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Doctor Q said:
I have chosen not to include C-SPAN offerings in the Free iTunes list in the first post. Those who are interested can post links to Audiobooks such as this, as Chip NoVaMac has done.

Can I suggest that as a "public service" that we include new public affair downloads as well? A more limited market of course, but maybe a more beneficial one in the long run?
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Can I suggest that as a "public service" that we include new public affair downloads as well? A more limited market of course, but maybe a more beneficial one in the long run?
How many have been offered free? How would we routinely find them?
 
As a Valentine's Day gift to those who use the free tunes list, I reversed the order so the newest tunes in the first post are now always at the top.

Another free audiobook was offered today, so I put a list of the two I know of in the second post of the thread. Let me know any others I should add.
 
Doctor Q said:
How many have been offered free? How would we routinely find them?

Well I know that the 9-11 Commission Reports were offered, as well as both the DNC and RNC convention speeches. The latest was the 2005 State of the Union.

Finding them requires searching ITMS. I could take and post the links as I find them, if that is OK.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Well I know that the 9-11 Commission Reports were offered, as well as both the DNC and RNC convention speeches. The latest was the 2005 State of the Union.

Finding them requires searching ITMS. I could take and post the links as I find them, if that is OK.
Go ahead. Post anything you find. And I can collect what you find, put them in the second post, and take all the credit.
 
To help people who have been collecting Apple's free tunes, I wrote an AppleScript to fix the bad genre settings in the tunes that Apple gave away in the two Samplers so far:
iTunes New Music Sampler (Universal Motown Edition) (13 songs)

iTunes New Music Sampler (Atlantic/Lava Edition) (16 songs)​
See the beginning of this thread for the links.

These collections are distributed with all of the songs set to genre "Pop", when in fact they cover Alternative, Electronic, Hip Hop/Rap, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, and Soundtrack, as you can see in the iTunes Music Store if you search for the songs in other albums.

The AppleScript looks for the two sampler albums in your iTunes library. For whichever are found, it looks for the songs known to be in those albums and checks their genres against the correct genres as shown at the beginning of this thread. For any that are set to a different genre (e.g., still set to "Pop"), the genre is corrected. The AppleScript shows you which ones it changed.

Rather than give you a compiled application and ask you to run it sight unseen, I prefer to "publish" the source code here, in the following post. Mac OS X comes with "Script Editor", an application that will run the AppleScript for you.

Instructions for using the AppleScript appear above it in the next post.

If Apple posts more iTunes Samplers or other tunes with the wrong genres, I will update the script to cover them too, for no extra charge.

Who wants to be a guinea pig and try it out?

Genre notes:
The song When I'm Gone (Sadie) by No Address is not elsewhere in the Music Store, so I classified it myself as "Rock".

The song Funny Little Feeling by Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers is classified elsewhere in the iTunes Music Store as "Soundtrack", so the AppleScript sets it that way, but you might find it more useful to set its genre to "Alternative" afterward if you search your songs by genre or store them in smart playlists that way and don't want Soundtracks to be in their own group.​
 
Fix Genres AppleScript

The AppleScript below corrects genres in the free iTunes Sampler albums in your iTunes library. It is for personal use by MacRumors members.

To use this script:
  • If you have not already done so, download one or more "iTunes Samplers" from the iTunes Music Store. See the beginning of this thread for the links.
  • Copy all text in this post, starting with the --copy me-- line and ending with the --stop copying me-- line, to the clipboard.
  • Open Applications/AppleScript/Script Editor.
  • In the empty Script Editor window, paste the script from the clipboard.
  • Optional: Click the Compile icon. The AppleScript will be displayed with proper formatting.
  • Click the Run icon. The AppleScript will be executed.
  • Reply to the prompts.
  • Quit Script Editor without saving the script.
  • If you have another Mac, repeat these instructions.

