I want Front Row Back

You are welcome, Michelle. I'm glad at least one forum member found my script useful. As a matter of fact, my script acts as a toggle enabling either an iCloud-compatible iTunes (10.4 or higher) or a Front Row-compatible iTunes (10.3.1). When you choose Front Row compatibility, its effects are immediate. You don't really need to play each or any songs for a few seconds, but if you've purchased any new songs using iTunes 10.4, you might want to leave 10.3.1 on for a few minutes, so that the new songs will be included in the old-style library. The same goes for iTunes 10.4 (or higher) if you've purchased any new songs using iTunes 10.3.1. Other than that, the process is automatic and fully transparent.

Although I'm sure the apple script is useful to some people I hardly think it addresses the issue of Apple removing Front Row from their OS?

No, of course not. How could it? It simply sees to it that Front Row continues to work flawlessly with iTunes 10.4 or higher by simply maintaining unobstrusive backup copies of your iTunes library in two versions. That way, iCloud or Front Row compatibility is achieved in one second whenever you want to swap the type of compatibility. As I said, it's a temporary solution while we wait for Apple to bring back full compatibility between iTunes and Front Row, or whatever its name will be in the world of iCloud. Who knows? Perhaps iCloud or iTunes 10.5+ themselves will be the new "Front Row"!

Edumara,

After I use the script to enable Front Row i could see all of my songs listed in my playlists, but when I tried to play them the black screen came up stating that Front Row couldn't find the song. I opened itunes 10.3.1 and played a few seconds of each song and then went back to Front Row and could play the songs i opened in itunes 10.3.1. I am having trouble toggling back to itunes 10.4 with the script. I get the message that the itunes library.itl couldn't be found. When I open itunes 10.4 it reconfigures the itunes library.itl file. If I go back to itunes 10.3.1, I have to do the same procedure to play the songs in Front Row. I'm not abel to use both. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Michelle

I don't want to have to run any scripts or patch any files or modify my OS to make Front Row work (as long as I stand on one leg and receite Tibetan poetry with a finger on the C button). I just want Apple to intergrate Front Row into the most recent OS so that every time I install updates my system is as safe and problem free as possible. Is that too much to ask?

Dear Michelle,

The only thing I can think of (and what you said about playing each song in your library for a few seconds might confirm my suspicion) is that you originally copied the wrong iTunes library from the "Previous iTunes Libraries" folder. Chances are you copied a file put there by the iTunes 10.4.1 update, which would have been a 10.4 version. Naturally, Front Row doesn't understand that format. What you need to copy is the version put in that folder by the 10.4 update (not the 10.4.1 update). That copy will be in the 10.3.1 format. To make sure, you must use an application for Hex reading or editing (such as, for instance, HexEdit). The version marker is in the first few bytes of the library. Make sure you copy that file to your ~/Music/iTunes folder with the name "old-style iTunes Library.itl". Only that way will my script work as intended. Otherwise, it will simply replace a 10.4.1 library of iTunes with a 10.4 library of the same programme (and they are the same), and it won't really let you swap between iCloud and Front Row; it will always be iCloud compatible, unless you force iTunes 10.3.1 to play each song, which is what you did.

Make sure you have the right "old-style iTunes Library.itl" in place and everything should work smoothly and you'll say the toggle functionality of the script work as intended.

That's fine with me. Since you don't want to benefit from whatever solutions that might alleviate your predicament, don't use them. I wouldn't want you to feel that your integrity is being raped. I guess whining is a much better solution for some people, one that brings hope and comfort.

I meant to say "Make sure you have the right "old-style iTunes Library.itl" in place and everything should work smoothly and you'll SEE the toggle functionality of the script work as intended."

First off, thanks to all the helpful information in this thread. I do have an intersting situation to report.

I just now got around to installing Lion. I am coming from Snow Leopard and I had already upgraded SL to iTunes 10.4 prior to upgrading Lion. I installed Lion on an external Firewire drive to test it out but still be able to easily go back to SL if I decide Lion isn't for me. I did copy over the needed files for Front Row. iTunes 10.3.1 was the default version on Lion, but it wouldn't open for me, since my Library was already the 10.4 version from SL (I transfered all my data over during the Lion install). So I did make a copy of the iTunes 10.3.1 app before I updated it to 10.4 in anticipation to runing Edumara's script. I installed iTunes 10.4 and opened it and all my music was fine. I then launched Front Row and I have access to my iTunes music and movies without running Edumara's script. Front Row is working with my 10.4 iTunes Library! Maybe this is because it was updated under SL prior to updating in Lion. I am running off a separate drive - again, I copied all my data over to my Lion drive during install. So Front Row should not be pointing back to my SL library.

