My computer is on 24/7. My bed is lofted and it takes a LOT of effort for me to change the volume/song/playlist. So, I got a remote and propped up a little holder on the wall. Now, I just grab the remote, lower the volume to where I want, load playlist and go to sleep. My remote can do almost anything.
Control media player, control winamp, control mouse, standby, restart, shut down, off/on monitor, load counterstrike/starcraft, lock computer, open my cd-drives, open nero, show desktop, get my computer to say the current time, load my calander...
Too tired to list the rest.