How To Control iTunes remotely with SSH

After chatting with my buddy Dave about how awesome it is to show off using terminal to !1337 computer users I realized how often I’m sitting at command-line listening to music in iTunes and wondered how to control iTunes with a shell script.

I searched around an found this article on the topic but of course wanted many tweaks of my own so I’ve wrote the following script that should allow anyone to control iTunes in terminal or via SSH remotely.

Possible Uses

The implications are pretty neat if you think about it.

• DJ a party from a laptop, iPhone, or mobile with SSH
• Control your home or office music server remotely
• Scare the heck out of your roommates

The Code

#!/bin/sh
#
####################################
# iTunes Command Line Control v1.0
# written by David Schlosnagle
# created 2001.11.08
# edited by Jon Todd 2007.11.20
####################################

showHelp () {
echo "-----------------------------";
echo "iTunes Command Line Interface";
echo "-----------------------------";
echo "Usage: `basename $0` “;
echo;
echo “Options:”;
echo ” status   = Current state of iTunes.”;
echo ” play     = Start playing iTunes.”;
echo ” pause    = Pause iTunes.”;
echo ” next     = Go to the next track.”;
echo ” prev     = Go to the previous track.”;
echo ” mute     = Mute iTunes’ volume.”;
echo ” unmute   = Unmute iTunes’ volume.”;
echo ” vol up   = Increase iTunes’ volume by 10%”;
echo ” vol down = Increase iTunes’ volume by 10%”;
echo ” vol #    = Set iTunes’ volume to # [0-100]”;
#echo ” playlist “@” = Play iTunes’ playlist named @”;
echo ” shuf = Shuffle current playlist”; 
echo ” nosh = Do not shuffle current playlist”;
echo ” stop     = Stop iTunes.”;
echo ” quit     = Quit iTunes.”;
}

showError () 
{
echo ;
echo “ERROR:”;
echo $1;
}

if [ $# = 0 ]; then
  showHelp;
fi

while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
  action=$1;
  case $action in
  “status” ) state=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to player state as string’`;
  # State
  echo “State: \t\t$state”;

  # Volume
  vol=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to sound volume as integer’`;
  echo “Volume: \t$vol”;

  # Playlist
  playlist=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to name of current playlist as string’`;
  echo “Playlist: \t$playlist”;

  # Shuffle
  shuffle=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to shuffle of current playlist as string’`;
  echo “Shuffle: \t$shuffle”;

  # Current Song
  if [ $state = “playing” ]; then

    # Artist
    artist=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to artist of current track as string’`;
    echo “Artist: \t$artist”;

    # Artist
    album=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to album of current track as string’`;
    echo “Album: \t\t$album”;

    # Track
    track=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to name of current track as string’`;
    echo “Track: \t\t$track”;
  fi
  break ;;

  # TODO: Figure out how to get this working
  # “playlist” ) echo “Changing iTunes playlist.”; 
  # osascript -e ‘tell application \”iTunes\” to play playlist “Combo” ‘; 
  # break ;; 


  “play”    ) echo “Playing iTunes.”;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to play’;
  break ;;

  “pause”    ) echo “Pausing iTunes.”;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to pause’;
  break ;;

  “next”    ) echo “Going to next track.” ;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to next track’;
  break ;;

  “prev”    ) echo “Going to previous track.”;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to previous track’;
  break ;;

  “mute”    ) echo “Muting iTunes volume level.”;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to set mute to true’;
  break ;;

  “unmute” ) echo “Unmuting iTunes volume level.”;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to set mute to false’;
  break ;;

  “vol”    ) echo “Changing iTunes volume level.”;
  if [  “$#” -gt 1 ]; then
    vol=`osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to sound volume as integer’`;
    if [ $2 = “up” ]; then
      newvol=$(( vol+10 ));

    elif [ $2 = “down” ]; then
      newvol=$(( vol-10 ));

    elif [ $2 -gt 0 ]; then
      newvol=$2;
    fi
    osascript -e “tell application \”iTunes\” to set sound volume to $newvol”;
    else
    showError “No volume level specified”;
  fi 
  break;;

  “stop”    ) echo “Stopping iTunes.”;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to stop’;
  break ;;

  “quit”    ) echo “Quitting iTunes.”;
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to quit’;
  exit 1 ;;

  “shuf” ) echo “Shuffle is ON.”; 
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to set shuffle of current playlist to 1′; 
  break ;; 

  “nosh” ) echo “Shuffle is OFF.”; 
  osascript -e ‘tell application “iTunes” to set shuffle of current playlist to 0′; 
  break ;;

  “help” | * ) echo “help:”;
  showHelp;
  break ;;
esac
done

Installation

Write this code to a file called “itunes” and put it in your bin directory

mkdir ~/bin
mv pathToFile/itunes.sh ~/bin
chmod u+x ~/bin/itunes

Ensure ~/bin is in your path

Run it

[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes status
State:      stopped
Volume:     100
Playlist:   Combo
Shuffle:    false
[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes play
Playing iTunes.
[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes status
State:      playing
Volume:     100
Playlist:   Combo
Shuffle:    false
Artist:     Jamiroquai
Album:      synkronized
Track:      Canned Heat
[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes vol 50
Changing iTunes volume level.
[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes pause
Pausing iTunes.
[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes vol 100
Changing iTunes volume level.
[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes play
Playing iTunes.

Remote Control

[jtodd@remote:~]$ ssh local
[jtodd@local:~]$ itunes status
State:      playing
Volume:     100
Playlist:   Combo
Shuffle:    false
Artist:     Jamiroquai
Album:      synkronized
Track:      Canned Heat

Tags: command-line, Computers, iTunes, remote, ssh, terminal

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 11:56 am and is filed under Code, Programming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.