iTunes and AppleScript: new scripts; new script menu

Apple has posted a set of AppleScripts for use with iTunes 2.0.3. In addition to the scripts themselves, the page explains how to reveal a Script menu in the iTunes application menu bar to access both Apple's scripts and any you might create yourself. To enable the Script menu, simply create a folder inside the iTunes application folder (In Mac OS X, create the folder inside the home/library/iTunes directory.) We found that at least one script must be included inside the folder before the script menu would appear. A number of the scripts posted by Apple seem useful mainly to explain how to do something simple, such as controlling iTunes without manipulating the interface. However, others are more sophisticated. One of our favorites is the script to create labels in AppleWorks based on the contents of a playlist.

Margin note: After years of neglect and lukewarm support, it's clear from items such as this, along with OS X improvements like AppleScript Studio, the Script Menu Extra, and toolbar scripts, that Apple has decided to shine the spotlight on AppleScript, and push to make the tools and documentation necessary for broader support. We strongly support this endeavor, and hope that over the next year more developers add AppleScript support to their applications. We currently use AppleScript to help with some of the heavy lifting needed to produce MacFixIt, and we think its wonderful that this nearly decade-old technology is finally beginning to realize its potential.