Great hint, ta! I had to put my script in my user's Library -> iTunes -> Scripts folder before this would work, BTW, perhaps because I have some existing scripts there?

Ahh, right, for iTunes, it can also use a separate folder. I have the applescript menu enabled, so I can access general applescripts at all times and specific applescripts per application. You are correct for iTunes, for people who don't have the Applescript menu enabled.

Coooool!
Although I like hearing at a rate of 1.33, this is more comfortable for me.

Cheers,
Claudio

---
- claudio

...if you switch to Full-Screen-Mode, the rate switches back to 1.0

---
- claudio

Apparently, setting the playback rate from Applescript doesn't affect the GUI you get on command-K. So, if you want to mess with the GUI, pull up command-K, then set "playback rate" to whatever you want, then hit full screen.

QuickTime's AV control can adjust pitch shift, treble, etc. I found lower those values help.

Can that be scripted?

I have some reason for not upgrading to 10.4. For example, diskutil's restore to firewire drives working for me in 10.3 but not in 10.4.

Thanks for the script(s)!

I'm pretty sure that converting the podcast to AAC (if it isn't already in AAC), and renaming the extension to .m4b will make it look like an audiobook to the iPod. Therefore, if you're listening to a podcast on a 4G iPod or newer, you should be able to speed up playback like you can with audiobooks.

Can anyone confirm? I don't have a 4G iPod (I have a 3G).

Anyone else also think that speeding up playback should be an option in the next version of iTunes?

---
Hermosa Beach, CA USA

[ Reply to This | # ]

Actually, you need to change the extention to m4b plus use a tool like Super Get Info (http://www.barebones.com/products/super/index.shtml) to change its system extension to m4b. Doing this and adding artwork if the file is already on your iPod will update it and make it an audiobook..

Very cool!! Try listening to a song for fun... you'll hear hysterical singers!

pitch is unaffected, for real?

Testing an mp3 podcast (Harry Shearer's Le Show) on iTunes 4.9 on Mac OS X 10.3.9, with QuickTime Player 6.5.2, results in higher pitched playback, not time compression.

Ahh, so tiger is better on this. No surprise. Time to upgrade!

tell application "Finder"

set ans to ""
display dialog "Enter Rate:" default answer ans buttons {"OK"} default button 1
set ans to text returned of the result
set rate to ans * 1

[ Reply to This | # ]

tell application "iTunes"
	set currentVolume to sound volume
	pause
	set my_track to location of current track
	set my_seconds to player position
end tell

set speed to "1.33"
display dialog "Enter Rate:" default answer speed buttons {"OK"} default button 1
set speed to text returned of the result

tell application "QuickTime Player"
	open my_track
	set my_movie to first movie
	set ts to time scale of my_movie
	set current time of my_movie to my_seconds * ts
	set sound volume of my_movie to currentVolume
	set rate of my_movie to speed -- starts playing
end tell

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iMac G4 17 800/512/80 + powerbook firewire G3 500/512/30

[ Reply to This | # ]

maintain same volume only works when "Sound Check" is enabled in iTunes preferences playback setting. For those with "Sound Check" disabled need to delete the lines where set sound volume.

Thanks for the tips

This is fabulous! I emailed Apple some time ago asking if this could be built into iTunes as a standard feature for just this reason. Now, do you know of a way to make this work with DVD Player 4.6? As far as I can tell, DVD Player only allows integer values for the playback speed.

without this AppleScript specifying an incremental increase of 1 for the playcount, listeners will end up with podcast playlists that iTunes thinks contains many unplayed podcasts which in turn will eventually auto unsubscibe in iTunes..

tell application "iTunes"
	pause
	set my_track to location of current track
end tell

tell application "QuickTime Player"
	set my_movie to first movie
	set ts to time scale of my_movie
	set my_seconds to (current time of my_movie) / ts
	close my_movie
end tell

tell application "iTunes"
	set player position to my_seconds
	play
end tell

Actually, that "pause" in the first tell should not be there, but it doesn't matter.

Hey, thanks! I don't know why I didn't see that.

does anyone know of a way to change the pitch of something in itunes?

Not in iTunes, but with the Developer Tools installed, look for the "AU Lab" Application, and you can do it for free. It's a bit tricky, and maybe deserves a hint of its own, so I'll write it up and submit it when I get a chance.

Put in a negative number and you can even play the song backwards!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Great hint.

Did you know that if you speed up learning tapes, the mind processing the info better and faster. The way to learn complicated info is to hear is as fast as you can.

Fantastic hints, both the original and the companion to switch back to iTunes. Couldn't get the script to work that prompts for the speed however, which would be nice.

Would it be possible to script Quicktime to use the same volume adjustment that iTunes applied? When Quicktime takes over, on mine, the sound is much lower. A GetInfo on the track in itunes showed the sound set at +6.6db in the Summary tab, which I guess happened b/c I enabled Sound Enhancer or Sound Check pref's in itunes. Displaying Movie Properties in Quicktime does show a volume slider that maxes out at +6db.

Again thanks for sharing these tips,
tom

I speed up movies with MPlayer (just hit "]" and "[" to speed up/slow down by 10%) and use Audio Hijack Pro to correct the pitch. This works really well.

This is also really useful for movies, that really don't play well in iTunes for me. If you modify the script to make 1x, you can use it to view your iTunes in QuickTime, just by selecting the script from the menu. Cool!

