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30 Most Recent RSS FeedGetting Lyrics - The Problem
This week's Get Lyrical Fiasco gave me pause to consider some options iTunes users have at their disposal for gathering lyrics. First of all, there are several good applications that can do this--check Version Tracker.
No, scratch that.
I mean first of all, lyrics are copyrighted material and how you get them is your own business. As far as I know no music publisher posts lyrics royalty-free. All those lyrics web sites are copyright infringers. That's why when you do see lyrics legitimately published or posted, unless used for critical or newsworthy purposes, they also must include a disclaimer to the effect that permission was granted by the music publisher to use the lyrics. Sure, some people would argue that the lyrics are out there for anyone to write down or otherwise duplicate--one can listen to the radio and write down the lyrics of any song--but to publish them without the copyright owner's permission is an infringement of applicable laws.
That being said...
Apple did not provide the "lyrics" tag in iTunes so that wide-spread copyright infringement could ensue. Their defense could easily be, "Well, you can input any text you want in the lyrics tag. How an iTunes user decides what text to use in the lyrics tag is not our problem." And they would be legally safe and right.
Which of the following is legal under US copyright law?
- Listen to a song and transcribe its lyrics to the lyrics tag yourself
- Go to a lyrics site and copy the text and paste it to the lyrics tag
- Use an application that tries to locate the lyrics of a track and copy the text to the lyrics tag
The only legal answer is the first one.
I have tried to develop scripts that scour lyrics sites for accurate song lyrics. And you know what? I gave up. The majority of them are filled with so much advertising crap that it is a waste of time to try and parse around it. The fact of the matter is they exist to get your web hits. They are not a public service. Indeed, they are a public nuisance. If I were a music publisher, music artist, music writer, I'd be wicked pissed-off that my work is being stolen and re-published without my permission and without my being compensated.
I have read rumors that Apple is working with publishers to provides lyrics in tracks downloaded from the iTunes Store. That would be fine.
But stealing lyrics from crappy websites is just as bad as stealing music. Art's art, man.
Get Lyrical Error
Chris Shull's "Get Lyrical" script -- v2.3 was posted yesterday -- apparently only retrieves lyrics for "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. I have contacted Chris about fixing it.
Update: Apparently there are some other problems with the script. After editing it myself to fix the "BJ" problem, I was unable to get correct lyric text for very many song selections. Again, I have notified Chris.
UPDATED: Get Lyrical v2.3
Author Chris Shull let me know that he has updated his Get Lyrical to version 2.3. This script will attempt to get the lyrics of the currently playing or selected tracks from lyricwiki.org and store them in the track's lyrics tag. This latest version uses lyricwiki.org as the source for lyrics and fixes some single quote problems.
iTunes 7.3.1 - The Bug
Correspondent David B. writes: On my machine when I click the "-->" links in the artist name field to display all the tracks of that artist, it does not work if the artist name begins with "The". Yep. Same here.
Update: Apparently the same holds true for Album.
iTunes 7.3.1 and QuickTime 7.2 Released
Yesterday Apple released iTunes 7.3.1 and QuickTime 7.2. "iTunes 7.3.1 addresses a minor problem with iTunes 7.3 accessing the iTunes Library." This is the -50 error some people were getting when trying to update the library. I have not noticed any AppleScript-related changes. QuickTime 7.2 finally allows non-Pro users to view movies in full-screen plus contains additional bug and security fixes. It also provides an updated H.264 codec for exporting movies to an iPhone-compatible format.
Also, several Intel Mac users are reporting that applications fail to start and that Rosetta seems crippled after installing the latest QuickTime and/or iTunes. Ouch.
