Synergy and AppleScript

After reading this at Hicks Design and this at Playlist, I installed Synergy. Synergy is a handy menu item, which controls iTunes. I had tried a bunch of mini iTunes controllers using Konfabulator, but none of them stuck around for long. They weren't very useful. Synergy flat out rocks. It is unobtrusive and highly customizable.

The latest version adds AppleScript support. I wanted to change my status in iChat each time a new song played. Scripts have already been written that do this, but I think they involve polling iTunes, which can eat up CPU cycles. I took the "Now Playing in iChat AV 1.8.1" script written by Doug Adams and remixed it for use with Synergy. This is my first foray into AppleScript, so YMMV. The script works. It runs for each change in iTunes status or when a track changes. It annoyingly pops up a bouncy script icon in the dock for a second when it runs. The icon disappears after the script runs. Knowing nothing about AppleScript, I'm not sure if that can be stopped. It also slows my old 12" 867MHZ G4 down a bit for a second or two when it runs, which will probably get old during extended listening sessions.

Download the Synergy to iChat Version 0.5 Script.

To install, unzip and drop the script in "~/Library/Application Support/Synergy/Track Change Items". You will need to start and stop Synergy for it to take effect.

This script is released with no warranty or guarantees. Please let me know if you improve the script.