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iTuny Adds iTunes Controls To Launchy
Posted by Adam Pash at 5:00 AM on October 1, 2008
Windows only: iTuny is a free plug-in for popular application launcher Launchy that controls music playback and so much more. Once installed, iTuny adds several actions to Launchy that allow you to play, pause, stop, or advance playback, which alone is a nice start. iTuny doesn't stop there, though; you can also rate songs, show track info, set the volume, search your library, create new playlists, display album art, post to Twitter, and more. iTuny also integrates with previously mentioned Snarl to display notifications when you invoke iTuny commands via Launchy. The installation and setup are a little confusing, so keep reading for a closer look at how it works.
First, to install iTuny, run iTunes Control.exe from the unzipped download (I grabbed the latest version from this post). You're given the option to choose where iTuny installs (though the installer doesn't exactly explained that to you); I chose Launchy Utilities for both location options.
Once you've done that, iTuny is officially installed and ready to go. However, if you want to use some of the advanced features—like Snarl or Twitter support—you need to run the iTuny config. To do so, just invoke the iTunes Config command in Launchy.
To enable Snarl support, just tick the Snarl checkbox. If you want to post to Twitter or Pownce—which updates with a "Listening: Song - Artist (Album)" message—just enter your username and password for the service of your choice.
iTuny may be a touch confusing to get up and running (be sure to take a look at the README that comes with the download to get a better understanding of what commands are at your disposal), but if you're a Launchy lover and iTunes is your default music player, the iTuny plug-in is a must have.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
lacrimaeveneris
Posted 5:24 AM 1/10/08
Hmm. Is there anything similar for MediaMonkey?
lacrimaeveneris
garbanzo-bean
Posted 5:10 AM 1/10/08
can you not control iTunes through the command line? that's how i added a foobar controller to my Samurize config...
garbanzo-bean
JuryDuty
Posted 6:13 AM 1/10/08
@alcyone: Agreed--or via the Vista Sidebar...or your multimedia keyboard. Why on earth would you want to use Launchy for this?
JuryDuty
alcyone
Posted 6:09 AM 1/10/08
You can easily control iTunes via the taskbar. That's way faster than bringing up the Launchy box and typing the commands. Unless you hate using the mouse or you really need that 150 pixels in the taskbar.
alcyone
leoeris
Posted 5:58 AM 1/10/08
the best way to control itunes on windows is to delete it and install foobar.
leoeris
leoeris
Posted 5:57 AM 1/10/08
using itunes on windows is rather masochistic.
even my beloved launchy can not remedy that.
leoeris
johnsmith1234
Posted 6:32 AM 1/10/08
Windows media player sets global hooks for the media keys when it's running. Since most computers come with keyboards featuring media keys, ya might as well use them.
Does iTunes not have this functionality? I'm pretty sure Winamp has it as well.
As much as I find WMP a little bloated for my tastes (normally use VLC or media player classic for videos and single files), it really isn't that bad for sorting a large music library and syncing to devices (which is why I use it). The same can't be said for iTunes which is bloated unstable POS.
johnsmith1234
andrewl85
Posted 6:20 AM 1/10/08
It's much easier to control iTunes by using Keybreeze. Just tap the semicolon and press 1 to pause, Semicolon + 2 to skip to the last song and Semicolon + 3 to skip to the next song.
andrewl85
Alderfin
Posted 5:42 AM 1/10/08
...or Winamp?
Alderfin
Kaelri
Posted 6:49 AM 1/10/08
I can appreciate the idea. But this seems like an incredibly roundabout way to issue simple commands to an application with a graphic interface.
I use Autohotkey to create universal hotkeys for iTunes.
Ctrl+\ - Show/Hide
Ctrl+Left - Next Song
Ctrl+Right - Previous Song
Ctrl+Space - Play/Pause
Since iTunes has its own internal hotkeys for almost everything, I find it much faster to open it (Ctrl+\) and use those. With a few exceptions ("rate," "quit," "tag," and "info" could be useful in a pinch), I feel like typing out a Launchy command requires both more time and more thought.
What I would really like is a way to index iTunes songs and playlists in Launchy, so that I could play a song by typing "[Library/Playlist Name] Tab [Song Name] Enter". With a command like that, I'd almost never have to focus on iTunes, and since I hardly ever need to access an MP3 file alone, I could clear out a few thousand redundant entries in my Launchy database.
Kaelri
spiralout987
Posted 6:44 AM 1/10/08
I like AutoHotKey for this.
spiralout987
darkdantedevil
Posted 8:44 AM 1/10/08
Any way to do this with Executor?
darkdantedevil
booticon
Posted 9:29 AM 1/10/08
Yeah, this is pretty nifty, and I love Launchy, but I just minimize iTunes and enable the iTunes toolbar in Windows so I can have playback control right in the taskbar. This seems like far too many keystrokes.
booticon
darkdantedevil
Posted 9:15 AM 1/10/08
oop nm I apparently am a config retard, just figured out how to use hotkeys!
darkdantedevil
f0vela
Posted 12:56 PM 1/10/08
Thanks Adam for the heads up :)
I made iTuny to serve my need to control iTunes through Launchy as I have my apps windows maximized all day and iTunes minimized with no taskbar so this was the best way to acces it without interrupting my work flow. :)
iTuny is made with AutoHotkey and as I saw before can be used with Dashed and I think can be used with Executor (not sure about the last one) someone told me that he even tried it with voice commands.
Thanks again Adam.
f0vela
garbanzo-bean
Posted 3:00 PM 1/10/08
@emnem: i feel your pain. i use foobar to manage my ipod, but once a year or so i feel the need to format it and start fresh, so i install iTunes for an hour...
garbanzo-bean
emnem
Posted 2:36 PM 1/10/08
@alcyone: I don't see the point, either - if I did use iTunes (I don't) it's easy enough to control from the Taskbar.
emnem
emnem
Posted 2:34 PM 1/10/08
@leoeris: Agreed on Foobar many times over. Never will an iTunes-type-thingy (or an Apple Update or Bonjour-type-thingy) touch the oft-wayward innards of my precious computer ever again. I just don't know what to use to format the darn iPod - any suggestions?
emnem
metalmarious
Posted 7:51 PM 1/10/08
@Kaelri: I ditched iTunes because it didnt support Global keyboard shortcuts, now I only use it to sync my iPod,
metalmarious
vitalyb
Posted 9:25 PM 1/10/08
Find and Run Robot has a plugin for that as well, and at least from the sreenshots it is a better one too:
[www.donationcoder.com]
vitalyb
bachya
Posted 1:46 PM 2/10/08
...Or you could buy a keyboard with controls to manage iTunes, right? It seems a little tedious to open Launchy and run some command to interact with iTunes.
bachya
GiulioAcrisius
Posted 7:46 AM 1/10/08
Is there anything like this for Quicksilver on a mac?
GiulioAcrisius
BorisTheBrave
Posted 6:00 AM 1/10/08
@lacrimaeveneris: I knocked something up for this a while ago. I've published it for you. [www.boristhebrave.com]
BorisTheBrave