[mythtv] using myth as a remote client of iTunes.

[Darnell Morgan]

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 COM, but Im not sure. If
so, it may be possible to create a cross-platform Java iTunes Remote
Client.

Anyone who is interested please let me know.

--
DM