Hello all,
I've been using knoppmyth for about a year and a half now. All in all, its been quite a good experiece for me. The only thing missing is figuring out a way to use both iTunes and Mythtv.
I get a lot of my music from the iTMS. Apple has positioned iTunes and the iPod as the stewarts of the Fairplay wrapped content. The problem is figuring out a way to consume/access Fairplay content outside the iTunes and iPod mediums...and not violate the DMCA.
Best I could figure, there is no present way to get Fairplay DRM wrapped content onto Myth for play back. Next best way, IMHO, is to remote control iTunes.
iTunes on Mac OSX is an application that is completley controlable via AppleScript. OSX has hooks built into Applescript that allows for outside applications written in other languages to communicate with Applescript aware applications.
By trade, I happen to an Enterprise Java Developer. Quite easily, there is a way to write applications in Java that communicate with other Apple "iLife" applications via Applescript. This includes iTunes.
It is possible to wrap Applescript calls to control iTunes in Java, and expose the calls via some form of remote method invocation. I was thinking about XML-RPC, but Corba will work just as easily.
Since version 4 I think, all iTunes content information is saved in an xml file called iTunes Music Library.xml. Parsing this xml file could give a remote client application everything it needed to call and control iTunes and its music.
The hardest thing to do would be to create a Mythtv add-on to control iTunes. The overall control flow would kind of work like this:
User interacts with a Myth iTunes remote client. The Client makes RMI calls to a Java server, that it turn controls iTunes via Applescript. iTunes processes commands from remote client, and plays music to a home stereo device via direct connection or Airtunes.
In theory, this project wouldn't be too hard. Hell, there is already an open-sourced project called mytunes that has the Java-to-Applescript framework for iTunes already done. It also parses the iTunes Music Library.xml Only thing to do is wrap the calles in RMI, and create a myth client.
Anyone up to help with a project such as this? Im not sure, but I think you can control iTunes on a PC using JSCRIPT, but Im not sure. If so, it may be possible to create a cross-platform Java iTunes Server.
Anyone who is interested please let me know.
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whatever fancy "fairplay" name they choose to mislead consumers with. I feel you are better using a music store that sells in .mp3 or flac format legally. www.allofmp3.com