Hi Donna, This is Esther, not Simon. When you edit an iTunes track by using "Get Info" (Command-I), then navigate to the Options pane and enter values for the start and stop times, iTunes will start playing and stop playing the track at those times. The whole track is still there, so if you delete the entries in the start and stop time text boxes, or type "0", when you save your changes the values will revert to the defaults -- that is, the starting time will be 0, and the ending time will be the playing time for your track. These values only take effect if you start the track playing from the beginning and do not have "Remember playback position" checked. If, for example, you paused a track 15 seconds into it's play, then edited the start time to be 00:20 (two zeros, followed by a colon, followed by 20 -- for twenty seconds), when you start playing the track it will resume play from the current position (15 seconds).
When you create a new track, or burn to CD, iTunes uses the start and stop time settings of your selected track to determine which parts of a track you want to encode or burn. You do not have to have "Remember playback position" checked -- that will start up playback where you last stopped, in the case that you're in the middle of a track, and will ignore your start position. An easier way to make these adjustments is to get a copy of the "RestartAt" AppleScript from Tim Kilburn's VoiceOver Downloads page at: http://homepage.mac.com/kilburns/voiceover/downloads.html This script brings up a dialog window and lets you start playing any track in your iTunes library (including movies, Audible books, TV shows, etc.) at the time you specify. AppleScripts work just like regular menu commands, except that they show up in a special AppleScript menu on the menu bar of your application. If this is the first time you are using an AppleScript for iTunes you will have to create the Scripts folder. 1. In Finder, use the "Go to Folder" shortcut Command-Shift-G and either type or paste in: ~/Library/iTunes into the text field of the dialog window and then press return. 2. Create a Scripts folder in this location. (I find this most reliable from icon view, so optionally, press Command-1 to shift Finder to icon view, then press Command-Shift-N, to create a new Folder, and type in the name "Scripts" (without quotation marks and with a capital "S")). 3. In Safari navigate to Tim Kilburns' VoiceOver Downloads page: http://homepage.mac.com/kilburns/voiceover/downloads.html 4. Interact with the HTML page and use item chooser (VO-I) to find "RestartAt", then VO-Right arrow to the download script link. 5. Download the "restartatscript.zip" file. If you are unused to using the Downloads directory and the Dock, you can use the context menu (VO- Shift-M) and choose "Download linked file as …" then use Command-Shift- D to make this go to your Desktop. (Another way to download is to simply press Option-Return, which always forces a download of the linked file to the default Downloads directory. You can bring up the "Downloads" window in Safari with Command-Option-L. Interact with the window and arrow down to your download. You can monitor progress of the download if you interact with the group. Since this is a small file, just VO-Right arrow to the "Show in Finder" button after interacting with this download group and press it (VO-Space). This will open a Finder window with the downloaded file highlighted. 6. Double-click on the file with VO-Shift-Space to unzip it. (Hold down Control, Option, and Shift keys and tap the space bar twice). 7. Copy (Command-C) the RestartAt script file, navigate to the ~/ Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder, and paste the script in (Command-V). Scripts like your downloaded "RestartAt" AppleScript that are in this ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder, will show up as an items in an additional AppleScripts menu on your iTunes menu bar. The tilde at the beginning of the folder path name indicates that this is a folder under your account, so if you navigate to your home directory in Finder with Command-Shift-H, you should be able to locate a folder named "Library" which contains a folder named "iTunes" in which you have created your "Scripts" folder, and where you will find your RestartAt script. To use the RestartAt Applescript: 1. Highlight a selected track in the songs table 2. Press Return to start the track playing, then pause it by pressing space bar. (You only need to do this the first time you play tracks in the library, so that when you check the first status column for your selection in the songs table you hear "status play targeted". If you want to go back to the exact beginning you can press your left arrow key while the track is paused.) 3. Navigate with VO-M to the menu bar and left arrow twice. (The AppleScripts menu is the silent spot to the left of the "Help" menu and to the right of the "Window" menu.) Arrow down and press "R" to go to "RestartAt" and press return. 4. A dialog window will appear prompting you to enter a time between the listed start and end times for the track. (These numbers are always the start and end times for the full track, regardless of any start or end times you have entered on the options pane.) The text box will show the default start time. (This will reflect the start time you set; in the case of an audiobook, it will be the bookmarked last played position). 