January 2024
NEW: Convert and Replace
It hadn't ever occurred to me that the term "convert", as it applies to converting an audio file from one type to another and which is the AppleScript command for doing so, could be construed to mean "replace". Though that's probably why Apple has unambiguously named the menu item in the iTunes Advanced menu used to "convert" a track selection as "Create MP3 Version" (or whatever the current import setting is). It's pretty obvious you get an additional new track and not a transformed replacement.
"Convert" in its "replace" sense, however, is what a number of Correspondents have wanted to do: downsize some ALAC tracks to AAC or MP3, for example, and have the converted versions replace the occurrences of the originals in any playlists.
Convert and Replace will convert a batch of selected tracksor the tracks in a selected playlistusing an encoder chosen on-the-fly (the encoder's current Preferences-set options will be applied) and replace the originals throughout your entire library with the converted versions. Additionally, you can opt to Trash/delete or keep the original files and tracks. (If the tracks are kept they remain in the "Music" library but will have been replaced in all other playlists.)
Possible deal-breaker: newly converted tracks will have a Date Added of "now". There is no getting around this since Date Added is a read-only property assigned by iTunes when a new track is added to its library.
For OS X 10.6 or better.
Site Stats and Lion Users
I was surprised when Tim Cook announced in the WWDC Keynote that 40% of Mac users are running Lion (OS X 10.7). For what its worth, here are my month-to-date Mac operating system unique visits (not pageviews) from Google Analytics:
Lion launched on July 20, 2011. Here are the same stats from July 27, 2011:
- 10.6 49.52%
- 10.7 41.37%
- 10.5 (Intel & PPC) 7.6%
I don't want to give the specific number of month-to-date uniques but for each stat it's over 50K.
iTunes 10.6.3 is Available
Apple has released iTunes 10.6.3skipping a 10.6.2 release apparentlythat has a number of bug fixes. More as it develops.
TrackSift and Smarts Updated at the Mac App Store
TrackSift v1.2.2 is up at the Mac App Store. TrackSift brings together nine fun and useful Tools for iTunes in one attractive, simple to install and easy to use app. Delete "dead" tracks, delete empty playlists, delete unwanted Genre names, locate tracks without artwork, without lyrics, or not in any playlist, and create one-hits, two-fers, and three-fers playlists. This latest version fixes a problem with the "Without Artwork" tool incorrectly reporting extant dead tracks and tweaks the "one-hits" tool algorithm. TrackSift is $1.99 at the Mac App Store.
Smarts v1.1.0 will save and store the criteria of an iTunes Smart Playlist the smarts of a Smart Playlist as a template so you can reload it into iTunes later. This version adds the ability to save a delete multiple selections and fixes a couple of minor bugs. Smarts is free and only available from the Mac App Store.
NEW: Export Files to Folder
There are some scripts here that export files to chosen locations. And of course, you can drag-and-drop selected tracks from iTunes to copy their associated files. But Correspondent Chris Updegrove inquired about a workflow to get MP3 files into a playlist-named folder on a flash drive for use in his car audio system. (I think that some MP3-CD players worked this way, too. I think I remember MP3-CDs.)
Export Files to Folder will export the files of the tracks in a selected playlistor just the selected tracks in a playlistto a new folder in a user-selected location; the folder will be created using the name of the selected playlist. Here I've used it to dump a bunch of playlists to a mounted flash drive:
Optionally, an activity log can be created on the Desktop that will list what was copied (or not copied and error messages).
It's a Cocoa-AppleScript applet so it can only run on OS X 10.6 or better.
UPDATED: Change Hidden iTunes Preferences v3.0
Thanks to a couple of recent posts at Mac OS X Hints and Cult of Mac, Change Hidden iTunes Preferences saw a lot of downloads in the past week or two. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time until today to give it an update. An older preference, "Show buttons horizontally", is no longer applicable and a new preference, "Disable 'elastic' scrolling behavior", applicable in Lion, needed to be added. These changes are in the latest version of Change Hidden iTunes Preferences.
Additionally, this version is written as a Cocoa-AppleScript applet and can only be run on OS X 10.6 or better.