iTunes 10.5.3 Available

Apple has released iTunes 10.5.3, which features support for the new iBooks textbook format.

iTunes Match AppleScripting Notes Redux

iTunes 10.5.2 appears to fix some issues I was seeing regarding AppleScripting and iTunes Match. In 10.5.1, AppleScript occasionally wouldn’t recognize that a track had “morphed” from shared track to file track—say, after downloading a file from the cloud—and visa versa without restarting iTunes. This is fixed and AppleScript detects the change of class immediately.

Also, attempting to delete an iTunes Match file track from the library will no longer elicit the alert dialog requiring confirmation to remove the track from the cloud; the track will simply remain in the library as a shared track and will remain in the cloud. Its file remains in its original location (although its local file path can be retrieved via the track’s location property and used to move, Trash or rm the file if necessary). For obvious security reasons, AppleScript cannot delete a track from the cloud or completely delete an iTunes Match track from iTunes. This kind of removal can only be done manually by the user.

I should note that a script probably should remove the file when deleting an iTunes Match track from the library (that is, library playlist 1; deleting from an ordinary user playlist simply removes the track from the playlist, as expected). Otherwise, re-downloading the file from the cloud will create a duplicate file.

On another note entirely, I’m seeing artwork now appearing again as a track’s file’s Finder icon. Since iTunes 10.4 artwork behavior has been—as one tweet to me put it—”hinky” in this regard. I don’t pay much attention to artwork so this may have been fixed in 10.5.1 or perhaps is an iTunes Match phenomenon.

More as it develops.

(UPDATE: Several Correspondents have reported that artworks were showing up as Finder icons again as of 10.5.1.)

iTunes 10.5.2 Is Available

Apple posted iTunes 10.5.2 today with improvements to iTunes Match (not sure which specific issues have been addressed yet) and a fix for an CD audio distortion issue.

iTunes 10.5.1 with iTunes Match Available

Today Apple posted iTunes 10.5.1 which features iTunes Match syncing over iCloud.

iTunes 10.5 Released

Apple released iTunes 10.5 today. The long-anticipated 10.5 release includes support for iCloud, iTunes Match, and automatic downloads. OS 10.5 (Leopard) or better required. (Interestingly, the iTunes 10.5.1 beta was released to developers.)

iTunes 10.4.1 Available

Apple released iTunes 10.4.1 today.

Despite what the release notes mention about addressing “issues with adding artwork to songs and videos”, I was unable to get album artwork to display as a track’s file’s Finder icon. Personally, I don’t care if this is a bug or a feature. But I know it really annoys a lot of people.

Artwork Bug in iTunes 10.4 Lion?

I hadn’t had time to do much research on this because my head’s been in other projects, but after some tests this morning it really looks like there is a bug with adding new artwork to tracks in iTunes 10.4 running under Lion. Perhaps this is old news for some. I’ve been getting various email reports of this, but no one ever has the same story, which makes it difficult to piece things together. The problem seems to be: while new artwork will display in iTunes, it does not travel with the file (eg, when copying to another Home Shared iTunes) nor does the Finder icon of the track’s file display the artwork. Seems like the image data isn’t being written to the file. Doesn’t seem to be a problem with iTunes 10.4 in Snow Leopard, though. There’s no homemade fix that I am aware of so we’ll have to wait to see if Apple does something about it.

iTunes 10.4 is Available

Obligatory post for the record: iTunes 10.4 is available, optimized for Lion–yes, that means it’s 64-bit Cocoa!

iTunes 10.3 Available

Apple released iTunes 10.3 which has the new iTunes in the Cloud feature that will be a part of iOS 5 and OS 10.7 Lion later this year. Auto-downloading and re-downloading of purchased content to your various devices is enabled.

NEW: Drop to Add and Give Info

I often have to add files to iTunes that I’ve received as mail, iChat, or Skype attachments or from other disparate sources. They’re usually audio files that friends or colleagues have generated and aren’t necessarily song files. They usually don’t have any ID3 Tag info other than the file name/track name. I just drag ‘em to iTunes, select a batch after they’re added and multi-edit their tags. But somehow this workflow doesn’t feel right to me. If I were ripping a CD, I’d enter the tags in the CD tracks before importing. Likewise, when I use PDF Adder I’m obliged to enter any tag info first.

But when I’m importing the files from the Finder I can only edit the tag info after the files are added. Thus, I have to find them in iTunes, select them, press Command-I to get the multi-edit window, and then I can start tag editing. Doesn’t feel right.

So I put together a droplet called Drop to Add and Give Info that launches a GUI for multi-editing after you drop files on it but before the files are added to iTunes:

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