iPod and iTunes Hacks

Hack Kung-Tunes into a Dynamic Server

Turn the Kung-Tunes utility into a server-side PHP machine and take the public display of your listening habits to the next level.

Say you’re working at your Mac while listening to some cool song and thinking “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could share what I’m listening to with my blog readers?” Well, you can! iTunes includes extensive AppleScript support, so why not write a script so you can share information about the songs you’re currently playing?

Kung-Tunes (http://kung-foo.tv/kung-tunes; donationware) is a utility that retrieves the information about the currently playing track in iTunes and uploads it to a web server. For information on setting up Kung-Tunes, visit http://www.kung-foo.tv/blog/archives/000324.php. Also, check out “Upload a Graphic of Your Currently Playing Song” [Hack #62] for another way to let your friends know what you are listening to right now.

Kung-Tunes is an extreme example that takes sharing listening info to the next level. It periodically checks whether iTunes is playing and then asks for details about the currently playing track. These details are then inserted into a highly customizable template and saved to a local file. Optionally (that is, if your Mac is not also your server), this file is submitted to your web server via FTP or HTTP, as shown in Figure 4-61.

Figure 4-61. Kung-Tunes, showing the currently playing ...