[Apfhex]

So I'm trying out LaunchBar, it's faster than Quicksilver. It works well with my iTunes library, allowing me to select songs for playback. The problem is, when I select a song, it's added to a "LaunchBar" playlist in iTunes by itself. This is completely pointless if I want to continue listening to music rather than only that one track. Is there any way to stop this behavior or is this "feature" going to just be useless for me?

[lavar78]

Well, you only told it you wanted to listen to that particular track. Instead, you could play a whole album, all tracks by an artist, the "best of" an artist (4+ stars), and/or a playlist. You can also Play in Party Shuffle (⇧-Return), Play Next in Party Shuffle (⌃⇧Return), and Add to Party Shuffle (⌥⇧Return).

[Apfhex]

Yeah, I realize it can do all that, but basically I want it to work just like Spotlight and Quicksilver do, the same as if I had opened the file from the Finder. I select the result, hit return, iTunes starts playing the track from my Library. What's the point in it creating a new playlist just containing that track? Why can't it be consistent with opening any other type of file with LaunchBar??

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Apfhex

Yeah, I realize it can do all that, but basically I want it to work just like Spotlight and Quicksilver do, the same as if I had opened the file from the Finder. I select the result, hit return, iTunes starts playing the track from my Library. What's the point in it creating a new playlist just containing that track? Why can't it be consistent with opening any other type of file with LaunchBar??

It is being consistent. You just want it to do something different. When you open a file in LB, it only opens that particular file. When you play a song (or album or playlist), it only plays that particular song (or album or playlist). That's why it creates the "LaunchBar" playlist.

It sounds like you'd be happier going back to Quicksilver. If not, I have a suggestion (assuming you want to listen to your Library on random). Just set Party Shuffle to your Library and then use Play in Party Shuffle. Hope that helps.

Edit: Thinking about it some more, you're right (in a way). When you open a music file that's not in iTunes, it adds it to the Library and plays it from there. I've always hated that functionality. If it's already in the Library, I assume it plays it from there. If it's not on shuffle, the next song is dependent on the way you sorted it last. I prefer LaunchBar's way.

[Apfhex]

Originally Posted by lavar78

Thinking about it some more, you're right (in a way). When you open a music file that's not in iTunes, it adds it to the Library and plays it from there. I've always hated that functionality. If it's already in the Library, I assume it plays it from there. If it's not on shuffle, the next song is dependent on the way you sorted it last. I prefer LaunchBar's way.

I'm just coming at it from a perspective of selecting an item in LaunchBar acting like opening the file in the Finder. That's kind of what Quicksilver does (though QS requires a seperate trigger for iTunes queries, which I don't care for). Granted, that's not necessarily how LaunchBar operates, but I wish I had this option for iTunes files, as the current behavior renders it entirely useless for me for picking songs out of my library. A possible solution is to catalog my music folder on my hard drive and disable the "iTunes Library" catalog in LB, but then it doesn't read my ID3/AAC tags making it harder to find the track I want.

Spotlight in Leopard looks promising regarding this sort of thing, but that's a ways off.

Additional thought: This may seem like a big "WTF" to me because I keep all the music I want to listen to in my iTunes Library and usually play everything from the Library "playlist." I listen to a continuous stream of music this way and if I want to hear a specific song, I have to go to iTunes and use its own search. If I could use LB in place of that, it would be perfect. I have a hard time believing at least a significant amount of people wouldn't want that functionality.

[lavar78]

So you're not listening to your library on shuffle?

[Apfhex]

Originally Posted by lavar78

So you're not listening to your library on shuffle?

I'm listening to it on Shuffle and Repeat All.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Apfhex

I'm listening to it on Shuffle and Repeat All.

Well, I seem to be missing something. What's wrong with using Party Shuffle? If you set its source as the Library, you can just select a song in LB and press ⇧-Return to do effectively what you want.