If you've been holding off installing Apple's Front Row on your Mac because you simply don't know how, here's a user-friendly step-by-step guide from Andrew Escobar.  After you've gone through the process, you can enjoy music, photos and videos with Front Row and Apple Remote. On with the show!

First off, your Mac should be running on Mac OS X v10.4.5 or later. To enable sharing over Bonjour, make sure you have iTunes 6.0.4 and iPhoto 6.0.2 (or later) installed. If this is this your first time to install Front Row, then you'll just have to follow the step-by-step procedure. If you have previously installed Front Row using Enabler and are simply upgrading, Enabler has already patched to two system files needed. They do not need to be patched again. After completing step 2 (installing Front Row and restart) you should have an updated copy of Front Row with support for Bonjour.

Step 1 Download Front Row from Apple
When the download completes, open the disk image and copy the file Â?FrontRowUpdate.mpkgÂ? to the Desktop. It must be copied to the Desktop. DonÂ?t run the installation just yet. At this point if you try running the Update Installer package, youÂ?ll get this error:

    Alert
    This software update requires an iMac G5 with built-in iSight.

Front RowÂ?s ability to run is not dependent on hardware though, and in fact runs well on recent Macs (past 3 years or so). If you are confident your system is capable, you can chose to skip the hardware check using Enabler 1.2.1.

Step 2 Enabling the Installation

• Download [Enabler 1.2.1]. The file (Enabler.dmg) is a disk image that needs to be opened.

Warning: This process is not supported by Apple Computer, Inc. Some users who have not followed these instructions carefully have had there toolbar items temporarily disabled and unavailable.

• Next, run Â?EnablerÂ? from the disk image. (That is, donÂ?t copy it to a different folder and then try to run it, as it has to be run from the disk image.)
• Select the Â?Enable InstallationÂ? button and authenticate with you password.
• Â?To proceed, open FrontRowUpdate.mpkg.Â?
• Open FrontRowUpdate.mpkg located on the Desktop and proceed with the installation.
• Restart.
  

Step 3 Enable Front Row

Once youÂ?ve restarted, though its been installed on your Mac, Front Row still needs to be enabled with two small patches because Mac OS X checks to see if your Mac has a built in infrared receiver. It does this by checking theÂ? I/O registryÂ? of your devices to see if the following string of text is present:

 HIDRemoteControl
 

Macs without the recent built in IR receiver donÂ?t have this sting present. Even without an IR receiver, Front Row still runs fine because it can be at the very least controlled with the keyboard in-place of the Apple Remote.

• Having rebooted, again open the Enabler.dmg disk image.
• Run Â?EnablerÂ? from the disk image. (That is donÂ?t copy it to a different folder and then try to run it, as it has to be run from the disk image.)
• Select the Â?Enable Front RowÂ? button and authenticate with you password. (This process patches Mac OS X system files. If you try patching the files when they are already patched, they will be corrupted and you will have to restore them to the originals).
• Restart.
  

Step 4 Set Front Row Preferences

You now have a fully working version of Front Row. Open System Preferences though, to see why this method really shines. You have a full control over Front RowÂ?s preferences.

Step 5 Enjoy Front Row

The default keystroke to launch Front Row is command-Esc.

Keystrokes
   Command-Escape - default to show and hide Front Row
   Option+Up/Down - set volume
   Enter or Spacebar - select menu, playlist, song, movie, etc.
   Escape - go back to previous menu/screen
   Tab - quickly return to desktop (or any other keys really)

Remotes
Keyspan RF Remote for Front Row. Besides the Apple Remote, the Keyspan RF is the only remote of those IÂ?ve tested that requires no installation and is completely compatible with Front Row.