Apr 28, '08 07:30:02AM • Contributed by: digidan
The normal solution to this problem is to rename each file from each playlist in the finder -- such as adding a number before the track name -- so that songs are displayed in the correct order for burning. This is very slow to do manually. So, I created an Automator workflow to do the work. Make sure that before running this workflow, you select all the songs you want to be exported.
While the Rename Finder Items action is pretty well known, I had no idea that it would work with iTunes like it does to keep the order straight. Interesting!
The setup (note that these steps are listed based on having View » Arrange Actions By set to Application):
- Automator » Ask for Confirmation (This may be Leopard only.). This asks if the user wishes to continue, since it may take a while to run.
- iTunes » Get Selected iTunes Items. This will select all songs that you've selected in iTunes, such as the songs in a playlist.
- Finder » Copy Finder Items. This will copy the song files to the Finder. Select a default folder, such as the Desktop. Check the "Show This Action When the Workflow Runs" box under Options to allow you to choose a folder to export a particular playlist into.
- Finder » Rename Finder Items (Make Finder Item Names Sequential). You should say Make Sequential in the top drop-down, and then select Add number to existing item name. Select Place number before name, Start numbers at 1, separated by dash (or underscore, etc), and make all numbers X digits long. X should be 1 to 3, depending on how many songs you have -- three digits will allow you to export more than 100 songs.
- Save your workflow to the scripts folder, or as an application to add to your Dock.
I also want to point that the workflow will only run on the OS that it is created with -- Tiger or Leopard. It seems that the way the Automator Actions work varies between Tiger and Leopard, so if you have two or more Macs with Tiger and Leopard, you need to recreate the workflow using Automator on the OS you want it to run on. The name of the actions, and the options that you should select are the same in both OS. Go figure.
