richardgoodwin.com

(Quick note, this tip is for Mac users only currently; if someone has a comparable method on Windows, or even Linux, let me know and I’ll add it).

 So you’ve added a ton of mp3’s to your collection, acquired by who knows what means, but many of them are missing artwork, and probably all are missing lyrics.

 As an iPhone/iPod Touch user, this frustrates you to no end, because when you are gazing lovingly at your iPod while jamming, you see a goofy big black note instead of mind blowing album art, and cover flow mode just seems to mock you.

Worse, when you want to know if Jimmy is saying "excuse me, while I kiss this guy", you have no way of knowing…tapping the screen brings up nothing but frustration (and the playback controls). 

 Well here’s a quick and dirty (and free, the best kind of) solution to get you set up in a jiffy.

It involves two pieces of software:

• Gimme Tunes - This amazing little iTunes companion/plugin generally does a few things:
• Show a bubble popup during song transitions with song info
• Grabs artwork for a song when it plays (ding!)
• Grabs lyric for a song when it plays  (ding!)
• And then we have NeedleDrop. NeedleDrop is an AppleScript that interacts with iTunes to automatically play N number of seconds of a song, and works its way automatically through a playlist (or all music if you’re not in a playlist).  

So, you can see where this is going. GimmeTunes would be perfect if it would automatically go through songs; NeedleDrop would be perfect if it grabbed artwork and lyrics. Like other famous matches made in heaven, if you put your NeedleDrop and my GimmeTunes, you’ve got a great solution.

 I won’t go into full installation details, it’s a Mac, it’s easy anyway, but here are the basic steps:

1. Install iTunes (99% of you have this)
2. Make sure your music is listed in iTunes (I suspect you’re here already)
3. Install GimmeTunes
4. Make sure the preferences are set to grab artwork and lyrics (pretty sure they are)
5. Install NeedleDrop (this one is slightly more tricky, read the doc that comes with it)
6. Select the first song in your Music list, or make a Playlist that contains only the tracks without lyrics and artwork. (Check out the NeedleDrop site for other scripts that may help here. I just used my entire folder because what can it hurt?)
7. Launch NeedleDrop and tell it to play at least the first 5 seconds (it defaults to 10), and 0 seconds from the start of the file. (Not that this one matters)
8. Hit ok and watch it rip!
9. I like to turn on the lyrics window (Show Lyrics in GimmeTunes) to verify it is grabbing lyrics properly for a while.

The time it takes is equal to (Number of seconds of each song to play * number of songs in collection). Mine finished in just a few hours, running in the background while I worked.

 It may not be the most elegant (or only way), but it worked for me and didn’t cost a dime. If you have other ideas (for other platforms, solutions, etc.) drop em in the comments!

(I just submitted this to the Obama campaign, from the Contact Us page. I urge you, if you agree, to do the same)

++++

Senator (and soon President) Obama,

I think the work done by the campaign has been amazing, in terms of the use of web technologies and properties to not only promote Obama but also to disseminate clear, understandable information.

I think it would be an exciting game changer if Obama were to publicly state, in the weeks remaining, his intentions to maintain a new kind of political "dashboard" site, that continues in the tradition of barackobama.com.

Rather than fade into the government woodwork and lose transparency, I’d like to see something like presidentobama.com or similar that tracks ongoing issues, policy positions, and breaks down bills, laws, and amendments in the same clear language and fashion that invites a two way conversation with the president and public.  Don’t let the social aspect of the campaign die; use the tremendous power of open and shared communication, and the skills you have demonstrated during the campaign, to foster a new kind of relationship between the public and elected office.   

I’ve followed you on Twitter, I’ve downloaded the iPhone application, and I would say there’s no doubt that you and your campaigns initiatives to use new communications mediums have played a role in my increased perception of involvement. Don’t squander the valuable and palpable connections you have made with people

Let’s see continued involvement campaigns, talk back features, community organization efforts. You have demonstrated your ability to mobilize and engage people to participate in the democratic process, perhaps more than anyone in recent history. Don’t leave that lying on the table when you walk into the oval office.

I had to choose a category to send this email, and I wavered between "offering the campaign a suggestion" and "a voting issue". I think this is significant enough to be the latter.

The current whitehouse.gov site has made interesting, but far too little progress in this area. Please take the time to continue the work you’ve started and change the face of the government and democratic dialogue, to instill or reignite a culture of involvement and mutual respect with the people, something that has been absent for far too long in America.

A concerned, excited, and hopeful voter,
Richard Goodwin

+++++++++