[besson3c]

Does anybody know of a way to create m3u files (or the like) that will mp3 files from the local hard-drive? I can't seem to get m3u files pointing to local mp3s to work with iTunes. Basically, what I'm trying to do is create playlists that I can activate with a double-click.

I'm open to creative options.. =)


Many thanks, as always!

[Mactoid]

It's unfortunate that iTunes doesn't support the "file://..." URI. Pretty stupid in fact. Anyway, probably the easiest way is just turn on your webserver, then put a link (not an alias) to your MP3's in your Sites folder. That way you could just put URI's like "http://localhost/~username/Music/..." in the M3U file and they should work.

(BTW, you will have trouble with strange characters. Make sure you replace any spaces with "%20", and other characters that give you trouble you will also need to replace with their value in hex.)

[dtriska]

You could also write some scripts to tell iTunes to play a certain playlist, I think. You'd have to find someone to help you with the scripting.

[Mithras]

Here's an interesting solution I worked up for a similar wish:

Paste the following script into a Script Editor window, and save it as an application somewhere handy.

Then rename it to the name of a playlist or an album. It will look in your iTunes library for (1) a playlist, or (2) an album with the same name as the script itself.

Here's the script:

Code:
on run
	set my_path to path to me
	tell application "Finder" to set my_name to the name of file (my_path)
	tell application "iTunes"
		set matching_playlist_list to every playlist whose name is my_name
		if the (count of matching_playlist_list) is greater than 0 then
			set my_playlist to item 1 of matching_playlist_list
			set the view of browser window 1 to my_playlist
			play track 1 of my_playlist
			return
		end if
		set matching_album_list to every track of library playlist 1 whose album is my_name
		if the (count of matching_album_list) is greater than 0 then
			if exists (playlist "Now Playing") then
				delete every track of playlist "Now Playing"
			else
				make new playlist with properties {name:"Now Playing"}
			end if
			set my_playlist to playlist "Now Playing"
			repeat with this_track in matching_album_list
				duplicate this_track to my_playlist
			end repeat
			set the view of browser window 1 to my_playlist
			play track 1 of my_playlist
			return
		end if
	end tell
	display dialog ("No playlist or album named " & my_name & " was found.")
end run

hope that might be useful...