There are many uses for an iPad: reading, watching movies in bed, surfing, you name it. But what if you want to use the iPad to control another device? The large screen size can make the iPad into the remote that you’ve always wanted but never had, with the ability to control countless devices with tailored interfaces per device. Want to listen to music? Browse through graphical album art and have the ability to control AirTunes speakers too. Want to watch TV? Don’t fuss around with Comcast’s ugly on-screen guide, pick the show right from your iPad!

Let’s take a look at some of the best iPad remote apps:

Remote for iPad – Free

It took Apple months to make an iPad-native version of their insanely popular Remote app, which lets you control a running copy of iTunes over a WiFi network, but now that its here we couldn’t be happier with the results. Apple tweaked the interface to utilize all of the space in the iPad’s screen, and added many unique enhancements that make this app even better than the original iPhone version.

The iPad Remote app can find iTunes libraries without the manual setup process, too: any iTunes library with the “Home Sharing” feature turned on will be able to be selected without entering a code, and in case you’re at a friends house, you can still use the old method. Browse through large thumbnails of album art to find the album you’re looking for, and pick the song you want from a handy pop-up menu. Since listening to music on the iPad itself is kind of an awkward experience, this lets you use that great music selecting interface on a computer that’s more likely to be hooked up to good speakers.

If you have and AirPort Express, Apple TV, or any AirPlay-supported device or devices, Remote will also let you control not only which speakers are in use, but also the respective volume levels of each set of speakers. Pretty fancy stuff!

Remote HD – $7.99

Remote HD takes a wider approach to iPad Remote interfaces, and allows you to control a PC with your iPad in several different ways. Just buy the app and install the “Remote Helper” application from the developers’ website on a PC or Mac, and you’ll be ready to go.

• First, you can use your iPad as a trackpad and keyboard for your computer. If you have a media center PC hooked up to a television this can be hugely useful as you’ll no longer have to keep track of a keyboard and mouse to control the computer with–just use your iPad! The iPad trackpad controls the cursor with little to no lag, and while the keyboard isn’t as good as a real hardware keyboard for obvious reasons, it’s perfectly fine in a pinch.
• Remote HD also gives you VNC-like access to the PC or Mac that the Remote Helper app is running on, allowing you to see and interact with Mac OS X or Windows from your iPad screen. Want to run a full OS on an iPad? Here’s your chance to try it out!
• There’s also application-specific controls for media apps, allowing you to skip ahead, play, pause, and adjust the volume in lots of popular media applications such as VLC, Windows Media Player, Quicktime and iTunes.

All of these features are wrapped in a nice-looking, easy to use interface. Remote HD: the swiss army knife of iPad remote apps–it does a little bit of everything.

Comcast and DirectTV Remotes

Two of the biggest TV providers in the US, Comcast and DirectTV, have also released custom iPad apps for their TV service. While these apps don’t necessarily let you control the TV as you’re watching it, you can stream TV shows to your device, see the grid-guides in an easier to navigate format than the onscreen ones, and even set your DVR without even turning on your TV.

Comcast is working to provide a large on-demand library of content to be streamed to their iPad app, and if you have DirectTV’s Sunday NFL Ticket, you’ll be able to stream live games to your iPad as well. While it doesn’t look like live TV streaming is ready just yet, I imagine the providers would love to provide this feature in the future.