Hello Paul,
I'm glad the "Super Remove Dead Tracks" script worked for you, but I'm sorry
that you had difficulty navigating to the download link. When I am on the web
page for a specific AppleScript at the "AppleScripts for iTunes" site, I simply
navigate to the heading for the script and then read the description. The two
links for "download" and "read me pdf" immediately follow the description, so I
navigate to them using right arrow (with QuickNav on) or VO-Right arrow in
succession. Usually I'll first pass the "download" link and activate the "read
me pdf" link (by pressing up and down arrows simultaneously with QuickNav on,
or by using VO-Space) to bring up the description and check whether there are
any more details of interest about how the script operates. Then I'll close
the window with the "read me pdf" description (since I have Safari configured
to open new links in new windows instead of new tabs) and left arrow (or
VO-left arrow without QuickNav) to the "download" link a
nd activate it. I don't usually bother to read through the instructions under
the heading for "download & install" any more.
I also have, courtesy of one of the earlier AppleScripts for iTunes
distribution, and " Open Scripts Folder" AppleScript. (The name actually has a
blank space at the beginning so that it will show up at the beginning of the
alphabetically ordered menu.) Its contents look like this (just 4 lines that
you can paste into the AppleScript Editor):
tell application "Finder"
open folder (((path to library folder from user domain) &
"iTunes:Scripts") as string)
activate
end tell
So when I want to navigate to my account Library's Scripts folder for iTunes,
in Finder, I can go to the first menu entry for "Scripts" on my iTunes menu bar
and find " Open Scripts Folder", which is simply the AppleScript that I listed
above, located in my ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder. Selecting that will open
a Finder window pointing to this folder. Then when I want to paste in a new
AppleScript for iTunes, I just copy it from the installation window, switch
Finder windows with Command-comma to the one pointing to the
~/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder, and paste in the app. I then eject the dmg
file for the AppleScript, and send both the .zip file and .dmg file in my
Downloads folder to the Trash.
The AppleScripts for iTunes site was a big help when iTunes was transitioning
in accessibility. A lot of the functions that we originally wanted to use were
accessible as AppleScripts. It also turned out that a lot of features that
general users wanted to be added to iTunes first showed up as AppleScripts on
this site. In fact, at one time Doug had a "Missing Menu Commands" page that
listed AppleScripts for features that were so useful that he thought they
should be incorporated into the base iTunes. (Most of them eventually were
adopted, which is why there is no longer a separate page with that title.)
There are also apps for cleaning up duplicate entries (like "Corral all
Dupes"), but if that situation has really gotten out of hand, there is a heavy
duty paid version of the app called "Dupin" ($15). There's also a "Dupin Lite"
app ($7.99 instead of $15) if you only want to identify and delete the
duplicate tracks (false links), instead of also managing them (i.e., also
clean up and consolidate multiple real entries for the same track in your
library).
However, a lot of the extensive list of donationware AppleScripts, which make
up most of the site's entries, are also very good. Main site address of the
AppleScripts for iTunes web site is:
http://dougscripts.com/
Cheers,
Esther
On Sep 12, 2011, at 08:50, Paul Hopewell wrote:
> Hello Esther,
> Many thanks for the attached. YOu are amazing - you always have an answer for
> everything! the Super remove dead tracks script is indeed just what I need.
> It found 1090 dead tracks in my iTunes library and so was well worth running.
> Most of these dead tracks relate to audio books each of which contains 30 to
> 120 tracks. the most difficult thing with the script was getting it to
> download, as I could not find the "red download button" using VO and Safari
> 5.1. I eventually found the button via the item chooser. From then on it was
> straightforward.
> Many thanks again for the pointer to the script. I will check out Doug's
> other scripts as he has a pretty nice collection.
> All the best....
>
> Paul Hopewell
> On 11 Sep 2011, at 23:17, Esther wrote:
>
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> If I understand your request correctly, you've deleted items from your
>> iTunes Media Folder using Finder instead of iTunes itself, and so you have
>> dead links to entries that the iTunes database still records as being in
>> your iTunes Library. If this is the case, you might try the AppleScript
>> named "Super Remove Dead Tracks v3.2" from Doug Adams' Applescripts for
>> iTunes site:
>> http://dougscripts.com/212
>>
>> Here's the description:
>> Surveys iTunes for tracks whose files are no longer available (so-called
>> "dead" tracks, as indicated by a "!" next to their names) and removes them.
>> Outputs a text log listing the tracks that were removed by Name, Artist, and
>> Album.
>>
>> OS X 10.6 or 10.7 only. Universal version for PowerPC machines available at
>> the link below in the "Info" section.
>>
>> For each AppleScript on the dougscripts.com site there is both a "download"
>> and "read me pdf" link. VoiceOver will also describe the first link with a
>> title: "Click to download this script" and the second with "View or download
>> a PDF version of this script's Read Me (which is included in the download)".
