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Media (Apple) Businesses Media Music Apple

Wrappers for MP3 CDs in iTunes? 36

Posted by Cliff from the making-your-creations-compatible dept.
Nikopol asks: "iTunes is very good at dealing with MP3 CDs made by itself, but MP3 CDs made with other software (in this particular case, HP MyCD on a Win 98 computer) aren't recognized at all. The ability to make an MP3 CD available as a source in iTunes is due to an XML file iTunes puts on each MP3 CD it burns. Other MP3 CDs, lacking such file (in fact, I think this file is on a separate HFS+ partition), are bound to appear in ISO9660 form on the desktop...and those MP3 are then bound to be permanently stacked in the main iTunes library, thus voiding much of iTunes Dynamic Playlists usefulness. Is it possible, via a plugin or some trickery, to generate such XML file that would allow iTunes to see any MP3 CD as a source? In fact, such trickery would ideally be applicable not only to MP3 CDs, but to networked drives or folders too! (I know, I know...Rendezvous...but it isn't implemented widely yet!)"
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Wrappers for MP3 CDs in iTunes? More

Wrappers for MP3 CDs in iTunes?

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  • Auto-Run (Score:5, Informative)

    by WatertonMan ( 550706 ) on Monday March 17, 2003 @07:58PM (#5533077)
    iTunes is very good at dealing with MP3 CDs made by itself, but MP3 CDs made with other software (in this particular case, HP MyCD on a Win 98 computer) aren't recognized at all.

    What do you mean they aren't recognized? I do this all the time and I've never had trouble. iTunes doesn't recognize it automatically when you put the disk in. So you do have to drag and drop the directories. Make sure under preferences you've not selected to copy the files to your iTunes directory automatically. They should play fine.

    OSX doesn't "autoplay" CDs. This has been discussed many times. I personally see this as a good thing, given all the problems its caused me under Windows. I suspect if you wish you could create an Applescript to play the files in iTunes when a disk is mounted. I'm not sure how one would do this though. The CD preference pane allows you to run an Applescript when a Music CD is mounted, but I don't think that MP3 CDs count since they are basically just data disks. Probably what you'd want to do is attach an Applescript to the /Vol directory. You'll need to be administrator to do this.

    • Re:Auto-Run (Score:3, Informative)

      by komor ( 659825 )
      > OSX doesn't "autoplay" CDs.
      > I suspect if you wish you could create an Applescript to play the files in iTunes when a disk is mounted.

      That's not true, at least on 10.2.
      1. Look into System Preferences, click on CD/DVD icon.
      2. Set a preference for "When you insert a music CD" to "Open iTunes".
      3. Open iTunes, then open Preferences.
      4. Set a preference for "On CD Insert" to "Begin Playing".

      One flaw: when you insert a CD while iTunes is NOT launched yet, then it doesn't autoplay - iTunes is launched A

      • Re:Auto-Run (Score:4, Informative)

        by WatertonMan ( 550706 ) on Monday March 17, 2003 @09:35PM (#5533636)
        That only autoplays *music* CDs. The CDs in question are MP3 CDs which are just data CDs filled with MP3 files.

        That's why I said you may wish to tie an Applescript to Vol. I don't know if OSX allows you to attach a script to the Volume directory. But you can attach them to other directories such that they run when the contents change.

        In this case you'd have an Applescript that might "buffer" the MP3's or just tell iTunes to play them.

        That's all that iTunes is doing with the XML file they write to the data disk. It expects the XML file in a certain place and it contains the paths of the MP3s to play. In this case you are just emulating that functionality with a folder script.

        Oh, when I was discussing "auto-play" I was talking about how under Windows even data CDs can exectue a script. This is why when you put in a CD it will often open up a window. Besides being a security nightmare this can be annoying. Apple allows you to autorun specific programs or scripts for PhotoCDs, Music CDs, and video DVDs. It *won't* do it for anything else.

