Search Owl from iTunes

Hey Boppers,

Just thought I'd share with all of you a small AppleScript I wrote which enables you to search for music on the Owl Multimedia website directly from your iTunes application (sorry, it's Mac-only, see below). It's easy to download, easy to install, and easy to use.

(Unfortunately for our Windows using fans, my programming skills are limited to web-based languages, VCRs, and AppleScript. If any of you have experience building Active X components and interest in empowering your PC brothers and brotherettes, feel free to contact me about writing a similar Owl Music Search plug-in for iTunes for Windows.)

Oh, and in case iTunes isn't your music app of choice or you just like to tinker, the AppleScript is released uncompiled under GNU GPL, so feel free to improve on it and share it as you see fit. Let us know if you develop anything interesting and we'll post it here for everyone to share.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD
Download the .zip archive which contains the script and the corresponding READ ME file. Double-click the archive icon to unzip the contents.

HOW TO INSTALL
To activate the script, simply place the file named "Search Owl Multimedia" in your iTunes Scripts folder. This folder is located inside of the /Users/YOUR USERNAME HERE/Library/iTunes directory. If there is no folder named "Scripts" in the folder, create one, and then copy the script file into it.

Voila! The script will now appear as "Search Owl Multimedia" in the AppleScript menu of your iTunes application.

HOW TO USE
Launch the iTunes application and play a song from your music library. Listen to the song or scan it to find your favorite part. When you find a part that interests you, select "Search Owl Multimedia" from the AppleScript menu.

If no track is playing, the script will search using the currently selected track in your library. If no track is selected, you will receive an error message. Select a song and try again.

The script will direct your default web browser to the Owl Multimedia website and perform a search based on your selection. You can further refine your search using the search player in the browser.

Browse the results and enjoy scores of similar songs!

NOTE: The site currently requires that all song files be valid mp3 audio files encoded at a sample rate of 44.100 kHz. If the song you have selected is encoded in another format (OGG Vorbis, WAV, AAC, etc.) or at another sample rate (22.050 kHz, 16.000 kHz, etc.), you will receive an error message. Select another song and try again.

Enjoy,
furf