>>
>>
>> Doug gives very complete information on how to install and use his
>> AppleScripts, both on the web pages and in the accompanying PDF file for
>> each AppleScript. On the page there is a "download & install" heading which
>> gives the standard procedure for installing his AppleScripts:
>> <begin quote>
>> 1. Click the red download button. A .zip file will be downloaded to your
>> "Downloads" folder.
>>
>> 2. The .zip file should open a disk image (.dmg) file which will mount and
>> display in the Finder.
>> Now, open a new Finder window and navigate to your
>> [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder.
>>
>> If there is no folder named "Scripts" there, create one.
>>
>> 3. Select and drag the files from the disk image window into the "Scripts"
>> folder. Scripts placed in this folder will appear in the iTunes Scripts menu.
>>
>> 4. Close the disk image window and eject it from the Finder sidebar.
>> <end quote>
>>
>> For all versions of Mac OS X, you can copy and paste the files from the disk
>> image window to the "Scripts" folder as an alternative to dragging it.
>>
>> The basic idea behind AppleScripts is that if you place them in a "Scripts"
>> folder in your user account's Library folder, under the folder for a
>> particular application (in this case, "iTunes"), then an additional menu
>> named "Scripts" appears on the menu bar for that app, with menu options
>> corresponding to that AppleScript. These work just like regular menu bar
>> options. In the case of "Super Remove Dead Tracks", I'd select my library
>> in the iTunes sources table -- say, "Music". Then I'd navigate to the
>> iTunes menu bar with either Control+F2 or VO-M, and press "s c" to move to
>> the "Scripts" menu and VO-Space to open it. (For those of you using TrackPad
>> Commander, do this by using a two finger double tap at the top of your
>> TrackPad, then flick left a couple of times to "Scripts", and double tap to
>> open the menu. You can also use QuickNav to navigate to the Scripts menu
>> and open it; again, left arrowing twice from the Apple Menu will save you a
>> few key presses over using
t
> he
>> right arrow, and open the Scripts menu by pressing the up and down arrow
>> keys simultaneously.) Navigate to the option "Super Remove Dead Tracks" in
>> the menu (with VO-Down arrow, arrowing down, or flicking down according to
>> which Commander you are using) and select the option (press "Return" or
>> VO-Space, or press the up and down arrow keys, or double tap, again
>> according to which Commander you are using.)
>>
>> You'll get periodic menu prompts reporting the script's progress (e.g. 1000
>> songs scanned and 1 dead link found), and finally, you'll be told when this
>> is down and have the option to view a log file of the dead links found and
>> removed.
>>
>> The AppleScripts for iTunes are donationware. They're free to download, but
>> if you find them useful you're encouraged to send in a donation. Also,
>> since there has been some recent discussion about AppleScripts, I'll just
>> mention that they can be saved either to a folder in your user account's
>> Library folder or to the system's /Library folder. The difference is
>> whether they appear in menus for your account or all user accounts, and also
>> whether (if they are in Scripts folders for specific apps) whether they show
>> up under the menu bar for that app or the general Scripts menu on the status
>> menu bar. If you begin to use lots of AppleScripts, the general Scripts
>> menu on the status menu bar can begin to get congested and more complicated
>> to navigate, even when organized into folders. So I generally follow the
>> directions given in Doug's AppleScripts site and put these into my own user
>> account library under ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts. If this is the first time
>> you've used Appl
e
> Sc
>> ripts in iTunes, you'll have to create a "Scripts" folder. Just use the
>> Command-Shift-G "go to folder" shortcut from Finder and type or paste in
>> "~/Library/iTunes" (without quotation marks) into the text field and press
>> return. If you don't feel comfortable using the tilde symbol (which means
>> the current user), first press Command-Shift-H to go to your home directory,
>> then when you press Command-Shift-G type or paste in "Library/iTunes" and
>> press return. (Note there is no slash before "Library" in this case, and I
>> believe Finder will ignore case.) If there is no "Scripts" folder you can
>> create one with the Command-Shift-N shortcut to create a new folder, or by
>> choosing the "New Folder" option in the "File" menu on the Finder menu bar.
>>
>> HTH. In general, the "AppleScripts for iTunes" site is quite useful, and
>> when I want to find something that I think will exist there I do a Google
>> search on "dougscripts" along with the iTunes function I'm looking for.
>>
>> HTH. Cheers,
>>
>> Esther
>>
>> On Sep 11, 2011, at 07:09, Paul Hopewell wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>> In the past I have incorrectly deleted items from my itunes Media Folder
>>> forgetting to delete them from the iTunes library. Is there any way to
>>> clean up the itunes library so that it matches the contents of the itunes
>>> Media Folder,? One way would be to delete the itunes library and re-create
>>> it from scratch but as it is rather large that could take a long time!
>>> Many thanks for any tips.
>>>
>>> Paul Hopewell
>>
<--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net --->
To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net
You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at
either the list's own dedicated web archive:
<http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html>
or at the public Mail Archive:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>.
Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml>
The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and
worm-free!
Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting the
list website at:
<http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
