Introduction
Conductor is a Revolution stack that allows you to control virtually every playback aspect of Apple's iTunes on Mac OS X. This control is achieved using AppleScript, but knowledge of AppleScript is not needed; instead Transcript-like syntax is used to get values from and send commands to iTunes.
Features
Conductor allows you to manage all the standard playback functions in iTunes: play, pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. You can also "scrub" the current track by clicking on the playback meter and dragging left or right. Clicking a song in a playlist will display information about the selected song, while clicking the "current tracK" field will cause the lists to "snap back" to the current playlist and song. You can set the volume level, the shuffle and repeat settings of the current playlist, and even adjust the preamp and equalizer settings. And, by replacing Conductor's controls with your own, you can apply custom "skins" to your iTunes controller!
How It Works - libiTunes
No rocket scientists were used to build Conductor. The stack relies on the libiTunes library: a collection of 42 Transcript-to-AppleScript commands and functions that allow Revolution to control iTunes and retrieve values from the iTunes application. Click "about..." in the minimized interface to see documentation and examples. Most of the scripts employed here are freely available on the 'net, but Rev developers can save time and effort by having a prebuilt, easy-to-use library at their disposal. Why wrestle with AppleScript when Transcript is so much more developer-friendly!
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Availability
Currently, Tactile Media is offering a beta version of the demo stack which includes the libiTunes library. The libiTunes scripts are protected but you are encouraged to play with the Conductor stack and see how it works for you. Once the beta has undergone enough testing, we'll make the library available for a paltry US$10. We think 10 bucks is a bargain given the time and research that went into developing the library. When you try Conductor, remember, it is a beta -- save any open stacks before launching. And let us know if you find any problems with the demo.
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Note: Conductor was built for Mac OS X, and provides control over iTunes' playback functions only. Features such as playlist management and CD burning are not included here, but may be implemented later.
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