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30 Most Recent RSS FeediTunes 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.
UPDATED: Update Expired Podcasts v2.2 (and launchd project)
iTunes will stop updating a Podcast subscription if you haven't played at least one of its episodes in five days. Update Expired Podcasts v2.2 will go through every Podcast subscription and update it so you don't have to manually update each one individually.
This latest version adds a routine that checks to see if iTunes is running before proceeding with updating the Podcasts. Now, you may be asking yourself: if I'm running the script from the iTunes Script menu then why would the script need to check if iTunes is already running? Because: I'm going to show you how to regularly launch the script automatically and invisibly in the background and you may not want iTunes to run when the script fires. If you're not familiar with launchd then read on.
Thousands of Empty Playlists?
I've been hearing of an iTunes Match glitch that somehow or another creates thousands of empty playlists. Here's a script that will delete every empty playlist:
tell application "iTunes"
set y to (get index of last user playlist)
repeat with i from y to 1 by -1
try
set thisPlaylist to user playlist i
if special kind of thisPlaylist is none then
if not (exists track 1 of thisPlaylist) then
delete thisPlaylist
end if
end if
end try
end repeat
end tell
It may time-out because the number of actions it has to perform is so large. Just run it until the empties are gone.
UPDATED: Restore Artwork from Album Folder v2.1
Restore Artwork from Album Folder v2.1 will look for an image file in the parent folder of each selected track's file—presumably its "Album" folder—and apply the data from that image file as artwork for the track.
This latest version addresses an issue whereby the script stalls when no image file is found and logs folders without image file to Console.
UPDATED: Search-Replace Tag Text v3.0
Search-Replace Tag Text performs a search-and-replace with the text in your choice of tag (Song Name, Show, Artist, Album Artist, Album, Composer, Comments, Genre, or Grouping) in the selected tracks or all the tracks in the selected Playlist.
This latest version is written as a Cocoa-AppleScript applet for OS 10.6 and 10.7 only and features case sensitive and whole word matching, as well as a "dry run" mode that will display a list of what will be changed before you actually commit to the search and replace.
Dupin v2.4 Available
Dupin v2.4 is now available. You can download it from the Dupin page or, if you have an earlier version, click "Check for Update..." in your Dupin's Application menu.
Dupin is the iTunes duplicates manager.
New in version 2.4:
- Can detect if iTunes Match is enabled
- Addresses issue of having to individually acknowledge deletion of each track when iTunes Match is enabled
- Can identify iTunes Match "cloud tracks"
- Adds column header contextual menu to show/hide columns
- Fixes text coloring issue when window not frontmost
- Updates names of columns for parity with modern iTunes
- Other minor enhancements
Dupin v2.4 is a free update for registered users of v2.x.
Dupin Lite v1.1.3 Available at the Mac App Store
Dupin Lite v1.1.3 fixes an issue running Filter on a selection of tracks whereby it would appear that the app had stopped working. (The standard version of Dupin is not affected by this issue.)
Interesting iTunes Dock Pop-Ups
A tip at Mac OS X Hints describes the hidden Dock preferences in Lion that allow Dock pop-ups to display currently playing iTunes track info. Interesting.
iTunes Library Manager and iTunes Match
I have received a handful of disparate reports regarding issues running iTunes Library Manager with iTunes 10.5.1. In short, iTLM will not display backed-up libraries correctly and in one scenario crashes when attempting to Save or Load.
I am currently investigating these issues, no doubt precipitated by changes in iTunes 10.5.1 file management. Under the circumstance, I cannot recommend using iTunes Library Manager if you also intend on using iTunes Match.
