Seize Greater Control of iTunes Through Windows Scripts

Whether you love it or loathe it, there’s no disputing that iTunes is a leading option for playing music whether on a Mac or a PC. In the past, we showed how to skin iTunes, though Windows users have long lacked another asset Mac users had: AppleScripts.


Essentially, these scripts were written for use with a variety of functions within OS X, and some of them add a considerable amount of power to iTunes. Windows users never could use them, but there does exist alternative scripts that harness Visual Basic code.


Naturally, do be careful when toying with scripts that can modify song data. If necessary, test it on a track or two in order to ensure it has the desired effect. Should the script not have the effect wanted, it will not otherwise edit the iTunes Library.

The scripts are free to download, and can be found on the author’s website.

There are a lot of scripts on the page, so read through and you can see what they do. Some descriptions refer to others mentioned beforehand, so skimming is not ideal unless they are clearly unrelated.


Click the name of the script you’d like to use when you’ve found one that appeals. The download should be quick as the files are only a matter of kilobytes each.

Open iTunes. Unsurprisingly, the scripts are limited by the program they are designed to work with. There shouldn’t be any need to use specific views or settings to take advantage of the scripts, however.


Find the script you downloaded, and double click it. You may receive a message asking if you want to run the script. Simply confirm this, or run a virus check beforehand if you are wary.


Due to how Windows generally handles .vbs scripts, the button labels often do not correspond with how the script works. For the most part the actual function of the buttons (usually “Yes”, “No” and “Cancel”) is shown in the first pop-up after running the script.


If the script you have downloaded relates to handling songs, you will need to highlight the songs in question.

This can be done by holding “Shift” and clicking the first and last song you wish to modify, pressing “Ctrl + A” in an expanded album to highlight all the tracks, or by holding “Ctrl” and clicking specific tracks.


Move between the songs via the buttons, and you will be able to view details iTunes may not show through normal usage. This type of information may suit a niche audience, though it is undoubtedly nice to explore some of the potential locked away in iTunes code.


Depending on the script, some of them may create playlists. These can be accessed by clicking the “Playlists” button along the top of the iTunes window to produce the sidebar that iTunes 12 introduced.

Scripts might not have been the obvious solution to grievances with iTunes on Windows, but it would appear that could be more of an option than ever before. Mac users might still have a larger selection of scripts, but that does not mean they are an exclusive feature any longer.