Another iTunes Thought

[Doug Kaye]

Hey, Norm...

I wonder if this scenario is possible:

1. I find a podcast (series) I like in iTunes.

2. I click on some combination of links/buttons in iTunes.

3. That podcast is then (a) submitted to SpokenWord.org via our API,
and (b) therefore comes back to iTunes as part of your collection.

I have no idea if this is possible or even desirable.

...doug

Doug Kaye, Executive Director
The Conversations Network
A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit
do...@rds.com
v: 415.453.1400
twitter: dougkaye

[Norman Lorrain]

I don't think we'd be able to do that.  iTunes has it's own "browser" for interacting with the store; clicking on Subscribe is an internal thing and I don't see how we can hook into that.

-Norm.

[thomas....@gmail.com]

Perhaps some deamon in the background would do the trick?

LastFM was able to at least source the music you listened to and
deliver that to outside the itunes network using scrobler or what ever
that is called.

thomas

Thomas Petersen
Partner/Creative Director

Hello
Fredericiagade 15
1310 Copenhagen K
Denmark

On May 4, 7:25 pm, Norman Lorrain <normanlorr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't think we'd be able to do that.  iTunes has it's own "browser" for
> interacting with the store; clicking on Subscribe is an internal thing and I
> don't see how we can hook into that.
>
> -Norm.
>

> On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Doug Kaye <d...@rds.com> wrote:
>
> > Hey, Norm...
>
> > I wonder if this scenario is possible:
>
> > 1. I find a podcast (series) I like in iTunes.
>
> > 2. I click on some combination of links/buttons in iTunes.
>
> > 3. That podcast is then (a) submitted to SpokenWord.org via our API,
> > and (b) therefore comes back to iTunes as part of your collection.
>
> > I have no idea if this is possible or even desirable.
>
> >     ...doug
>
> > Doug Kaye, Executive Director
> > The Conversations Network
> > A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit

> > d...@rds.com
> > v: 415.453.1400
> > twitter: dougkaye

[Doug Kaye]

Because we have a number of new subscribers to this list, I realized
many of you may not realize that we have alpha software ready for you
to test.

Please go to the group's Files page and download version 0.2 for your
platform: http://groups.google.com/group/spokenword-itunes/files?hl=en

1. Dowload.
2. Install.
3. Start.
4. Login with your SpokenWord.org username and password.

The app will just sit there in the background performing the following
functions:

a. If you rate a program that you've received via a SpokenWord.org
collection's RSS feed in iTunes (or rate on your iPod/iPhone then sync
with iTunes), that rating will be transmitted to SpokenWord.org.
b. If you remove one of those programs from iTunes, it will likewise
be removed from your collection(s) on SpokenWord.org.

...doug

Doug Kaye, Executive Director
The Conversations Network
A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit

[Doug Kaye]

Hi, Thomas. A background daemon is exactly what we're developing and
testing. Please download it and give it a try:
http://spokenword-itunes.googlegroups.com/web/ReadMe.txt

...doug

[Robin Frousheger]

Hi there,

I'm not sure my "SWiM"* agent is actually doing anything - apart from the initial logon data, no logs are generated in the app.

I'm using 0.2 on a Mac OSX Leopard 10.5.6 Intel with iTunes 8.1.1 (10) ... which is curious as SWiM reports "Player:iTunes 8.0.2 OS X (Tiger)".  I suspect this is a symptom of my fault - somehow it's looking at a different iTunes than the one that is running or as far as I can tell, the only iTunes installed.

Naturally, no changes have been noted in my collection. No ratings have been passed through, no deletions have occurred.

Regards,
Robin


* Spoken Word iTunes Monitor

[Doug Kaye]

Couldn't see anything in the .gif attached to your message, in case
that was significant.

Norm: I have the same results. I, too, am running iTunes 8.1.1 but the
app says 8.0.2.

Robin: If the app is running and you rate a program -- one that was
downloaded from your SpokenWord.org collection -- does that rating
data then appear on the website if you reload that program's page?
That's the behavior we're looking for.

...doug

Doug Kaye, Executive Director
The Conversations Network
A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit
do...@rds.com
v: 415.453.1400
twitter: dougkaye

On May 12, 2009, at 6:38 AM, Robin Frousheger wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I'm not sure my "SWiM"* agent is actually doing anything - apart
> from the initial logon data, no logs are generated in the app.
>
> I'm using 0.2 on a Mac OSX Leopard 10.5.6 Intel with iTunes 8.1.1
> (10) ... which is curious as SWiM reports "Player:iTunes 8.0.2 OS X
> (Tiger)". I suspect this is a symptom of my fault - somehow it's
> looking at a different iTunes than the one that is running or as far
> as I can tell, the only iTunes installed.
>
> Naturally, no changes have been noted in my collection. No ratings
> have been passed through, no deletions have occurred.
>
> Regards,
> Robin
>
>

> * Spoken Word iTunes Monitor <330.gif>

[Robin Frousheger]

Hi Doug,

Heh, nothing important in the gif, just the smiley face (thanks GMail).

No, none of the ratings I have made in iTunes are appearing on SpokenWord.org, nor have any deletions been passed through as "un-collects".

Regards,

Robin.

[Froosh]

Hi again,

I've done a quick trial with my Windows PC at the office for
comparison and can now see what *should* be happening but definitely
isn't on the Mac at home. Ratings from the PC are sent through
immediately, as are deletions.

Deletions from multiple collections works brilliantly. The same
ratings appear to be resent over and over, every time something
happens in iTunes relating to the collection feed, which has the
effect of making iTunes the authoritative source for ratings. If I
rate an item in iTunes, then re-rate it on SW and refresh the podcast
feed in iTunes, SWiM resends my rating and overwrites the change made
via the Website. iTunes does not appear to see any ratings made via
the web site, but that may be something that needs to be logged as a
bug separately via the feedback channel.

I can e-mail the complete log from the applet on request.

Regards,
Robin.

-------- example rating send --------
Sending report to SpokenWord.org
http://www.spokenword.org/program/284259 80
OK
Received User-Agent: CNPlaylog/1.0 osx/appName:1.2.3.4567
Received Username:froosh, Password:xxxxxxxxxxxx
Found <playlog> element
Version 1.0 is a match.
Timestamp:2009-05-14 02:40:00Z
Player:iTunes 8.1.1.10 Windows (Microsoft Windows NT 5.1.2600 Service
Pack 3)
Program
GUID: http://www.spokenword.org/program/284259
ProgramId: 284259
Rating: 80
--------

On May 13, 4:26 pm, Doug Kaye <d...@rds.com> wrote:
> Couldn't see anything in the .gif attached to your message, in case  
> that was significant.
>
> Norm: I have the same results. I, too, am running iTunes 8.1.1 but the  
> app says 8.0.2.
>
> Robin: If the app is running and you rate a program -- one that was  
> downloaded from your SpokenWord.org collection -- does that rating  
> data then appear on the website if you reload that program's page?  
> That's the behavior we're looking for.
>
>      ...doug
>
> Doug Kaye, Executive Director
> The Conversations Network
> A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit

> d...@rds.com

[Doug Kaye]

Hi, Robin.

I saw this on my Mac, too. It turned out to be a bad URL. (It had an
unencoded space in it.)

Email me the URL of your My SpokenWord.org page and I'll check it out.

Thanks.

...doug

Doug Kaye, Executive Director
The Conversations Network
A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit

do...@rds.com
v: 415.453.1400
twitter: dougkaye