what is front row

It no longer is!

Apple withdrew it with the introduction of Lion.

Front Row was a media center software application for Apple's Macintosh computers and Apple TVfor navigating and viewing video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disc, or the Internet through a 10-foot user interface (similar to Windows Media Center and Boxee). The software relied on iTunes and iPhoto and wascontrolled by an Apple Remote or the keyboard function keys. The first version was released October 2005, with two major revisions since. Front Row was removed and discontinued in Mac OS X 10.7.

Even worse, Apple decided not only to withdraw Front Row, but also the IR (infrared) support on "new" Apple computers.

A media center with a "10-foot user interface" is the very great idea to give users a central point / control for accessing all their media (and additional media like movie trailers and other internet content) within one application. And the IR was the idea to remote control this access, for example if you are sitting on your coach.

Unfortunately Apple decided to replace Front Row by AppleTV, and remote control by an app for iOS devices (iPhone). Even knowing very well that there are other media centers and applications (like iTunes) which support the remote control.

Fortunately there are other devices to remote control your media (center): for example a Bluetooth trackpad. Not the same, but...