iLaunch is a free iTunes® accessory for Windows, available for downloading here. iLaunch adds two useful features that Apple Computer has so far overlooked in their quest to change the world.

Global Hotkeys eliminate the need to find and click on the iTunes window for access to the playback controls you use all the time. Simply press:

• Ctrl-alt-p to play/pause the current track
• Ctrl-alt-s to skip to the next track
• Ctrl-alt-b to go back to the previous track

TaskTrack® tells you what track's playing with a glance at the Windows taskbar. Is that the new one from Britney, or just a bad cosine entry? Now you can tell without interrupting your work and bringing iTunes to the foreground.

With these features, it's easy to run iTunes minimized, or behind a stack of other windows. iLaunch makes iTunes usable as a background application, the way most people actually want to use it. If you listen to iTunes while doing other stuff with your computer, you need iLaunch.

To run iLaunch, simply click on the iLaunch icon instead of iTunes's own icon. You can remove the iTunes icon from your desktop if you like.