The real test will be for a) the next iTunes update or b) when (and if) I update my internal drive.

So, since you upgraded to 10.4 while still running Snow Leopard, it appears that 10.4 and 10.4.1 after the Lion "upgrade" (to an external Firewire drive) don't bother to modify the "iTunes Library.itl" structure, so it remains indefinitely as 10.3.1 even though it's marked as 10.4 or 10.4.1. That's very interesting, but leaves several unanswered questions:

1. When iCloud comes around (with iTunes 10.5?), will your unupdated iTunes Library continue to be Front Row-compatible AND iCloud-compatible AT THE SAME TIME? Probably not.
2. If you were to copy your Lion Firewire installation to an internal drive, would your iTunes Library remain in its unupdated state? If the answer to this question were to be affirmative, there might be a simpler solution to this whole situation, at least for me and for the lucky owners of Mac Pros. I can still boot into Snow Leopard, and I have iTunes 10.4.1 in Snow Leopard. If your theory is right, I might, in theory, copy my Snow Leopard iTunes 10.4.1 library to my Lion iTunes folder and see if it gets updated when I launch iTunes (10.4.1). Another theoretical scenario would be to take a 10.3.1 iTunes Library from a backup and HexEdit its first few bytes to include the 10.4.1 identifier. In any case, this is still unanswered and I won't be able to do the pertinent tests for several hours.

I've just checked whether Lion iTunes 10.4+ would update a Snow Leopard iTunes 10.4.1 library to the newer iCloud-compatible format, thereby breaking integration with Front Row. Sadly, and contrary to your expectations, it does. The Snow Leopard iTunes 10.4.1 library identifed itself as "10.4.1" and, obviously, it was still compatible with Front Row. Unfortunately, as soon as iTunes (10.4.1) itself was launched, it detected the library was in the old format and updated it mmediately, thereby breaking Front Row compatibility.

I don't know why your iTunes 10.4+ on your Lion external Firewire installation doesn't update its library. Unless your iTunes Media folder location is somewhere different from ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music, the library should be updated, thereby breaking Front Row compatibility. It seems as if my script must continue to do its job, at least for now. We'll see what happens when iCloud and/or iTunes 10.5 arrive.

Edumara,

I've been playing around with my itunes library.itl. If I only have old-style itune library.itl and new-style itunes library.itl, the script tells me it can't find itunes library.itl. Where should I pull that file from, a new version or an old one?

Thank,

Michelle

Hmmm. Let's see. "iTunes Library.itl" is the "current" library, and it will be EITHER version 10.3.1 OR version 10.4+. My script is capable of telling you what version it is (first prompt in normal conditions). On the other hand, "old-style iTunes Library.itl" should always be version 10.3.1 (if you lose this file, you should get the latest copy from ~/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries that is compatible with Front Row (i.e., version 10.3.1). The date when you updated should give you the clue as to which file you ought to copy. If in doubt, open a few of such files with HexEdit or a similar application. Lastly, "new-style iTunes Library.itl" should be the last copy of your iTunes 10.4+ library. If you lose this file, simply copy "iTunes Library.itl" (if it is version 10.4+, of course). If iTunes Library.itl is version 10.3.1 and you've lost "new-style iTunes Library.itl", simply open iTunes 10.4+ and it'll see to it that iTunes Library.itl becomes verson 10.4+ again, and then copy that as "new-style iTunes Library.itl". Once everything is set as it should, try not to tamper with file names and contents. The script will work under normal circumstances and do no harm, but if the wrong files are copied, then you may end up with a mess.

Take care.

I've noticed that I may not have answered your question as you formulated it. In case you accidentally erased "iTunes Library.itl", you may copy either "new-style iTunes Library.itl" (provided it's version 10.4+) or "old-style iTunes Library.itl" (provided it's version 10.3.1) with the name "iTunes Library.itl". If each file is the right version, my script will work and will automatically detect which version it is you copied. On the other hand, if you name "new-style iTunes Library.itl" what in reality is a 10.3.1 library, or, even worse, "old-style iTunes Library.itl" what in reality is a 10.4+ library, my script WON'T work, or will work clumsily. Keep each "style" version clearly distinct and let the "iTunes Library.itl" version be decided by the script or by running iTunes 10.4+. Don't run iTunes 10.3.1 on its own; leave that to the script and to the script only. The script will know when to swap to 10.3.1 and when to swap to 10.4+. Once that is functioning, refrain from messing with the libraries, their names or their contents.

Thanks for your reply. I had the itunes library in my folder, but it didn't have the extension so I added .itl and now it works like a dream. You ROCK!

Thanks,

Michelle🙂