iTunes 8.2.1 Released

Apple has released iTunes 8.2.1 via Software Update and the iTunes download site. More info later…

iTunes 8.2 Released

Apple put iTunes 8.2 up on the web and in Software Update, along with a QuickTime and GarageBand update. 8.2 sports accessibility and bug fixes, compatability with iPhone Software 3.0. I’ve been away all day and haven’t given it a run through, so perhaps there will be more to report later.

iTunes 8.1.1 Released

Apple released iTunes 8.1.1 which enabled HD movie rentals and supplies some VoiceOver and syncing fixes.

The shortcut bug introduced in version 8.1–whereby scripts assigned keyboard shortcuts would run twice–appears fixed. Hooray!

iTunes AppleScript Keyboard Shortcuts Activate Twice

Correspondent Peter Kappesser noticed that under iTunes 8.1 AppleScripts to which he had assigned keyboard shortcuts (via the Keyboard Shortcuts tab in Keyboard & Mouse of System Preferences) would be activated twice when launched by the keyboard shortcut. Thus, they will perform their task twice in a row. I can verify it happens at my house, too. File a bug report.

8.1.1 Not Far Away?

Both TidBITS and iLounge surmise that reports of iTunes 8.1 video-Genius capabilities may have been premature on Apple’s part, since the description of this feature has been removed from the iTunes What’s New page, and quite obviously it is not working in iTunes 8.1. Should a v8.1.1 be expected soon?

iTunes DJ is Still Party Shuffle

Although you will see it listed as “iTunes DJ” in iTunes 8.1, it’s the same thing as “Party Shuffle” (AppleScript-wise it has the same playlist special kind) with a few new behaviors.

New track Property

New in iTunes 8.1, the track object has a new release date property.

iTunes 8.1 Released

Apple Released iTunes 8.1 today (v8.0.2 was the previous version). Among the new features are its ability to handle larger libraries more speedily, iTunes Plus (256kbps AAC) importing via CD, and Genius playlists that will scour for video media.



I know of at least one AppleScript enhancement. A track’s played date and skipped date properties can now be wiped by setting either to 0 (zero) or missing value. Before, you could never set these properties to anything but a date. While you could set played count and skipped count to 0, the only way to fudge the played or skipped date was to give it a date in the past, like date “January 1, 1970″. Now, you can do this:

tell application "iTunes"
	set sel to selection
	repeat with aTrack in sel
		tell aTrack
			set played date to missing value
			set played count to 0
			-- and/or
			set skipped date to missing value
			set skipped count to 0
		end tell
	end repeat
end tell

I’ll have a look for any other changes.

Jason Snell Tries Not to Gag

I think Macworld’s Jason Snell did a great level-headed job responding to some pretty whacked-out questions in this Advertising Age interview with Simon Dumenco (who has all the misinformed media memes about Apple down pat).

NEW: Change Hidden iTunes Preferences

Change Hidden iTunes Preferences is an application that will let you invoke some so-called “hidden” iTunes preferences: Show “Library” playlist, Show genre while browsing, Allow half-stars in ratings, Show arrow links — to either search the iTunes Store or search your library, Load complete iTunes Store preview before playing, Play songs while importing or converting, and Create file names with track number. Some of these preferences, as some users may recognize, used to be available in iTunes’ Preferences. Others, like the “Library” and half-stars prefs, have recently been discovered. This is for use with iTunes 8 or better only.

The download disk image contains the actual application (which is not an AppleScript) and an AppleScript to launch the app from your iTunes Script menu. Make sure you copy both of them off the .dmg.