One of the first things I did eight years ago after converting my CD collection to MP3 files on my personal computer was to snake a cable from the PC to my stereo system in another room. The setup gave me the pleasure of piping music throughout my home.

But every time I wanted to change songs, I had to go to another room and make a few mouse clicks on my computer. Ever since then, I have been waiting for someone to come up with a good, affordable remote control that lets me change tunes no matter where I am in the house.

It turns out, I already owned that device. It is an iPod touch. A new programme released by Apple in July was all it took to convert my MP3 player into a sophisticated remote control for my digital-music collection. That programme, called simply Remote, runs on the iPhone as well as on the iPod touch, a version of the Apple MP3 player that has an iPhone-like touch-sensing screen and Internet-access capabilities using Wi-Fi wireless technology. Remote is available free of charge on the online App Store that Apple has used since July to distribute software for those devices.

In essence, Remote is a remote control for all music stored on a Mac or Windows PC that is loaded into iTunes, Apple's music jukebox software. It allows you to jump between playlists, browse artists and pump up the volume. For the program to work, you need to buy into using other Apple entertainment products.

In the simplest setup, Remote lets you control the music from stereo speakers connected directly to a PC. But it is most useful when you use a PC to deliver audio to additional speakers around a home - say, a pair on the patio and in the living room.

Apple sells a couple of products that receive audio signals from a PC running iTunes. Both work wirelessly over a Wi-Fi home network so you do not need to put holes into your walls to run computer and speaker wires. I tested Remote using both.

One is an Apple TV, a $229 set-top box in my living room that plays digital audio and video through a standard home-theater system. The other is an AirPort Express, a $99 Apple wireless networking device on my patio connected to a pair of powered A5 speakers made by Audioengine, of San Jose, California. A third set of speakers was connected to an iMac in the kitchen, where I store all of my digital music (The least expensive iPod touch costs $299).

It was a breeze to configure the Apple TV and AirPort Express to show up as remote speakers in iTunes on my computer. Setting up Remote to give me mobile control over this array of speakers was trickier. After installing the programme on my iPod touch, I could not get it to work with iTunes on my PC. After 20 minutes of fiddling with the security settings for my Wi-Fi base station, iTunes finally recognized Remote. I was in business.

We all know how confusing the remote controls for TV sets and stereo systems can be. Remote, by contrast, cleanly displays all the music on my PC on the colour screen of my iPod touch.

The programme let me flip through artists, albums and playlists with simple finger swipes. But I was sorry that Remote does not have a feature in the iPod touch called cover flow that lets users browse their music libraries by flipping through album-cover art. Apple says it may offer the feature in the future.

The software also let me easily turn on and off the music from my speakers in my kitchen, living room and patio. I could have all the speakers on at once - good for a party. The sound was terrific. The crisp-sounding $349 Audioengine speakers do not require a stereo receiver.

Because Remote uses Wi-Fi to communicate with iTunes, I could control music anywhere around my house and backyard, which are small enough to be fully covered with a signal from my Wi-Fi base station. That is a big plus over conventional remote controls that use infrared, a technology that does not work through walls.

Email Nick.Wingfieldwsj.com