Text file with a list of all or subset of albums in the library?

[DavidL]

(12-07-2021 20:15)aspaceintime Wrote:  If you have a Mac, I have an AppleScript that does this. It writes directly to a desktop file you name.

Sounds very useful. Would be much appreciated if you could share this with other MinimServer users.

I've used a long-winded process for this and store the database on my iPhone:

How to Extract an Artist / Album Artist and Album database from iTunes

1. iTunes
Drag all the tracks of a genre to create a playlist for the desired genre, after deleting contents of an existing playlist of that name.
Set up the view options for this playlist using the ‘View>Show View Options’ menu item. In the ‘Songs’ view un-tick all the viewing options apart from the 2 (?) columns required to be exported for the database; normally this will be ‘Album’ and ‘Artist’ or ‘Album Artist’.
Click on a row in this view and then select all using the ‘Edit>Select All’ menu item.
Copy this text data using the ‘Edit>Copy’ menu item.

2. Excel
Open a blank worksheet and highlight the first cell in the first row i.e. A1.
Paste the data copied in the iTunes playlist here.
Delete the first column (Track title).
Insert a header row before the first record with the iTunes headings (Album, Artist etc).
Select all the records in the spreadsheet (scroll down while holding ‘shift’). Use the Advanced filter command from the Excel drop-down menu: ‘Data>Filter>Advanced filter’ and click the ‘Unique records only’ box. Click ‘OK’
Copy the resulting columns to another worksheet because the original spreadsheet still contains all the records: the repeated rows are merely hidden.
If necessary, sort this spreadsheet. Edit the list to remove all but one entry for multi-part albums, and save the spreadsheet.

3. Tap Forms Mac
Import the saved worksheet into the database program.
Make any necessary changes to display fields and sort as required.
Note the modified set of databases will only appear in the form list when Tap Forms Mac is restarted.