I just realized that PC users can have an even better experience listening to podcasts than Mac users. If you use podcasts.yahoo.com to listen to podcasts, they even have a feature on the web UI where you can click to speed podcasts up to 2.0x. Plus, it's good to have all those audio files stored away on someone else's computer so you don't have to burden your own hard drive (of course, you wouldn't be able to listen offline but you can click "download" episode if you want).

Of course, since yahoo podcasts use a windows media plugin for streaming, you can't access them on a Mac unless you click a few times---additionally, the speed feature is not accessible either.

Get a clue, Apple! You seem to be good at leading innovation but amount to dogsh*t when it comes to listening to user feedback.

I was using the above AppleScript on my Mac. I am moving my iTunes library to Windows XP, so I created the below script to do the same thing for iTunes on Windows.

Copy and paste the code into NotePad, save as "1.4SpeedPodcast.js," and double-click the file to execute it. You need to have Windows Script support installed. This is downloaded from Microsoft.com if you don't already have it.

//Editor: Mike Chabot
//Date: May 12, 2006
//Purpose: Play the currently playing podcast or the highlighted podcast at 1.4 speed in QuickTime

var iTunes = WScript.CreateObject("iTunes.Application");
var qt = WScript.CreateObject("QuickTimePlayerLib.QuickTimePlayerApp.1");

if(iTunes.PlayerState != 0) {//0=stopped, 1=playing, 2=ff, 3=rw
	var track=iTunes.CurrentTrack;
	iTunes.Stop();
} else {
	//selected tracks are the ones highlighted, the current track is the one playing or the one loaded
	if(iTunes.SelectedTracks) {
		var track=iTunes.SelectedTracks.Item(1);
		track.Play(); //update the played status
		iTunes.Stop();
	} else if(iTunes.CurrentTrack) {
		var track=iTunes.CurrentTrack;
	} else {
		WScript.Echo('error');
		WScript.Quit(1);
	}
}

iTunes.BrowserWindow.Minimized=1; //minimize iTunes window
qt.Players.Item(1).OpenURL(track.Location);
qt.Players.Item(1).QTControl.Movie.TimeScale=1; //set QT to use seconds for Time attribute.
qt.Players.Item(1).QTControl.Movie.Time=track.BookmarkTime;
qt.Players.Item(1).QTControl.Movie.AudioVolume=iTunes.SoundVolume / 100; //divide by 100 for QT compatibility
qt.Players.Item(1).QTControl.Movie.Play(1.4); //Play at 1.4x speed

I added the try statement to allow for the selected track to play if nothing is currently playing. I use iTunes' sound check, which inevitably lowers the volume of all of my tracks, so I also set QT Player's volume lower. I also like the player brought to the front.

tell application "iTunes"
try
pause
set my_track to location of current track
set my_seconds to player position
on error
set my_track to location of item 1 of selection
set my_seconds to 0
end try
end tell

tell application "QuickTime Player"
open my_track
set my_movie to first document
set sound volume of my_movie to 128 --set volume to 50%
set ts to time scale of my_movie
set current time of my_movie to my_seconds * ts
set rate of my_movie to 1.5 -- starts playing
activate
end tell

This has stopped working for me with Snow Leopard. Anyone know how to fix it to work?

tell application "iTunes"
	pause
	set my_track to location of current track
	set my_seconds to player position
end tell

tell application "QuickTime Player"
	open my_track
	set my_movie to first document
	set ts to rate of my_movie
	set current time of my_movie to my_seconds * ts
	set rate of my_movie to 2.0 -- starts playing
end tell

tell application "iTunes"
	pause
	set my_track to location of current track
	set my_seconds to player position
end tell

tell application "QuickTime Player"
	open my_track
	set my_movie to first document
	set current time of my_movie to my_seconds
	set rate of my_movie to 1.5 -- starts playing
end tell

Thanks a lot for these scripts.

I would like to use a player like Movist who allows to keep the video window in front of all other windows. So I tried to adapt the script, but it seems that Movist doesn't understand it. Or my appplescript knowledge is too limited anyway.

Can anyone modify the script so that Movist or another player who offers a floating window understands it?

I updated this for OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
and also wrote a companion script to send it back to iTunes when your done.

You can download my scripts here:

http://www.reelgeminc.com

Any update to get this to work with the latest iTunes & QT?

tell application "iTunes"
	pause
	
	set myTrack to location of current track
	
	# the player’s position within the currently playing track in seconds
	set mySeconds to player position
end tell

# show a Dialog
set SpeedFactor to 1.5
display dialog "Enter speed factor:" default answer SpeedFactor
set SpeedFactor to text returned of the result


tell application "QuickTime Player"
	activate
	
	# pause all previously opened documents
	set open_docs to documents
	repeat with doc in open_docs
		pause doc
	end repeat
	
	# open the track just played in iTunes
	open myTrack
	
	# get the 'QuickTime' document, MyTrack should be equivalent but it isn't
	set MyMovie to first document
	
	# rewind by 10 seconds
	if mySeconds > 10 then
		set mySeconds to mySeconds - 10
	end if
	
	# set current time
	set current time of MyMovie to mySeconds
	
	# set Speed Factor and start playing
	set rate of MyMovie to SpeedFactor
end tell

Thank you for this. And it's Lion update. Is there a companion Lion script? Thanks again!