Adding On: Scripts and Beyond


I've already mentioned that you can enhance the capabilities of iTunes through AppleScripts that automate iTunes in various ways.

You can also enhance the iTunes visualizerthe feature that displays those psychedelic patterns as your music plays backby adding plug-ins. Visualizer plug-ins may not be as practical as AppleScripts, but on-screen psychedelics can often be more fun than practicalities.

Here's how to download and install iTunes AppleScripts and visualizer plug-ins, as well as information on some other programs that can round out the audio spoke of your digital hub.

Visualize Cool Graphics

If you're a fan of the iTunes visualizer, try out some of the free visualizer plug-ins available on the Web. My favorite is Andy O'Meara's free G-Force, which goes well beyond the built-in iTunes visualizer. For example, you can "play" G-Forcecontrolling its patterns and colorsby pressing keys on your keyboard as a song plays back.

You can find G-Force and other visualizer plug-ins by going to www.macilife.com/itunes.

Most visualizers include installation programs that tuck the plug-ins into the appropriate spot. But, just for the record, iTunes visualizer plug-ins are generally located within the iTunes folder of your Library folder.

Automating with AppleScript

AppleScript is a powerful automation technology that is part of the Mac OS and many Mac programs, including iTunes. AppleScript puts your Mac on autopilot: when you run a script, its commands can control one or more programs and make them perform a series of steps.

Dozens of useful scripts are available for iTunes. You might start by downloading the set of scripts created by Apple (www.apple.com/applescript/itunes). After you've experimented with them, sprint to Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes (www.dougscripts.com), where you'll find the best collection of iTunes AppleScripts.

Find iTunes add-ons aplenty. www.macilife.com/itunes


Completing Your Audio Arsenal

Dozens of programs are available that enhance or complement iTunes. Here's a quick look at a few of my favorite audio things. For links to these and many more iTunes companions, see the Web address above.

Synergy This inexpensive program lets you control iTunes without having to switch into iTunes. Synergy provides keyboard shortcuts that let you play, pause, change volume, and even assign ratings to songsno matter which program you're using at the moment. Synergy also adds a menu to your Mac's menu bar that lets you start and stop playback, skip to a particular playlist, and much more. When a song begins playing, Synergy displays a cool-looking "floater" that lists the song and artist name, album cover art, and other information.

Toast Titanium Roxio's Toast Titanium is a burning program for serious CD arsonists. Toast can burn DVDs as well as audio and data CDs, and provides more control over the burning process. Just one example: while iTunes puts the same amount of time between each song on a CD, Toast Titanium lets you specify a different interval for each song. Toast Titanium also includes the CD Spin Doctor audio-recording program discussed on page 71.

For even more burning power, spring for Toast with Jam. A companion program to Toast, Jam adds advanced burning features, including the ability to create DJ-like crossfades between music tracks: you can have one track fade out while the next track fades in.

Volume Logic This inexpensive plug-in from Octiv installs within iTunes and essentially remasters your music as it's playing back. Technically, Volume Logic performs five-band dynamics processing and look-head peak limiting. Oversimplified, it's a set of volume, bass, and treble knobs that adjust themselves thousands of times per second. FM radio stations have long used this kind of audio processing to add punch to their signals; now it's available for iTunes.

The results are amazing. A cheap set of computer speakers suddenly sounds better, and a good set of speakers suddenly sounds superb. Volume Logic excels at enhancing dance, electronic, and R&B tracks, but it also adds sparkle and punch to subtler genres, such as jazz and classical.

Airfoil On page 72, I lamented that the AirPort Express base station supports wireless streaming from iTunes only. With Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil, you can work around this limitation. Airfoil hijacks any program's audio output and routes it through AirPort Express, making it possible to pump RealAudio and Windows Media sound to your AirPort Express.

Salling Clicker If you have a Bluetooth-equipped Mac and a Bluetooth-equipped Palm handheld, you can turn the handheld into a powerful remote control for iTunes (and many other Mac programs, including iPhoto). A version of Salling Clicker is also available for many popular Bluetooth-quipped cell phones. Combine Salling Clicker with an AirPort Express base station, and you've got a wireless audio system with a remote control.

Clutter The freeware Clutter program puts the iTunes album-artwork feature to work in a genuinely fun way. Clutter displays a CD's artwork in a Now Playing window and in the Mac OS X dock. Here's the fun part: drag the artwork from the Now Playing window to your desktop, and Clutter creates a small button containing the artwork image. Double-click that button, and the CD begins playing back.

Having a party? Create a few on-screen stacks of your favorite CDs and let folks riffle through them. Have a few favorite discs? Stack them on your desktop, where they're just a couple of clicks away. When you're tired of the clutter, just quit the program, and the buttons disappear.




The Macintosh iLife '06
The Macintosh iLife 06
ISBN: 0321426541
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 229
Authors: Jim Heid

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