5. Navigate (VO-Right arrow) to the text box and type in your desired start time. This can be in a single number format like "3.56", "5", "71", etc. where this will be taken to be the time in seconds, or you can specify hours, minutes, and seconds by separating the numbers with colons, e.g. "01:24.5" would be one minute and twenty-four point 5 seconds. If you just press return, iTunes will start playing at the default time (shown in the text box). 6. You can pause the track by pressing the space bar, then stop interacting in the songs table and VO-Up arrow to the player status window (LCD Section). Interact and VO-Right arrow to hear the name of the track announced and the elapsed time. Stop interacting and VO- down arrow back to the songs table,interact, and navigate back to your selected song. (The Command-L shortcut will highlight your currently playing song, even when paused, and is a useful way to jump back.) Hope this helps. If you use this a lot it's even easier if you assign a keyboard shortcut sequence to this AppleScript, but you would have to do this with iTunes closed. HTH Cheers, Esther Donna Goodin wrote: > > Hi Simon, > > Thanks so much for the help. I just want to make sure I > understand. Is what you're saying that I need to set the start and > stop positions, and then see what fragment of the song I end up > with? I can see the total length of the song, so could make an > approximate guess, but that seems like the hard way to do this. > > Also, should I have the " Remember playback position" checked? I > checked it, but it doesn't seem to have helped. > Thanks, > Donna > > -----Original Message----- > From: Simon Cavendish <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 5:45 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: creating ringtones > > > Donna, > > I've only done it a few times so I may not remember but the trick is - > according to the steps I sent you - to go to the "get info" menu with > command+i and then set the begin" and 'end" times of your ring-tone. > It takes a bit of experimenting but once you set the begin and end > points, it can be done well. As far as I can remember you have to > check the start point position and - unless it is different from the > very beginning point - you need to type in a value in seconds, and > then set the end position. I remember having to go backwards and > forwards setting various values to get the ring-tone I want. The ring- > tone mustn't be longer than 40 seconds. > > Hope this helps, Donna. I've no time to try and do it myself at the > moment. But when I played with the instructions I had sent you, they > were pretty good. > > Let me know how you are getting on. > > With best wishes, Simon > On 7 Sep 2009, at 18:15, Donna Goodin wrote: > >> >> Hi Simnon and all, >> >> Is there some way to get your playback position once you've gotten to >> the point in the song where you want to start the ringtone? >> TIA, >> Donna >> On Sep 7, 2009, at 2:03 AM, Simon Cavendish wrote: >> >>> >>> Hello, >>> >>> here are detailed instructions posted by a knowledgeable person on >>> viphone list on how to create ring tones. i'm pasting them below. >>> >>> first of all, this can only be done with music you haven't purchased >>> from the itunes store. >>> step by step instructions >>> 1. open itunes >>> 2. find the song you want to select for your ringtone. highlight it >>> with your vo cursor. >>> 3. press cmd--I to get info and go to the options tab. >>> 4. check the start and end time boxes. [note, make sure you know >>> where >>> you want your start and end to be. this must be 40 seconds or less] >>> once you've selected the allotted time, click OK. >>> 5. go to advance and select create AAC version. this creates a >>> duplicate of your selected song. >>> 6. Now, the song you just created should be sitting below your >>> original in the songs table as an aAC version. go to the original, >>> you >>> will know it's the original because the time is still the original >>> length. Now you should get info again on the original track, >>> ensuring >>> the track is highlighted, and uncheck the boxes you checked >>> previously. This will make sure your song is in tact. >>> 7. Now highlight your duplicate song, the one you made for your >>> ringtone, and hit cmd--c to copy. Paste it to your desk top and >>> delete >>> the duplicate in itunes. [this must be done or else the following >>> steps will not work] >>> 9. Rename the file on your desktop, with the m4r extension. all you >>> need to do is hit enter/return on the file on the desktop and go to >>> the end of the file name, deleting the m4a and typing m4r. >>> 11. go back to itunes and hit add to library cmd--o. find your new >>> ringtone on the desktop and import it. >>> 12. go to your ringtones playlist and it should be there. >>> 13. sync your iphone. >>> >>> >>> On 7 Sep 2009, at 06:27, Woody Anna Dresner wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Hi Donna, >>>> >>>> What I would do is use a program like amadeus Pro to select the >>>> segment of a track you want to use as a ringtone, copy it to a >>>> separate file, save that file in AAC format, and change the >>>> extension >>>> from M4A to M4R. I think Amadeus Pro might be able to save as a >>>> ringtone, so you wouldn't need to make the extension change. >>>> >>>> HTH, >>>> Anna >>>> >>>> >>>>> >>> >>> >>>> >>> >> >> >>> > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
