Something I wanted to do for myself this Christmas was to create an iTunes Library Community Server mod. No accounting for a nerd's desires...or maybe there is. Putting my iTunes Library online was an interesting .NET pursuit, sure, but it was also a chance to Go Social with my tunes. In recent weeks I've started using
Technorati and
Del.icio.us, and even with CSGalleries at my full disposal, I
started using Flickr. Putting my iTunes Library online seemed a logical progression.
The mod isn't actually a mashup, but it does have some Web 2.0 juice: the app is single-function, has a social orientation, uses several apps, and provides value primarily through linking to external content. The process of iTunes-to-Web is 1) export library from itunes to XML, 2) .NET XmlReader Windows app to SQL Server, 3) One-time Amazon Album link capture to SQL (took less than an hour for over a hundred albums once I wrote the app, in the future will be required for any new albums I purchase only--painless), 4) CodeSmithing the table to dbvt.com. The export and update of my iTunes Library should take maybe 10-15 minutes, and I plan on updating the library every few weeks.
There's not a Flickr site equivalent for tunes, and after researching the technical aspects required to get my own library online, there won't be a Flickr equivalent for tunes until Apple gets its act together and releases an API for iTunes. Too much rocket science going from iTunes to the Web for it to happen anytime soon. Not a big deal from iTunes to database format, really; that's pretty easy. The trick is value-add links back to iTunes for images and (legal) tune plays. I'm more than happy to use Amazon Web Services in my iTunes Library Mod for now since this is an area that Apple clearly doesn't get.
For the moment I'm listing my top 100
most played albums and my top 200
most listened-to tunes. There's room for other interesting iTunes Library reporting like composition of my library by genre, aggregated play patterns over time, new tunes added in the last 30 days, etc., not to mention direct links to play tunes and album contents. But I'm done for now. A couple of cool lists with album covers and links to Amazon for the top albums and tunes on my iPod. I'll blog on the nerdy particulars later, you can be sure of that.
So check out my iTunes Library and see what a fudster I really am.
Technorati Tags: .NET, Community Server, iTunes