Fetch Art 2.5.4 Released

Ok, so the installer still has some issues.

Here is 2.5.4

I've tested this on iTunes 9 and 8, and Mac OS X 10.5.8 on Intel and PowerPC Macs.

Let me know if you have anymore problems.

New Fetch Art 2.5.3 Released

Changes this version:

Fixed the preferences to actually save what you choose.

Rebuilt the installer from scratch. Hopefully this will end the occasional installation issue that has been reported.

Improved handling for extended unicode characters in song names. If you get any errors related to accents or special characters, please take a screen shot and report it to me.

Improved automated version checking. It should notify you if a new version is available.

You can download it here.

Fetch Art 2.5 Released

CHANGES in version 2.5.0:

Added support for Amazon's new Web Services. As of August 15 2009, any version of Fetch Art prior to 2.5.0 will stop working as Amazon changed how their servers worked. This requires encrypting part of the call, which does slow each call down a little bit over the previous version.

Added more logic in constructing the query to Amazon to improve search accuracy and speed. It can often find album artwork now even if the album name is spelled wrong and it requires fewer calls to the server to find it.

Added a debug logging mode. This mode is off by default, but when activated will save a detailed log that you can send to me for support if you are having problems.

Added an option to turn off extended searching. Previously Fetch Art would try to find art for any album even if it found the wrong art. Now that level of searching is off by default. It may not find as much are, but accuracy should improve. You can turn it back on in the preferences if you like.

Added an automatic check for new versions.

Improved error handling.

You can download it here.

Fetch Art 2.5 will be released by 10pm PDT

Check back here after 10pm PDT as Fetch Art 2.5 will be available for download.

Version 2.5 Estimated Release on August 17

I expect to release a new 2.5 version of Fetch Art by August 17.

Amazon has changed their search service so that all versions of Fetch Art prior to 2.5 no longer work.

Keep checking back here for updates.

Working on version 2.5

I wanted to let you know I've been spending a lot of time on a new version 2.5 that will make sure Fetch Art keeps working beyond Amazon's latest changes. On Saturday, August 15 Amazon will require encrypted signing of all calls to their web services that Fetch Art uses to get album art.

My goal is to have a new version 2.5 available in time for that change.

Thank you for all the emails requesting to participate as a beta tester. I have enough beta testers now for this version release, so please don't be offended if you didn't get chosen.

And remember Fetch Art is free, but there is the ability to make a donation to show your support.

On August 15th Amazon will kill all previous versions of Fetch Art

Amazon is changing how applications can interact with their Web Services.

On August 15th 2009 Amazon will make changes to how calls are made to get album art. This change is big and will completely break any software that is not updated to the new calls. This of course, includes all previously released versions of Fetch Art including the latest release version 2.1.

I am working on a new version to address these issues. Amazon has posted some information on how to use the new calls. Unfortunately they are not supporting AppleScript (the language Fetch Art is written in.)

I am working on some changes to Fetch Art that will allow it to work with Amazon after the 15th of August, however, these are not small changes.

Keep checking back here for updates. My goal is to have a new version available by August 15th when Amazon will disable the old calls. Due to my work schedule and the short amount of time, I may not make this deadline.

Also, Amazon is slowly rolling out these changes leading up to the 15th, so you can assume the current version of Fetch Art will start having more and more issues, until it finally stops working on the 15th. Amazon has said during the following dates and times, Fetch Art may not function:

• First Round: One in five unsigned requests (selected randomly) will be rejected.
  • In all regions (NA, EU, and JP) starting Monday, August 3rd 2009, 6 PM GMT/UTC for 24 hours (that is 11 AM PDT and 3 AM JST).
• Second Round: all unsigned requests will be rejected at these times:
  • Europe (UK, DE, FR): Monday, August 10th 2009 from 2 PM to 4 PM GMT/UTC
  • North America (US and CA): Monday, August 10th 2009 from 11 AM to 1 PM PDT (6 PM to 8 PM GMT/UTC)
  • Japan (JP): Tuesday, August 11th 2009, 10 AM to 12 Noon JST (1 AM to 3 AM GMT/UTC
  
  
  
  

Tutorial for using Fetch Art

Ok many of you have asked for a tutorial since Fetch Art doesn't work like a standard Mac OS app (this is because it runs as an iTunes Script.) Let me know what you think.

YouTube video (lower resolution but more compatible and quicker to load)

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Hi resolution QuickTime movie (might not work in all web browsers)