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30 Most Recent RSS FeedHardcode Airplay Device Speakers
Correspondent Matt Stevens sent the following, which illustrates how to hard code your Airplay device names:
tell application "iTunes"
set computerSpeaker to (first AirPlay device whose name = "Computer")
set kitchenSpeaker to (first AirPlay device whose name = "Kitchen")
set current AirPlay devices to {computerSpeaker, kitchenSpeaker}
end tell
The current AirPlay devices application property accepts a list—even if the list is only one item.
Airplay device properties
These are the new Airplay device properties accessible via AppleScript:
active (boolean, r/o) : is the device currently being played to?
available (boolean, r/o) : is the device currently available?
kind (computer/AirPort Express/Apple TV/AirPlay device/unknown, r/o) : the kind of the device
network address (text, r/o) : the network (MAC) address of the device
protected (boolean, r/o) : is the device password- or passcode-protected?
selected (boolean) : is the device currently selected?
supports audio (boolean, r/o) : does the device support audio playback?
supports video (boolean, r/o) : does the device support video playback?
sound volume (integer) : the output volume for the device (0 = minimum, 100 = maximum)
Notice that all the properties are read-only (r/o) except for selected and sound volume, meaning only those two properties can be changed; the others can only be polled.
Basic Airplay script
This is a pretty basic use of the new Airplay stuff. Select and set your Airplay devices:
tell application "iTunes"
set apNames to (get name of AirPlay devices)
set apDevices to (get AirPlay devices)
set rez to choose from list apNames with prompt "Select Airplay:" with multiple selections allowed
if rez is false then return
set apPlays to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of apNames
if item i of apNames is in rez then set end of apPlays to item i of apDevices
end repeat
set current AirPlay devices to apPlays
end tell
iTunes 11.0.3 Released
iTunes 11.0.3 was released today. Mods to the Mini player seem to be the most obvious. Under the hood, AppleScript has some new Airplay access.
First, there's a new Airplay device class and AirPlay enabled and current AirPlay devices application properties which should make scripting Airplay operations pretty easy. I'll have some stuff later.
The track class gains a iTunes U property ("is this track an iTunes U episode?").
More as it develops.
UPDATED: File Renamer v2.2
File Renamer will rename the files of the selected tracks (or the files of the tracks in the selected playlist) with a filename pattern that is formulated using the tracks' tag data. Optionally, export a copy of the files to a chosen location and rename the files in that location.
This latest version fixes a problem with escaping file path delimiters, fixes an issue with closing the Preview window, and has other minor fixes and enhancements.
You can download it here.
UPDATED: Export Selected With M3U v1.1
I've been wrestling with how to get files onto a USB stick for my car's audio system for some time now. The system can read files on a stick and then sort them by Songs, Artist, Album, Genre, Folders, and Playlist; but unless the files are loaded just-so, playlists are empty, data goes missing, files can't be played. I've also heard from Correspondents who report similar difficulties with their devices and it's obvious that there is no single standard convention for file storage among the many types of media players out there. Some players can't read subfolders, some require subfolders; some need everything in a "MUSIC" folder; some need specialized file-naming; and so on. (My car can also read the data from various generations of iPods and iPhones but, again, not consistently.)
Export Selected With M3U v1.1 will copy the files of the selected tracks to a user-chosen location—presumably some kind of portable media—and then create a M3U playlist file in the same location with relative file path references to the copied files.
The options available should be able to contend with any configuration required by any particular player. This latest version adds pattern-substitution file renaming and can optionally detect if the selected volume is FAT32 formatted which some players require.
More information, screenshot of results, and download is here.
UPDATED: File Renamer v2.0
Week or so ago this site got some hits from a post at Reddit which served to remind me that "Uh, this site's been around for thirteen years." One of the comments reported that "I used a file renamer script that renames files based on the tracks metadata. It changed all my .m4a tracks to .mp3 and broke a lot of my library even though I told it to not replace file extensions." Sorry about that.
The original version of File Renamer (which was written by a fellow named Tino Heth) was posted in January 2002 and it hasn't been updated since. Back then, there were only MP3s, so the script didn't have to account for M4A. Unfortunately, it didn't account for any other extensions either. So I thought if people are still talking about it after all these years I'd better update it.
You can download it here.
iTunes 11.0.2 Released
Apple released iTunes 11.0.2 today. It fixes some iCloud/iTunes Match playlist issues, adds a Composer View, and other fixes and performance enhancements. More as it develops.
NEW: Search Results to Playlist
I've been using a variation of this search script for a while so I thought I'd update it with some customization settings nailed on and post it (there's a simple snippet version of it here). The thing is: I often want my iTunes search results to go directly to a playlist so I can get right to work on them there, usually tag editing. Without some automation this is typically a multi-stage grind comprised of searching, selecting track results, making new playlist, naming new playlist, locating and selecting the tracks again when new playlist gets focus (stab!), putting tracks into playlist by any one of various means, and then forgetting why I was searching for these tracks in the first place. (Related memory-loss issue: Name New Playlist From Selection.)
Search Results to Playlist puts a floating window over iTunes that provides the ability to search iTunes and copy the track results to a designated Results Playlist.
It can search the entire library, the selected playlist, or any of the categories (Music, Movies, Books, etc) for text in All, Name, Artist, Album, or Composer tags and then copy the results to a playlist. The script will create this Results Playlist if necessary. If the playlist already exists then the track results can replace its current contents or may be appended to it.
NEW: Export Selected With M3U
I've never had much use for M3U playlist files until we finally got a car (2011 Dodge Charger) with an audio system (so-called) that can accept a USB stick. Plus, over the years I've often been asked about getting iTunes files onto portable media (going back to the MiniDisc). So I whipped up this script, Export Selected With M3U, to export a selection or playlist of tracks' files to a user-chosen location and then create an M3U playlist file referencing the tracks:
And because not every player can use this configuration, there's also an option to place the audio files in a discrete subfolder.
...more
