Results tagged “iTunes” from Bill's Words

Is anybody else annoyed that iTunes can’t seem to remember what you were doing last when you start it back up again?

For a program whose lineage is as long as Mac OS X, which has enabled that behavior by default for all other applications, solving this annoyance is long overdue.

This article tells you how to download the software for your iOS devices directly in Safari and then tells you that you can tell iTunes which update to install manually.

However, there’s also a great use for these directly-downloaded files if you have multiple iOS devices to update. Use the referenced links to download multiple iOS updates simultaneously—the total for downloading all of your updates is as long it takes for iTunes to download just one update. Then put the files into the appropriate ~/Library/iTunes/(iPod/iPhone/iPad Software Updates) folder.

Then, when you plug in your iOS device for updating, the download process is skipped, the update is verified, and you’ve saved yourself waiting for sequential downloads to occur.

Is this a big deal? Could be. I plug in multiple iOS devices and update as many as I can simultaneously and once you click “Update” for one of them, all operations are halted for the others. (You did know iTunes will do more than one device simultaneously, didn’t you?) Last night, I had to update two iPads, iPhones 3G, 3GS, and 4, and iPod Touch G2. That’s five firmware files and would have been about 1.5 hours of downloading via iTunes vs. 15 minutes with Safari.

I just noticed the other day that iTunes now displays episode numbers (not just episode ID’s) in the various video playlists. This is a feature that I’ve asked for a long time. Does anybody know when it showed up?

This script will look through a bunch of tracks selected in the iTunes window and will attempt to clean up the “feat” (which takes care of “feat.” or “featuring”) info in the Artist field. It’ll try to make it look nice by making it say “(with so-and-so)” instead.

It’ll make this: look like this: in one swell foop!

Download the script from here, unzip it, open it with Script Editor, and read the instructions contained in the script.

Clean Up Featured Artist Info.zip

Feel free to comment below.

(By the way, the artist I’m showcasing here is my mom’s cousin, Dr. Bette Stalnecker performing with The Jordanaires.)

This script will look through a bunch of tracks selected in the iTunes window and will attempt to move any information in the track name that follows the words “feat” (which takes care of “feat.” or “featuring”) or “with” and moves that info to the Artist field. It’ll try to make it look nice by making it say “(with so-and-so)” in the Artist field.

It’ll make this: look like this: in one swell foop!

Download the script from here, unzip it, open it with Script Editor, and read the instructions contained in the script.

Move Featured Artist Info.zip

Feel free to comment and stuff below.

(By the way, the artist I’m showcasing here is my mom’s cousin, Dr. Bette Stalnecker performing with The Jordanaires.)