        • Re:Auto-Run (Score:2, Interesting)

          by komor ( 659825 )
          > That only autoplays *music* CDs. Uhm, I haven't got the idea, sorry. But hey, I can recall several disk images with some shareware software or system updates, that launched installer automatically, after mounting. So maybe there is some API to "autoplay" any volume mounted, just like in classic Mac OS and Windows?

          • Re:Auto-Run (Score:3, Informative)

            by WatertonMan ( 550706 )
            I don't know what programs you are speaking of. I've never encountered this with 3rd party applications and believe such things are not allowed. Although Apple does it with some of their installers - so it is feasible. For instance the original Safari installer copied files and then unmounted the DMG file. I may be wrong but I believe this isn't possible with CDs. It appears to be a feature of the latest version of Disk Copy (which mounts DMGs) and is an undocumented feature Apple has used for some of

            • Re:Auto-Run (Score:3, Interesting)

              by WatertonMan ( 550706 )
              I did some more checking. Apparently Toast will write an autorun CD that runs under classic. (The mode that lets OSX run legacy software) The classic autorun will actually let you run OSX software. The problem is that if classic isn't running it won't work. (And for most people classic typically isn't running) That may be what you saw. Autorunning CDs was possible in System 9 but is not part of OSX. (Justifiably so given the security concerns)
              • No, I centainly didn't account Classic apps in my recall, don't treat my as a complete fool :-) Apparently you are right, that only Apple disk-images use the "autorun" feature, I don't remember it that precisely. Of course I understand the difference between Audio-CD, Data-CD (and MP3-CD, which is really a Data-CD). The only reason I started to comment on this topic is that you wrote "OS X doesn't autoplay CDs" which I misunderstood, so I think it's time to EOT for me :-)

                • Re:Auto-Run (Score:1, Informative)

                  by Anonymous Coward
                  those 'autorun' disk images can be easily created. all ya gotta do is create your disk image, then from the terminal type in:

                  hdiutil internet-enable -yes [path to DMG]

                  the 'self-destruct' only works once though. so if after copying the files and disposing of itself in the trash you drag the disk image back out and open it again, it will not copy the files and dispose of itself again unless you set it from the command line. similarly, to disable it you run:

                  hdiutil internet-enable -no [path to DMG]

                  from
            • >To do this you use Folder Actions. [apple.com] The folder
              >in question is /Volumes, a normally invisible directory.
              >This is the directory that OSX mounts all external file
              >systems, such as external hard drives, network shares, /
              >and CDs. It then uses it to create those icons of disks on
              >your desktop.

              Yeah, I think Folder Actions are the solution. What I really want to do (and I realize I didn't state it clearly enough in my post) is to be able to see MP3 CD and network folders as a sourc
            • For instance the original Safari installer copied files and then unmounted the DMG file. I may be wrong but I believe this isn't possible with CDs. It appears to be a feature of the latest version of Disk Copy (which mounts DMGs) and is an undocumented feature Apple has used for some of its installers.

              I believe you will find this particular feature of Disk Copy documented here: Internet-Enabled Disk Images [apple.com]
            • The self-copying DMGs you speak of are actually documented. They are called 'internet enabled' DMGs.. Check out http://developer.apple.com/ue/files/iedi.html.. Basically it boils down to: hdiutil internet-enable -yes file.dmg .. et voila!
        • I've got a couple of music CDs that autolaunch classic apps. Drives me crazy. Anyone know how to disable this without turning off classic? I have even sometimes resorted to ripping the tracks and reburning the discs to get rid of the software portion. Yet another perfectly valid reason to be against DRM.

          Devon
          • I've got a couple of music CDs that autolaunch classic apps. Drives me crazy. Anyone know how to disable this without turning off classic?

            Launch Classic. Run the Classic QuickTime control panel. Uncheck the autoplay boxes.

    • Re:Auto-Run (Score:4, Informative)

      by macmurph ( 622189 ) on Tuesday March 18, 2003 @12:42AM (#5534520)
      So you do have to drag and drop the directories. Make sure under preferences you've not selected to copy the files to your iTunes directory automatically.