--copy me--
-- Fix Genres (AppleScript)
-- Author: Doctor Q, MacRumors.com
-- Version: 1.0, February 2005
-- Format: Distributed as AppleScript source code.
-- Availabilty: Free to MacRumors forum members. Not to be further distributed.
-- Warranty: None. Use at your own risk.

-- The purpose of this AppleScript is to correct the genre settings for the free "iTunes Sampler" albums in the iTunes Music Store.
-- As offered by Apple, these Samplers have had the genre for all tunes mistakenly set to "Pop".
-- Fix Genres version 1.0 covers these iTunes Samplers:
-- 1. iTunes New Music Sampler (Universal Motown Edition)
-- 2. iTunes New Music Sampler (Atlantic/Lava Edition)
-- It is OK to run the script multiple times and to Quit at any time.

-- General cautions:
-- You should not run programs or scripts without some assurance that they are safe.
-- Consider the source and/or examine the source code yourself before using a program or script that you download from the Internet.
-- You should routinely back up your iTunes library, and it is also wise to back it up before running programs that can affect it.

-- Start of Applescript

-- fixalbum: routine to fix the genres of tracks of a given album
-- arguments: album name, list of {artist, name, correct genre, optional-comments}

on fixalbum(thealbum, tracklist)
if havealbum(thealbum) then
tell application "iTunes" to display dialog "Do you want to fix genres in " & thealbum & "?" buttons {"Skip Album", "Fix Genres"} default button "Fix Genres"
if the button returned of the result is "Fix Genres" then
set nchanged to 0
set changes to "Changes made to " & thealbum & ":"
repeat with thetrack in tracklist
set theartist to item 1 of thetrack
set thename to item 2 of thetrack
set newgenre to item 3 of thetrack
set oldgenre to fixtrack(theartist, thename, newgenre)
if oldgenre is not "" then
set nchanged to nchanged + 1
set changes to changes & return & (nchanged as string) & ". " & thename & " by " & theartist & ":" & return & "" & "" & "" & "" & "" & oldgenre & " -> " & newgenre
end if
end repeat
tell application "iTunes"
if (nchanged = 0) then
display dialog "No changes were made to " & thealbum & "." buttons {"OK"} default button "OK" with icon note
else
display dialog changes buttons {"OK"} default button "OK" with icon note
end if
end tell
end if
else
tell application "iTunes" to display dialog thealbum & " is not in your library, so it will not be checked." buttons {"OK"} default button "OK" with icon caution
end if

end fixalbum

-- fixtrack: routine to fix the genre of one track
-- arguments: artist name, song name, correct genre
-- return value: string: old genre if changed, null otherwise

on fixtrack(theartist, thename, newgenre)
set returnvalue to ""
tell application "iTunes"
tell playlist "Library" of source "Library"
set matchingtracks to (every track whose artist is theartist and name is thename)
set nmatches to count of matchingtracks
if nmatches is 0 then
display dialog ("Track '" & thename & "' by '" & theartist & "' was not found.") with icon caution
else
repeat with thetrack in matchingtracks
set oldgenre to the genre of thetrack
if oldgenre is not newgenre then
set the genre of thetrack to newgenre -- the only permanent action of this script
set returnvalue to oldgenre
end if
end repeat
end if
end tell
end tell
return returnvalue
end fixtrack

-- havealbum: routine to test if an album is present
-- argument: album name
-- return value: Boolean: is album in library?

on havealbum(albumname)
tell application "iTunes"
tell playlist "Library" of source "Library"
return exists (first track whose album is albumname)
end tell
end tell
end havealbum

-- Main program:

