dougscripts.com

January 2024

February 26 2017 - 8:37 am

How to Blankety-Blank Blank

As you may have noticed, the last few versions of iTunes have been gradually "contextualizing" the interface. For example, the Info window will only display the kind-pertinent tags for a selected track. (Remember: it used to be that the Info window displayed the same configuration for any track; so that Music tracks had access to TV-kind tags, like Season and Episode ID, and so on.)

Despite this, when the iTunes browser window is in Songs view, non-contextual tags can still be displayed and tracks can still be sorted using them. This is because every track entry in the database has the same columns whether they are used for that kind of track or not. Thus, for example, Music tracks have "season" and "episode ID" track tags even though they are not used for Music tracks.

AppleScript can access these tags and a script of mine, Sort by Artwork Size, can store the dimensions of a track's artwork (eg, "600x600") to the Category or Episode ID tag. Tracks can then be sorted by their "artwork size" or those tags can be used when constructing Smart playlist criteria.

However, since these tags can't be accessed very easily it is a chore to clear them if they are no longer required. So here's a script that will blank a particular tag of all the selected tracks. In this case, it blanks the episode ID tag. For people who already know how to script such a thing, this will be easy as pie. But, if your skill level as a scripter is below Dabbler, you may want to use this as a template for your own blanking scripts: (more…)

February 21 2017 - 9:29 am

UPDATED: Join Together 7.7.1

Join Together has been updated to version 7.7.1. I am extremely gratified that this venerable software of mine—which began its life at the turn of the century as a basic AppleScript workflow between iTunes and QuickTime—has remained popular.

Join Together will create a single AAC or Apple Lossles file from the audio of tracks dragged from iTunes or files dragged from the Finder.

While many people use this for audiobooks, I've lately taken to creating Sides of music albums. For example, "Exile on Main Street" is one of my favorite albums. I'm old enough to have purchased the original vinyl version and so I'm quite innately used to experiencing it as four separate record sides. I used Join Together to re-create four audio files comprised of the album's four album sides. I even found the artwork for the original album's sleeves, which has the track and personnel listings:

Great album artwork concept, right?

Anyway. This is a free update to registered Join Together users and $5 to purchase. More info and download is on this page.

February 21 2017 - 9:04 am

UPDATED: M3Unify v1.7.1

I neglected to post that I have updated M3Unify to version 1.7.1. There were a couple of compatibilty issues with macOS 10.9 that had to be fixed.

M3Unify accepts tracks dragged from iTunes or audio files from the Finder and can export copies or converted versions of the files to portable media, primarily for car audio use. But it's also useful for archiving and back-ups.

Had a nice email from a fan named Rick: "I was searching Prius chat, Toyota chat and others to solve the dreaded playlist problem with the in-car players. No one there knew how to solve the problem. And then through a Google search, I found M3Unify. It is the simplest, most powerful little app for dealing with iTunes and USB drives used in cars. Thanks for such a well thought design and it's cheap too!"

This is a free update for registered M3Unify users, $5 otherwise; watch the video and download the free demo from this page.

February 9 2017 - 7:45 am

NEW: Launch at Login v1.0

It is often convenient and desirable to have your designated iTunes Media folder—the folder pointed to in the "Advanced" tab of iTunes' Preferences—located on a large external drive or server. Those of you who do this know the advantages.

But.

An issue that has been known to occur with this configuration is that if the volume or server containing the designated iTunes Media folder does not mount during the computer's startup before iTunes launches, iTunes will presume that this folder is inaccessible and it will default to using the ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/ folder instead. It does this because it needs a definitive place in which to save CD rips (which still happen at my house), converted files and Store purchases.

(More modern versions of iTunes are much better at reverting to the designated iTunes Media folder if its volume is mounted later. But for years this was always dicey and still can be.)

This swapping of designated iTunes Media folders can be problematic. It can render tracks in the iTunes library dead, duplicated, missing, orphaned. And so on.

My podcast partner, Kirk McElhearn, and I discuss this issue on an upcoming episode of The Next Track podcast concerning using a network-attached storage device (NAS) to store iTunes media. In conjunction with that episode, I wrote a script applet to be used as a "Login Item", Launch at Login, that will attempt to mount the volume at startup, confirm it is actually mounted and only then launch iTunes.

Typically, AppleScript can use the mount volume command, which under some circumstances requires providing a username and password. I didn't want to do that because 1) it is difficult for AppleScript to securely manage storing that data and 2) it is awkward having users edit the script to "hard-code" their username and password. But this script avoids having to do that—and not in any devious way—by attempting to open a folder on the volume pointed to by an alias to it in a specific local folder on the startup drive. In order to open this alias'd folder the operating system will be obliged to mount the volume/server it is on; the script will wait until that folder is accessible and then will launch iTunes. If, for some reason, the folder does not become accessible within a reasonable amount of time because the volume didn't mount, the script will not launch iTunes and will display an alert saying so. At that point the user can decide what to do; presumably, mount the server and then launch iTunes manually.

The anxious part of me feels obliged to note that this script does not use any security (other than being signed with my Developer ID) so if you do not want a volume or server to be mounted in unattended startup situations then do not use it.

There are some simple yet specific instructions and caveats to heed before using the script at your house so be sure to read the documentation that accompanies the script in the download. More information about the Launch at Login applet and download is on this page.

February 3 2017 - 8:40 am

The Next Track - Episode 38 - Audio at CES

The Consumer Electronics Show was held a few weeks ago and Chris Connaker from Computer Audiophile joins me and Kirk to talk about audio gear at the show and some interesting information about the future of the MQA audio format.

You can listen to the episode at The Next Track website here or subscribe here in iTunes to make sure you get all future episodes.

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