      If you hold down the option key while dragging the music to iTunes, it will do the opposite of what this preference is set to do. In other words, if by default, dragged music is copied to the iTunes folder, it will not get copied if the option key is held during the drag.

  • Burn a CDRW (Score:4, Informative)

    by Van Halen ( 31671 ) on Monday March 17, 2003 @08:11PM (#5533167) Journal
    This is by no means an ideal solution, but it has worked for me in the past [slashdot.org]. Simply import the MP3s from the original CD to your library (temporarily rename the library if you don't want the CD's files getting stuck in your main library). Then burn a MP3 CDRW from iTunes and use that for as long as you need it. Erase and reuse when you're done.

    If you want to take it a step further, you can do what I did. I burned a MP3 CDRW with the songs I wanted and then looked at the resulting ContentsDB.xml file on the new CD. Then I took that file and edited it to match the file layout I wanted on my target CD, since I didn't want the default layout that iTunes creates. If you needed to do this a lot, I'm sure a perl script to automate it would be pretty easy to whip up.

    Like I said, certainly not an ideal solution. Unfortunately I don't know of any way to do this without creating a second CD, but maybe someone else can come up with something better. Or maybe this will help someone think of a better idea.

  • anyone out there know how [if its possible] to get
    iTunes to burn a regular music cd with the track names and other id3 stuff on the cd so my sony car deck can read and display them?

    thanks yall
    • The only way I found to do that is by burning with Toast. I did find an applescript that will take your current itunes playlist and send it over to Toast so all you need to do is click "Burn". That's the good news.

      The bad news is it is a German applescript. The name of it is "Audio brennen mit Text." I believe I found it on Versiontracker. It is a read only script so I'm not sure exactly what it is doing behind the scenes (I have used it enough to know it doesn't appear to be doing anything malicious), but

  • invisible file (Score:4, Informative)

    by benh57 ( 525452 ) <bhines@alumnREDH ... edu minus distro> on Monday March 17, 2003 @10:04PM (#5533762) Homepage
    The invisible plist file you see on Mac CDs is not really there. It is a virtual file created by the mac CDDA filesystem. Look at the CDs on a PC, you will see that it does not exist.
    • its on an hfs partion, which isnt read by the PCs.

      • Re:invisible file (Score:5, Interesting)

        by jweatherley ( 457715 ) <james@nosPam.weatherley.net> on Tuesday March 18, 2003 @03:53AM (#5535139) Homepage
        *its on an hfs partion*

        No it's not! The grandparent is correct, the XML file does not exist, it is faked by OS X. When you mount a CD there is only one volume and it contains the music and the xml file.<br>

        Here's what you get - notice the file '.TOC.plist' lives in the same place as the tracks and also note that it contains references to www.apple.com making it unlikely to have been put there by whoever made the disc. Also note that the CD itself is pre-OS X...

        bash-2.05a$ ls -la /Volumes/The\ Rocky\ Horror\ Show\ -\ Original\ London\ Cast/
        total 771530
        dr-xr-xr-x 2 unknown unknown 4224 Mar 18 07:38 .
        drwxrwxrwt 5 root wheel 170 Mar 18 07:38 ..
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 3744 Mar 18 07:38 .TOC.plist
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 37154624 Mar 18 07:38 1 Science Fiction - Double Feature.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 63640496 Mar 18 07:38 10 Rose Tint My World.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 23030864 Mar 18 07:38 11 I??m Going Home.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 23120240 Mar 18 07:38 12 Superheroes.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 13331216 Mar 18 07:38 13 Science Double Feature.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 26114336 Mar 18 07:38 2 Damn It, Janet.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 35562320 Mar 18 07:38 3 Over At The Frankenstein Place.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 35813984 Mar 18 07:38 4 Sweet Transvestite.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 37098176 Mar 18 07:38 5 Time Warp.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 27617264 Mar 18 07:38 6 Sword Of Damocles.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 22332320 Mar 18 07:38 7 Hot Patootie.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 26502416 Mar 18 07:38 8 Touch-A-Touch-A-Touch-A-Touch Me.aiff
        -r--r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 23701184 Mar 18 07:38 9 Once In A While.aiff
        bash-2.05a$ more /Volumes/The\ Rocky\ Horror\ Show\ -\ Original\ London\ Cast/.TOC.plist
        <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
        <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.
        com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd" >
        <plist version="1.0">
        <dict>
        [snip XML...]
        • I don't normally do this but...