-- iTunes New Music Sampler (Universal Motown Edition)

fixalbum("iTunes New Music Sampler (Universal Motown Edition)", {¬
{"Features", "Blow It Out", "Alternative"}, ¬
{"Jamie Cullum", "All at Sea", "Jazz"}, ¬
{"Miri Ben-Ari", "Sunshine to the Rain", "Hip Hop/Rap"}, ¬
{"Akon", "Lonely", "Hip Hop/Rap"}, ¬
{"Razorlight", "Golden Touch", "Rock"}, ¬
{"Brian McKnight", "Every Time You Go Away", "Rock"}, ¬
{"The Soundtrack of Our Lives", "Bigtime", "R&B/Soul"}, ¬
{"Scissor Sisters", "Laura", "Pop"}, ¬
{"Brie Larson", "She Said", "Pop"}, ¬
{"O'Ryan", "Jus Anotha Shorty", "R&B/Soul"}, ¬
{"Teitur", "Sleeping with the Lights On", "Rock"}, ¬
{"Michael McDonald", "Reach Out, I'll Be There", "R&B/Soul"}, ¬
{"Le Tigre", "TKO", "Electronic"} ¬
})

-- iTunes New Music Sampler (Atlantic/Lava Edition)

fixalbum("iTunes New Music Sampler (Atlantic/Lava Edition)", {¬
{"Death Cab for Cutie", "Title and Registration", "Alternative"}, ¬
{"Simple Plan", "Welcome to My Life", "Alternative"}, ¬
{"Gratitude", "Drive Away", "Alternative"}, ¬
{"Ellie Lawson", "Gotta Get Up from Here", "Pop"}, ¬
{"Unwritten Law", "Lost Control", "Rock"}, ¬
{"John Butler Trio", "What You Want", "Rock"}, ¬
{"No Address", "When I'm Gone (Sadie)", "Rock", "Note: my opinion", "Note: my opinion"}, ¬
{"Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers", "Funny Little Feeling", "Soundtrack", "Alternative", "Note: Alternative"}, ¬
{"The Stills", "Yesterday Never Tomorrows", "Rock"}, ¬
{"Louis XIV", "Louis XIV", "Alternative"}, ¬
{"Moments In Grace", "Broken Promises", "Rock"}, ¬
{"The Kinison", "You'll Never Guess Who Died", "Alternative"}, ¬
{"Skindred", "Pressure", "Rock"}, ¬
{"The Format", "On Your Porch", "Rock"}, ¬
{"Toby Lightman", "Everyday", "Pop"}, ¬
{"Porcupine Tree", "Shallow", "Alternative"} ¬
})

tell application "iTunes" to display dialog "Fix Genres complete." buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit"

-- End of AppleScript
--stop copying me--
 
Doctor Q said:
Go ahead. Post anything you find. And I can collect what you find, put them in the second post, and take all the credit.

I'll take and post in the thread as I see them, also will do some searching and post results here in the next week or so.

I for one am not concerned about credit here, if you would prefer I can send you an MR email with the listings....


I just love this resource!
 
Free Catch of the Day download

I just noticed another new FREE song in iTMS (USA), the song is "Save Me" off the album "Here's to the Mourning" by Unwritten Law (Genre = Rock).

I don't know how to make that a link yet. Or to put in a link to that.

The category of this free tune is called "Catch of the Day" from Carson Daly's Most Requested.
 
I checked the free iTunes list in the first post of this thread against the iMixes of free tunes that I know of, to see if I missed any free tunes and if those lists are equally up to date.

Here's what I found:

Combining last year and this year, the MacRumors lists have 132 tunes, consisting of
47 free tunes from 2004
32 Discovery Downloads from 2004
2 Street Official Mixtapes from 2004
1 audiobook from 2004
17 free tunes from 2005
29 free tunes from iTunes Samplers from 2005
2 Street Official Mixtapes from 2005
2 audiobook from 2005​
The iTunes FREE Songs Up to Date iMix:
This is the best other collection. It has 92 tunes. It is missing 39 tunes compared with our lists:

Around the Sun Redux by R.E.M. from 2004
Every Ship Must Sail Away by Blue Merle from 2005
Gotta Get Up from Here by Ellie Lawson from 2005
Gotta Get Up from Here (Radio Edit) by Ellie Lawson from 2005
the iTunes Samplers
the Street Official Mixtapes
the audiobooks​
The iTunes Free Songs iMix:
This is almost the same as the iTunes FREE Songs Up to Date iMix, but is missing 3 more tunes. It has 89 tunes. It is missing 42 tunes compared with our lists:

