Related link: http://www.deadendsw.com/Products/webRemote.html
A long time ago I wrote Apache::iTunes so I could control my iTunes through a web browser. Today I found webRemote, a mini-webserver with a Mac configuration interface which does the same thing.
webRemote is speedy, although I have not dusted off Apache::iTunes to see if it is any faster on my new hardware. webRemote comes with several skins and looks like better designed versions of the ugly template I used in my module.
Both things have the same problem: I can only run one iTunes instance on a particular machine, and iTunes has to run under a real login account, not something like nobody, root, or some other bogus user I make up. This makes some sense, but it is still annoying to this unix guy.
webRemote is certainly easier than apache to set up:
OT: You look sooo different
OT: Brian you look so different without the helmet & buddy holly glasses. I'd never have guessed you were the same person. In fact I still have my doubts. Where's my tinfoil cap...
Playing tunes from your iTunes library w/o itunes
You said:
"Both things have the same problem: I can only run one iTunes instance on a particular machine, and iTunes has to run under a real login account, not something like nobody, root, or some other bogus user I make up. This makes some sense, but it is still annoying to this unix guy."
To me this is a serious limitation -- I want to have multiple concurrent users accessing my site and playing different songs/playlists.
I have this partially working with an app I am writing in ColdFusion MX. (Coldfusion programs compile to Java byte code, so performance is similar to a Java program serving these files.
The progam parses the iTunes Library.XML and builds a memory-resident structure of tracks and playlists -- this structure is cached until the iTunes library is changed.
Users access the site (login optional) and see the playlist/songs much the same as it is displayed in iTunes and WebRemote.
When the user selects a song, that song file is located and "played". iTunes does not participate in any way and need not be running.
Different users can play different songs -- concurrently.
This is just a web app that serves song files instead of information from a db -- it just builds on what iTunes has already done to organize the trank/playlist info.
Dick