iPod Artists to Notes Reader

[Lindan]

I manually made a set of .linx files for the Notes reader of my iPod that mirrored the list of artists I then had in my iPod's music library. The difference was that it let me start browsing first by "letter", then by "artist". This allowed me to search a smaller list of artists than navigating through the entire list in the music library. The drawback to all of this is that I've since removed some of those artists and added new ones, so of course, my .linx files are not accurate anymore. I was wondering if there would be a way to have a script read the .xml file from the iPod, and generate the proper .linx files.

[Doug Adams]

If a .linx file is some kind of text file (can you tell I'm not familiar with it?) you can use AppleScript to create a file filled with text. What you want to look up are the open for access, write and close access commands. If you want to see an AppleScript I wrote that writes a text file, have a look at List MIAs (http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=listmias).

Use an AppleScript to create the text file by gathering the info the way you want it.

Then its just a matter of saving the file where you want it on the iPod, and of course, AppleScript can do that too.

[Lindan]

Thanks for the info. I'm not fluent in AppleScript and wouldn't have known where to begin. A .linx file is indeed a text file. It's just one of three extensions I know the Notes Reader on iPod can read. My roommate has taken it upon himself to write what I want in Perl, so I'm excited to see what will come of that, but an AppleScript I could write myself would better (self reliance).