I want Front Row Back

You have it working in ML? Please share how.

I didn't have an Apple Remnote handy so I double clicked on

/System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app

(The Front Row in the Applications follder seems to work intermittnetly for me - I understands that it is designed to activate the above file)

After a minute or so (OK it seems like a minute) Front Row starts. If not try pressing the Esc key as this seems to interupt some activity and starts FR. A sign that it is getting ready is that the cursor vanishes.

Amazing! It's true. It seems to launch with somehwat corrupt video (full of large "pixels"), but it soon works regularly. Oddly enough, the Front Row launcher application doesn't work, and creating an alias doesn't seem to work either, unless you leave it in /System/Library/CoreServices/. Thanks for the valuable hint.

By the way, it appears that, once you double-click on /System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app, pressing Esc o Command-Esc will cause Front Row to launch almost immediately!

Well that sort of works. But it doesn't work with my Apple Remote so it's also sort of pointless. (I have been using XBMC which messes with the Apple Remote in unfathomable ways, so it might be that...) Still, this gves me hope that someone cleverer might be able to fix it. I don't want an Apple TV – I don't even have a TV – and I need to be able to use Perian. I really don't get why Apple could not have just left this working. All the alternatives are either insanely complex (Plex) or buggy (XBMC), overdesigned and underdeveloped. Front Row was elegant, simple – Apple as it should be.

I'm more and more disappointed by Mountain Lion. At first I was really excited to use Messages and the new iCloud features, but the fact that Front Row is still missing really annoys me.

And I not the only one as I see how many people want it back!

In addition to that after three hours of working my MacBook Pro needs to be charged again. Under Snow Leopard I could work for six hours and the battery wasn't empty !

I really did a misake by upgrading my OS.

It is quite clear on reviewing the top feedback posts that the removal of Front Row is not getting as much criticism as those who want it back would like. If you genuinely do miss it, as I do, then provide as much feedback as possible. If Apple do care as much about the users as it has said, or at least as Steve did, then maybe they might just start listening. The Market place is getting tough, even for Apple, and they have to provide what the consumer wants. It is interesting if you read lots of Forum and feedback posts, that there appear to be many who are considering not upgrading, or even not purchasing further products, bexcause of this arrogant stance by Apple.

You are absolutly right on that. I also gave Apple my feedback about Front Row, but what is more interessting is that there is a Facebook group that.

Here is the link for everybody who wants to join:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/iWantFrontRowBack/115169858583709

Please join so that we can show Apple how much we care about it.

Thanks to the discovery shared by Michael Paine, it is now possible to launch the SL version of Front Row, which many of us installed in Lion, in Mountain Lion. The problem that the /Applications/Front Row application does nothing shouldn't preclude a more automatic launch of the "/System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app", with the same limitations that existed in Lion. My previous script can still be used to swap between a Front Row-compatible version of iTunes and an iCloud-compatible version of iTunes.

Here's a new script that you can place anywhere you like (and even make an application out of it, with the Front Row icon if you wish):

#launch Front Row

tell application "/System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app"

launch

end tell

tell application "System Events"

key code 53

end tell

This will launch Front Row on Moutain Lion, and everything should work just as in Lion, or, if my previous script is used, as in Snow Leopard. Naturally, the script can be improved to make sure it's running under Mountain Lion, that Front Row is installed, etc. Equally, my previous script could be edited so that it can launch Front Row by itself under Mountain Lion, etc.

Enjoy!

Brilliant - thanks Edumara. I have saved the Applescript as an app and it works in Mountain Lion. I have not got around to trying the iTunes swapping script yet.

Thanks Edumara, your Skript works just fine. Do you or does anyone else know what to do to make it run with the apple remote?

I'm not absolutely sure, because I can't test it myself. You see, my computer is a Mac Pro, which means no IR sensor and no remote. The only remote I have is a very clever application on my iPhone that connects via http or https to a Remote Buddy server running on the Mac Pro. However, for those of you who do have a physical Apple Remote, that device sends keyboard codes (including Command-Escape). Unfortunately, Command-Escape does nothing now, as the "listening" code was removed from Mountain Lion, and adding it as a keyboard shortcut doesn't do anything either, as far as I know. However, you could install something like Quicksilver and leave it running all the time. Then, if you add the shortcut Command-Escape in Quicksilver and associate it with my script, my hunch is your remote will be able to launch Front Row again.

Hey, Front Row has come back from the dead twice already. Who knows how many more iterations are left!

I saved Edumara's script as Front Row.app and put it in the Applications folder. When I run this app it starts Front Row. I don't have an Apple Remote with me but there is a chance that this might work since the original Front Row app stopped working in ML. However I appreciate Edumara's advice that the listening code may have been removed.

I will try it later today when I return to the office.

I cannot get the Apple Remote to work at all with Front Row under ML. Menu does not start Front Row and if I start it with the Applescript it does not respond to the Remote. It seems that iTunes is reacting to the keystrokes in the background.

Grrr

Yes, I can confirm that several of the buttons in the remote no longer work with Front Row in ML. I checked last night on my son's iMac. You might be interested in investing in Remote Buddy. Its iPhone "AJAX remote" (which mimics the Apple remote) still works flawlessly with Front Row in ML.

Good luck.

Thanks Michael and Edumara, I will check it out and tell you guys if it works.