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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks Apps
I'd never thought of a good reason to use the comments section in the info section of iTunes, until I was looking up lyrics online. Since the info in the comments is saved as part of the file, it's a good place to keep your lyrics -- when you move the MP3 to another Mac, you'll have the lyrics with it.

The only drawback I have found is that iTunes does not offer a scroll option for the comments box ... time to e-mail Apple.

[robg adds: Keeping lyrics directly with the song is a good idea. Unfortunately, Apple's comment box is basically brain-dead, so you'd have to copy and paste them elsewhere in order to really read them easily. Perhaps the comment box contents could be AppleScripted, though, to automate the extraction process.]
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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks | 13 comments | Create New Account
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256 characters maximum?!
Authored by: sapporo on Sep 09, '04 10:53:27AM

Hmm.. I've tried that before and found out that comments can hold a maximum of 256 characters.



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256 characters maximum?!
Authored by: Frederico on Sep 09, '04 02:51:36PM

I get the same result here using iTunes 4.2 and AAC files, as well as any MP3 files with ID2.4 tags.

To the original poster, could you please provide some more details on how to get more than 256 (I actually count 255) characters into your comments tags?

I can provide the AppleScript to round trip them in and out of any app you like.



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256 characters maximum?!
Authored by: alys on Sep 10, '04 08:23:51PM

Indeed. The MP3 comments field has a size limit. You have to be careful when using iTunes to enter comments: you can type as much as you want in the comments box, but when you click on OK and then go back into the Info dialog, you'll see that your comments have been truncated.

You could store the lyrics in a separate text file and store the file name and path in the comments field. Or just give the lyrics file the same name as the MP3 file, but with 'txt' as the extension instead of 'mp3', and keep them in the same directory. You could probably then write a "Stay Open" AppleScript that monitors iTunes, and when a new song starts it looks for the lyrics file and displays the lyrics. Or write a non-stay-open AppleScript and run it through GeekTool.



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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks
Authored by: jmiyagi on Sep 09, '04 10:55:28AM

Since you can store multiple artwork with a song, I sometimes make a pdf file to include the lyrics along with the cover art.



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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks
Authored by: mozart11 on Sep 09, '04 11:11:14AM

This is a good idea. I tried this, but you can't then print out the lyrics in iTunes. Apple needs to address this for iTunes. I've created a Filemaker database for lyrics and store them there.



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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks
Authored by: BobVB on Sep 09, '04 12:22:45PM

What apple really needs to do is give iTunes access to the already existing 'lyrics' mp3 ID3 tag data. The shareware MP3 Rage lets you store and browse lyrics inside of mp3 files - iTunes should do the same.

More about the mp3 lyrics tag at http://www.volweb.cz/str/tags.htm



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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks
Authored by: mustang_dvs on Sep 09, '04 01:47:25PM

IIRC, there is an iTunes visualizer plug in that displays the lyrics while a particular song is playing, though I am not sure how exactly the lyrics are stored -- I've never actually used this particular plug-in.

I believe the name is 'xLyrics' -- it's listed on VersionTracker and MacUpdate.



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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks
Authored by: Fofer on Sep 09, '04 01:53:07PM

While we're at it:

How about iTunes and iPod support for MP3+G files? (These are tracks ripped and encoded from CD+G disks, a.k.a. KARAOKE disks!)

The song plays with just the instrumentals, and there is an accompanying video track that displays the lyrics in a synchronized fashion.

I, for one, would love to see an iTunes visualizer that would play the associated lyrics while the karaoke track played.

(And the iTunes Music Store would make a killing selling these tracks, fo' sho'!)



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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks
Authored by: gourls on Sep 10, '04 10:43:43PM

I have never done CD+G tracks before. iTunes would do very well with those things. As for myself, I don't need any lyrics. I know every word of every song in my library. And besides that, I don't use MP3 audio files. So basically, all these comments and the hint are worthless to me.



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Store song lyrics with iTunes tracks
Authored by: DougAdams on Sep 09, '04 04:40:19PM
FYI: This AppleScript, Google Lyric Search, uses the name and artist of the current or selected iTunes track as the basis for a search for lyric sites with Google.

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On a mostly unrelated topic...
Authored by: Xenex on Sep 09, '04 05:51:13PM
Don't e-mail Apple suggestions -- use their feedback page.

---
It's what's not there that makes what's there what it is.

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Beware of the Finderâ„¢!
Authored by: osax on Sep 10, '04 04:22:30PM
As seen in this wonderful previous hint, comments are not stored directly in the file itself, but in the invisible .DS_Store file in the same directory. While the Finder takes care of copying the comment information along with the file, you would presumably lose the comments while copying the file with other applications or command line tools (CpMac, ditto, rsync, [insert your favorite geek tool]).

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Beware of the Finderâ„¢!
Authored by: alys on Sep 10, '04 08:08:20PM
This hint is talking about using the MP3 comments field, which is a special feature of MP3 files. The comment is indeed permanently stored in the MP3 file itself. You can verify that (if you really want to) by entering data in the "Comments" box in the iTunes "Info" dialog, clicking on OK, and then examining the file on the command line: open Terminal, cd to the directory that contains the file, and type this command:
strings name_of_file.mp3 | less
If you page down a couple of times, you'll see the text you entered in the Comments box. Note that the MP3 comments field is not the same as the "Comments" box in Finder's "Get Info" dialog.

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