iPod and iTunes Hacks

Rewind or Pause the Current Track

Rewind the currently playing track a specified number of seconds and then play, or pause the track.

If you use your iPod for recording and transcribing speeches, lectures, or meetings, you’ll appreciate this hack. Import the recording into iTunes, and you can use this script to alternately rewind the current track a specified amount and pause it, making transcription a lot easier.

The Code

The script applet stays running until its reopen handler is called by clicking its icon in the Dock. When the reopenhandler is called, it alternates between two actions: rewind the currently playing track seven seconds and then play it, and pause the currently playing track.

    property secondsToRewind : 7
    property iTunes_is_paused : false

	on run
	  rewindiTunes()
	  set iTunes_is_paused to false
    end run

	-- every other call to reopen performs one of two tasks
	on reopen
	  if iTunes_is_paused then
		rewindiTunes()
		set iTunes_is_paused to false
      else
	    tell application "iTunes" to pause
		set iTunes_is_paused to true
      end if
	  -- tell application "Some Application" to activate
    end reopen

	-- handler to rewind the current track
	to rewindiTunes()
      tell application "iTunes"
        if player state is not stopped then
          set pos to player position
		  if (pos is greater than secondsToRewind) and ¬ (pos is less than finish of current track) then set player position to pos - secondsToRewind play end if end if ...