control iTunes from command line

itunes.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
####################################
# iTunes Command Line Control v1.0
# written by David Schlosnagle
# created 2001.11.08
# edit    2010.06.01 rahul kumar
####################################

showHelp () {
    echo "-----------------------------";
    echo "iTunes Command Line Interface";
    echo "-----------------------------";
    echo "Usage: `basename $0` <option>";
    echo;
    echo "Options:";
    echo " status   = Shows iTunes' status, current artist and track.";
    echo " play     = Start playing iTunes.";
    echo " pause    = Pause iTunes.";
    echo " next     = Go to the next track.";
    echo " prev     = Go to the previous track.";
    echo " mute     = Mute iTunes' volume.";
    echo " unmute   = Unmute iTunes' volume.";
    echo " vol up   = Increase iTunes' volume by 10%";
    echo " vol down = Increase iTunes' volume by 10%";
    echo " vol #    = Set iTunes' volume to # [0-100]";
    echo " stop     = Stop iTunes.";
    echo " quit     = Quit iTunes.";
    echo " playlist = Show playlists saved in iTunes.";
    echo " tracks   = Show tracks for current or given playlist.";
    echo " shuf     = Shuffle current playlist";
    echo " nosh     = Do not shuffle current playlist"; 
}

if [ $# = 0 ]; then
    showHelp;
fi

while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
    arg=$1;
    case $arg in
        "status" ) state=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to player state as string'`;
            echo "iTunes is currently $state.";
            if [ $state = "playing" ]; then
                artist=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to artist of current track as string'`;
                track=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to name of current track as string'`;
                echo "Current track $artist:  $track";
            fi
            break ;;

        "play"    ) echo "Playing iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to play';
            break ;;

        "pause"    ) echo "Pausing iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to pause';
            break ;;

        "next"    ) echo "Going to next track." ;
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to next track';
            break ;;

        "prev"    ) echo "Going to previous track.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to previous track';
            break ;;

        "mute"    ) echo "Muting iTunes volume level.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set mute to true';
            break ;;

        "unmute" ) echo "Unmuting iTunes volume level.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set mute to false';
            break ;;

        "vol"    ) echo "Changing iTunes volume level.";
            vol=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to sound volume as integer'`;
            if [ $2 = "up" ]; then
                newvol=$(( vol+10 ));
            elif [ $2 = "down" ]; then
                newvol=$(( vol-10 ));
            elif [ $2 -gt 0 ]; then
                newvol=$2;
            fi
            osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to set sound volume to $newvol";
            break ;;

        "stop"    ) echo "Stopping iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to stop';
            break ;;
            
        "quit"    ) echo "Quitting iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to quit';
            exit 1 ;;

       ## addition playlist of choice
       "playlist" )
          if [ -n "$2" ]; then
             echo "Changing iTunes playlists to '$2'.";
             osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes"' -e "set new_playlist to \"$2\" as string" -e "play playlist new_playlist" -e "end tell"; 
            break ;
          else
            # Show available iTunes playlists.
            echo "Playlists:";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes"' -e "set allPlaylists to (get name of every playlist)" -e "end tell";
            break;
         fi
         break;;

       "shuf" ) echo "Shuffle is ON.";
             osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set shuffle of current playlist to 1';
             break ;;

       "nosh" ) echo "Shuffle is OFF.";
             osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set shuffle of current playlist to 0';
             break ;; 
       "tracks" )
          if [ -n "$2" ]; then
             osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes"' -e "set new_playlist to \"$2\" as string" -e " get name of every track in playlist new_playlist" -e "end tell"; 
             break;
         fi
             osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to get name of every track in current playlist';
             break ;; 
        "help" | * ) echo "help:";
            showHelp;


            break ;;
    esac
done

Nice! What about scripting on Windows?

@genuinefafa
It's possible to partially use iTunes from Windows using Powershell - Here's how:
Config:

• OS: Windows 10 - 64 bits - Fall Creators Update
• iTunes version: 12.7
• Powershell version: 5.1

In Powershell:

# search for iTunes COM object
# one result will be iTunes.Application.1                      iTunes Class
Get-CimInstance Win32_COMSetting|Select-Object ProgId, Caption|Where-Object Caption -ILike "*itunes*"

# instanciate the object - the .<number> at the end may reference a version
$itunes = New-Object -ComObject iTunes.Application

# play any file from your hard drive
$itunes.PlayFile "C:\Users\<username>\some_music_file.mp>"

# change the volume by modifying the SoundVolume property of the $iTunes object where 0 is mute and 100 max volume
$itunes.SoundVolume = 50

# get all properties/methods of the iTunes COM object - Parameter types will be displayed and wether it only returns
# a value (get;), sets one (set;) or does both (get;set;) 
$iTunes|Get-Member

In fact - these steps work in the same way to for instance run Excel and perform any operations like creating a Macro, showing or hidding the application and so on.

For High Sierra with iTunes 12.7, shuffling can be toggled using this: tell application "iTunes" to set shuffle enabled to True

@genuinefafa
It's possible to partially use iTunes from Windows using Powershell - Here's how:
Config:

• OS: Windows 10 - 64 bits - Fall Creators Update
• iTunes version: 12.7
• Powershell version: 5.1

In Powershell:

# search for iTunes COM object
# one result will be iTunes.Application.1                      iTunes Class
Get-CimInstance Win32_COMSetting|Select-Object ProgId, Caption|Where-Object Caption -ILike "*itunes*"

# instanciate the object - the .<number> at the end may reference a version
$itunes = New-Object -ComObject iTunes.Application

# play any file from your hard drive
$itunes.PlayFile "C:\Users\<username>\some_music_file.mp>"

# change the volume by modifying the SoundVolume property of the $iTunes object where 0 is mute and 100 max volume
$itunes.SoundVolume = 50

# get all properties/methods of the iTunes COM object - Parameter types will be displayed and wether it only returns
# a value (get;), sets one (set;) or does both (get;set;) 
$iTunes|Get-Member

In fact - these steps work in the same way to for instance run Excel and perform any operations like creating a Macro, showing or hidding the application and so on.

Beautiful! This worked!

How do you save albums in playlist for offline usage?

Sorry, but I have not used this for so long. Maybe someone else can help.

…

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