...And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
In the interest of supporting the site and evangelizing AppleScript (and for laffs), I've set up a T-Shirt & Mug store at Cafe Press. I make $5.00 Amerkin on every purchase which helps offset my own personal costs in keeping this site going. Hopefully, you'll find the wares enjoyable. Thanks in advance ;)
Proximity + iPhone
Proximity is an application (menu bar app, actually) that monitors the proximity of your mobile phone or other bluetooth device and executes custom AppleScripts when the device goes out of range or comes into range of your computer. Guess what? Couple of geniuses have written some example scripts for it that work in conjunction with iPhone.
iTunes Maintenance
Perhaps you change your car's oil on a regular schedule (you should). You pay bills on a regular schedule. Perhaps you have other household routines you schedule on a regular basis--cleaning bathroom, changing sheets, clipping the dog's nails, weeding the garden, Swiffering the computer desk, and so on.
How about tending to your iTunes music collection?
Many people who frequent this site are looking for AppleScript solutions that will instantaneously completely transform their un-tidy iTunes Library into a pristene-perfect Library of Congress-quality digital music collection. To the contrary, I've found that there's no need to try and get iTunes maintenance done in one fell swoop. If you take your time to manicure your iTunes music regularly you will not only avoid frustration but maybe get to know your collection better.
I spend only about a half-hour a week pruning, updating, re-tagging, deleting, Smart Playlisting.... Usually, the best time for me is on Saturday morning. Just after the second cup of tea and before my wife announces (decrees) the Weekend Activities. Here's my regimen:
- Find duplicates - Using either iTunes' own "Show Duplicates" or Dupin, I assemble a list of possible duplicates. This assemblage contains the (so-called) "original" track and the (so-called) duplicate(s). I actually listen to a portion of each track, and/or check the bit rate and sample rate, and/or do a "Get Info", and/or check the file (using "Show In Finder", Command/R) to make sure which is the "original" and which is/are the "duplicate/s". Delete accordingly. (See iTunes Help Menu "Keyboard Shortcuts" on how to delete tracks/files from a playlist.) Remember, I don't check every track since I only have a half-hour on Saturday before wife says clean garage.
- Check for empty tags - Do a sort by Album. Find tracks with blank albums. Do a sort by Artist. Find tracks with blank Artists. And so on with other tags. Correct, if necessary.
- Check Artwork - I use artwork tool in TrackSift. Then I use Find Album Artwork with Google to locate artwork. Of course, you can always use iTunes own "Get Album Artwork" in the Advanced Menu.
- Examine playlists - I'll often create temporary playlists (Smart and regular) and then forget about them. Now's the time to get rid of them.
- Archive TV Shows and Movies - I subscribe to several TV Shows. When the season ended for "Ugly Betty" and "My Name Is Earl" I dumped the shows to DVDs and deleted the files from iTunes. Likewise, I delete episodes of "The Daily Show" after a couple of weeks; since they are so topical, unless there is a real keeper, they get deleted.
- Always sort by Date Added - All my main libraries (Music, TV Shows, Audiobooks, and so on) are sorted by Date Added (newest on top) so I only have to scroll to the bottom to find out What The Deal Is. Archive 'em or delete 'em.
I certainly do other tasks which are me-specific, but the point is to do them regularly. Otherwise your library will almost certainly get out of control. Remember, you don't have to fix everything this Saturday. Take it one Saturday at a time.
iTunes 7.3 - Bundled Apps
Last August, this article at Mac OS X Hints pointed out the differences between AppleScript Application and Application Bundles running on PPC and Intel Macs. At the time, I asked if Bundles displayed and worked correctly in iTunes' Script Menu on an Intel Mac--they did not. However, the original poster, Harry Dymond, just emailed me to let me know that iTunes 7.3 (and/or perhaps OS 10.4.10) resolves this issue.
iTunes 7.3 - OSTypes Switched
A couple of Correspondents have noted that the OSType associated with the persistent ID property has changed to 'pPIS', which returns the persistent ID as a string. The previous OSType 'pPID' now returns a 64-bit number as in iTunes 7.1.1 and earlier. If you use raw Apple events to get this data then you may have to make some changes. (Thanks Milo and Manfred.)
