I’ve been wanting to learn more about programming in OSX. This would encompass learning Objective-C, which would be a long learning process. I can’t even do Javascript, so Obj-C is a bit out of my range. So, in the meantime I thought about learning more about Applescript.
Applescript is supposed to be a relatively easy language to learn. It can be used to make tedious processes like renaming files, resizing images, and other things like that as easy and quick as clicking a button. The problem comes from trying to figure out good applications for it. I’ve often had a problem with software and other reference books that teach you how to do something, but they don’t instruct you to watch-out for its ideal use. Software and code training books need to be written more like cookbooks – teach me the fundamentals, give me some training wheels to try out, and then let me go on my own.
With my Emusic plan I have to go through a ton of MP3s every month. These can be hard to track, listen to – it can get out of hand. So I wanted to figure out a process to help me manage these downloads. This could potentially be a very good application for Applescript!
Except I don’t know Applescript, but I do know my way around Automator.
So about a month ago I created the following process in Automator to easily import Emusic MP3s into iTunes.
- Get Specified Finder Items. (The “My eMusic” folder that the eMusic Download Manager creates.)
- Get Folder Contents – Repeat for each Subfolder Found. (Make sure it gets every download.)
- Add Files To Playlist. (I have a playlist called “To Listen” that I use for newly downloaded music.)
- Set Info of iTunes Songs. (I add “From Emusic” to the comments field of the imported music. This is used for a smart playlist of all my purchased music from iTunes, eMusic, Bleep, or wherever else.)
- Add Songs To Playlist. (I add the songs to a playlist called “To Burn” that contains anything I downloaded that I want to burn to CD.)
Cool, right? Here’s why it’s still in beta.
I want it to move the “My eMusic” folder to the trash. Last time I tried this it actually moved the music I just imported into iTunes. So instead of my music playing from the user folder, it played from the trash.
I want it to automatically add the last track. Emusic doesn’t always add the last track metadata to its MP3s. I want it to grab the number of the last track in each album imported and set that as the last track data – so if n = the number of the last track I’ll actually get each imported track to have the correct information of “1 of n.” Except this wouldn’t work for any music that I didn’t download the entire album for. Maybe there’s a way to get it to grab that information from MusicBrainz or something.