Archive for June, 2005
06.30.05
Posted in Software at 11:41 am by Nicholas
Apple now has an Official FAQ on the podcast support in iTunes 4.9 with, among other things, a little bit of detail on the bookmark feature I mention in my AppleScript page. An interesting point is that the play count tracking works differently in the podcast library than it does in the regular music library: although the play count number isn’t incremented until you reach the end of a track, a podcast episode is no longer considered “unplayed” the moment you hit the play button. This is visually represented by the disappearance of the blue dot to the left of the episode title. What it means, though, is that if you use the built-in play count-based management (“Keep all unplayed episodes” in the settings panel), episodes you’ve started but not finished won’t be synced to a clickwheel-equipped iPod. Just one more reason to use my script instead.
Daring Fireball today features the best explanation I’ve ever read of the iPod’s commanding market share. I particularly like the bit about the font change—I personally am not a typography geek (though my limited desktop publishing experience has left me with a deep and burning hatred for Comic Sans and Matisse ITC and the people who use them), but I love reading analyses by people who really know and love this stuff.
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06.29.05
Posted in Software at 5:54 pm by Nicholas
As I mentioned yesterday, the new version of iTunes with podcast support rendered the most popular post on this blog obsolete. Since iTunes has an option to automatically delete podcast episodes you’ve already listened to, the main reason for using the script is now built-in.
But not the only reason. There still isn’t a way to mark tracks for removal or retention while away from the computer, listening to tracks on an iPod. I’ve updated the script to work with iTunes 4.9’s built-in podcast support, and I’ve created a special page just for both versions of the script. Enjoy.
Also on that page is a little bit of technical information on some of the interesting features included in the new iTunes. Executive summary: Apple now has the premiere platform for listening to podcasts, at home and on the go. If you’re listening on anything else, you’re missing out.
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06.28.05
Posted in Software at 10:01 am by Nicholas
A while back I created an AppleScript to manage podcasts in iTunes. That script, which has brought more traffic to this blog than all my other posts combined, just became obsolete. Today Apple released iTunes 4.9, which includes support for podcasts.
Rather than putting enclosures into a separate playlist or genre, iTunes 4.9 keeps them separate from the rest of your Library. Clicking “Podcasts” in the “Source” window brings up a list of all your podcast subscriptions, each of which can be expanded to view all the individual files that have been downloaded or are available to be downloaded. The iTunes Music Store now has a Podcasts genre, and the directory contained all the podcasts I currently subscribe to except one (the exception was My Silver Mount Zion, a post-rock music podcast, which I’ve submitted for inclusion). Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a way to subscribe to podcasts that aren’t already in the directory. This is incorrect—see update below.
The part that makes my script redundant is in the settings for the podcast source: you can tell iTunes to keep all episodes, just the most recent episode, all unplayed episodes, or the most recent 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 episodes of each podcast. I’ve set mine to “all unplayed episodes.” Unfortunately, there’s no way to use ratings to save or keep episodes regardless of play count, so my script still has some functionality that isn’t duplicated in iTunes—but I could probably script a way to manipulate play count based on ratings. I’ll look into it.
Update: You can add podcasts that aren’t in the directory, simply by dragging a link to the RSS feed into iTunes. I’d tried this before and it didn’t work, but I was trying to drag the URL from NetNewsWire. Dragging a link from Safari works just fine.
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06.22.05
Posted in General at 11:02 am by Nicholas
There are advantages to working at a school. Although my position as Assistant to the Director of Technology does not allow for three months of summer vacation, my work schedule opens up nicely from June through August—I work four days a week, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. There are no kids around, and few other staff members, so I have plenty of time and space in which to get things done. And there’s no one around to complain about my music, so I’m finally catching up on all those albums I’d been meaning to listen to. Between the iTunes Music Store, eMusic, and AllofMP3, I’d managed to accumulate literally hundreds of unheard tracks in my iTunes library—a Smart Playlist revealed that the total length of these tracks was well over two days of continuous music. In the past week I’ve winnowed that down considerably; the unheard tracks now total around one day and twenty-one hours … not including a little over a day’s worth of podcasts … or nearly ten solid days of unheard This American Life MP3s.
I found out earlier this month that next year, in addition to being the middle school computer teacher, I’ll be taking over sixth through eighth grade Latin. I have three months to brush up. Wish me luck.
Also, I bought a car.
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06.20.05
Posted in Literature at 4:22 pm by Nicholas
One of my favorite books, H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, is now available as a beautifully illustrated online comic. It’s not complete yet—it’s at twelve pages so far, out of a planned 120—but I’m impressed so far.
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