Around the Sun Redux by R.E.M. from 2004
Based On a True Story (Mama Told Me) by Ms. Triniti from 2004
Club Foot by Kasabian from 2005
Every Ship Must Sail Away by Blue Merle from 2005
Gotta Get Up from Here by Ellie Lawson from 2005
Gotta Get Up from Here (Radio Edit) by Ellie Lawson from 2005
Save Me by Unwritten Law from 2005
the iTunes Samplers
the Street Official Mixtapes
the audiobooks

"Club Foot" and "Save Me" will no doubt be added soon, since they are the two latest free tunes; the list simply wasn't updated promptly. Normally, it is only missing 1 tune compared with the iTunes FREE Songs Up to Date iMix.​
The FREE Music Downloads iMix:
It has not been kept up to date. It has only 56 songs, missing 76 compared to our lists.​

The This Week's FREE Music in 1 iMix! iMix:
This list shows only the most recent free songs, and it currently shows only 3. It does not include some tunes that are currently free, such as Save Me by Unwritten Law (the latest one), the iTunes Samplers, the Street Official Mixtapes, or the audiobooks.​

It looks like our list is still the best source!
 
"I think we aren't in Kanza anymore"

Apple had a little trouble with spelling this week. The front page of the iTunes Music Store lists "Lokua Kanze" under Free Downloads. The actual artist name is "Lokua Kanza". Whoever at Apple typed the wrong vowel should have his or her iMac replaced with an eMac!
 
Doctor Q said:
That's indeed a new freebie, micahgartman. "Hotel Album Sampler" by Moby. Thanks!

When my iTunes Music Store came up it said that the single cost is $0.99.
 
wdlove said:
When my iTunes Music Store came up it said that the single cost is $0.99.
This often happens. It shows the price in the iTMS display when it is actually free.

Here's how to get it if it is free and not accidentally buy it:

1. Set the "Store" section of your iTunes preferences to "Buy using a Shopping Cart".

2. Click the ADD SONG button next to the song, even though it says $0.99. Because of your preference setting, this won't buy the song and charge you money. It will only add it to your shopping cart.

3. Open your Shopping Cart (in the Source directory on the left side of your iTunes window).

4. If the song is really free, it will say GET SONG next to the song. Click it and you'll download the free song. If it says BUY SONG next to the song, don't click it. Check back later (it might say GET SONG in your shopping cart later). If it never becomes free, remove it from your shopping cart by selecting it and pressing delete.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Well I know that the 9-11 Commission Reports were offered, as well as both the DNC and RNC convention speeches.
I found them (45 separate audiobooks!) and added them to the 2004 free tunes chart (first two posts), since they are still available free in the store.

The latest was the 2005 State of the Union.
I added that one to this year's chart when you mentioned it. Let me know if you find others.
 
Thanks for the script to fix all the genres for the free music. I appreciate the time and effort it took to put that together. I know it wasn't too hard but I know it took a bit of time that you didn't have to use for that.
 
Doctor Q said:
I found them (45 separate audiobooks!) and added them to the 2004 free tunes chart (first two posts), since they are still available free in the store.

I added that one to this year's chart when you mentioned it. Let me know if you find others.

Thanks, didn't have as much time as I thought I would recently.

Here are some more from 2004:

RNC convention, just search the term RNC - 21 books

DNC convention, just search the term DNC - 22 books

Presidential debates (including vice presidential), search the term Presidential Debate - 4 books

The 2005 State of the Union is no longer free.
 
Thanks, Chip NoVaMac. I found the 4 debates, 26 DNC freebies, and 21 RNC freebies. Oddly, there is a 22nd RNC audiobook, which is 95 cents.

And I still see the 2005 State of the Union as free.

In any case, the 2004 thread is updated with them all (97 audiobooks), and we can concentrate on 2005.
 
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