          Do you mean 'references' to www.apple.com as in...
          <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd" >

          This is the bit of an XML document that links it to the DTD, so that a program knows what 'type' it is. The reason that there is a URL to apple in there is that this DTD is held on apples server, as you would expect with a file format designed by apple for apple's operating system. How does this 'link' make th
        • Offtopic, I know but...

          When a CD is mounted in OS X (10.2.4, anyway - 10.0 was .aiff, then 10.1 was .cdda, now we're back to .aiff), those files are not actually AIFF files. I found this out while trying to encode directly off the CD using FLAC. They have to be opened in QuickTime Player, and then you use the export command from there to make a real AIFF. For the file opened directly off the CD, QuickTime Player reports it as "16-bit Little Endian, Stereo, 44.1 kHz, 16 bits", but a QuickTime created AIFF i
  • I've never seen this kind of 'fault'....I think this is user error, and not related to iTunes.

  • Networked playlists were possible for a short time (Score:3, Informative)

    by PrimeWaveZ ( 513534 ) on Tuesday March 18, 2003 @03:22AM (#5535049)
    But Apple revoked license to the API for the author of iCommune, a "device" plug-in that actually allowed for the browsing and playing of MP3s on remote volumes from within iTunes. I, personally, think that it is technically a "device," but Apple apparently did not. There goes that part of your idea. :/
  • FYI: We have an AppleScript called MP3 CD to Library [malcolmadams.com] that works with iTunes in OS 9 -- some of the Finder scripting this script uses is not available in X.

    Doug
    Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes [malcolmadams.com]
    RSS [malcolmadams.com]

  • here's how to do it from the shell (Score:3, Informative)

    by klparrot ( 549422 ) <klparrot@ho[ ]il.com ['tma' in gap]> on Tuesday March 18, 2003 @05:39PM (#5539667)
    Requires some command line fun. Yay! Not sure how to automate this so that it occurs when you insert a CD, but here's what you can do manually.

    I'm not sure what the XML file contains, since I don't have a CD burner on my iBook, but assuming you can generate the file, here's what you can do to make it sit side by side with the contents of the CD, without copying the CD to your hard drive.

    1. Insert your CD.
    2. Generate the XML file based on the CD's contents. Store it in an empty directory.
    3. Open up a Terminal window. I use bash as my shell, but I think tcsh would work the same.
    4. Type df then look at the entry that corresponds to your CD. Remember the /dev/diskXsY part.
    5. Type /usr/sbin/disktool -u diskX (where X is the number from the last step) and your CD will unmount.
    6. Type /sbin/mount_cd9660 -o union /dev/diskXsY path-to-folder-with-xml-file to mount your CD in the folder with the XML file.
    You should now see the files on the CD and the XML file in the folder. You should be able to use the folder as an iTunes library.

    When you want to eject the CD, you'll have to unmount it and eject from the command line; it's not under control of Disk Arbitration anymore, so your regular eject button won't (in my experience) work.

    1. Type /sbin/umount /dev/diskXsY to unmount the CD.
    2. Type /usr/sbin/disktool -e diskX to eject.
    And you're done! Have fun!
  • Well, I get the same problem with MP3 CDs I made for my RioVolt. The CDs iTunes made automatically show up and can be played but for other CDs, I have to include them in the library, which is a drag (no pun intended). So, is there a straightforward way to add support for any CD containing MP3s?
    TIA!

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