Mac OS X Hacks

Sharing Your Listening Preferences

iTunes and a little hackery make sharing your currently playing track a snap.

Listening to music while you work is a given for a large portion of the computing populace. Without music, the halls and cubicles seem a little lonelier, the days seem a little slower, and eating is more lifeless than usual. Music is a part of our computing lives, and being without it can be traumatizing.

Just as we enjoy listening, we also lust after more music to whet our auditory ensembles. Hearing an unknown artist, falling in love, and then orchestrating a search for MP3s or used CDs is a part of many of our lives as well. Suggestions from friends is a crucial part of our discovery process.

With iTunes, telling people what you listen to is easier than you think. Utilities like the donationware Kung-Tunes (http://www.kung-foo.tv/itti.php) publish information on your currently playing iTunes track on your web site, allowing the world to tune in to your musical enjoyment. Alternatively, use the freeware Moa Tunes (http://beam.to/woodenbrain) to alter the signature of your Entourage or Eudora email messages with the music that accompanied your response. Even Inter-Relay Chat (IRC) programs are getting into the act, as the shareware Snak (http://www.snak.com/) provides a MusicalOSX script that will display tracks in IRC channels.

If that’s not enough, and you want iTunes integration with every instrument you use daily, check out the following piece of AppleScript, ...