoverSutra can also display current album artwork on the desktop, but annoyingly, when there is no song playing, it displays a boring blank album instead of disappearing. Automatic song changes are shown via a pop-up menubar item, and user-controlled song changes and play/pauses are shown in a bezel, much like the Mac OS X volume bezel.

What makes it good: All in all, if money is no object, CoverSutra is a fantastic application, and definitely does the most out of all the applications listed here. Its lack of customizability may be a problem for some, however, so download the trial and give it a spin first. CoverSutra is 14.95 Euros, or about $18.80.