MPMediaItemCollection get current play list from iPod?

[comtek]

I'm trying to get current play queue from MPMusicPlayerController.
I came up with a very bad solution, where I pause the music, Skip to next item, until end of list. (with volume=0)

I thought I could do this when the user needs the list (music will be interrupted unfortunately) or in between the first track change.

I have written the following:

         if (wasPlaying) [m.player.musicPlayer pause];
          
          //Remeber play time
          MPMediaItem *nowPlayingItem     = m.player.musicPlayer.nowPlayingItem;
          NSTimeInterval currentPlaybackTime     = m.player.musicPlayer.currentPlaybackTime;
          
          //So skip through record finding the list
          int c=0;
          NSMutableArray *mediaItemsInList=[[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:10]; //[[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
          
          while ((nowPlayingItem!=nil) && (c<15)) // (m.player.musicPlayer.playbackState!=MPMusicPlaybackStateStopped)
          {
               nowPlayingItem = [m.player.musicPlayer nowPlayingItem];
               if  (nowPlayingItem!=nil) [mediaItemsInList addObject:nowPlayingItem];
               
               [m.player.musicPlayer skipToNextItem];
               c++;
               
               NSLog([NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d:%@ %@",c,[nowPlayingItem valueForProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyTitle],
                       [nowPlayingItem valueForProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyArtist]]);
          }

          NSArray *ar=mediaItemsInList;
          MPMediaItemCollection     *mediaItemCollection=[[ MPMediaItemCollection alloc] collectionWithItems:ar];

          //Set media list
          [m.player setUserMediaItemCollection:mediaItemCollection];
          [m.player.musicPlayer setQueueWithItemCollection: mediaItemCollection];
          [mediaItemCollection release];
          [mediaItemsInList release];

Oh yes... I also found after skipping 15 songs it kept repeating the track information, so for some reason the skipToNextItem is not moving forward. But I gues the first 15 tracks are better than NONE

The code gives a SIGABRT error at:

MPMediaItemCollection     *mediaItemCollection=[[ MPMediaItemCollection alloc] collectionWithItems:ar];

If anyone has any better iteas I would like to know? Or has a solution for the above... If I fix it I will post the code

[zulfishah]

Good question. I'm facing the same problem. Anyone done this before?

[kdp8791]

Have you guys been able to resolve this issue? I am facing the same problem with my MPMediaItemCollection and am not sure what to do. Please help, and thank you in advance.

[Whiteninga]

I know this is a pretty old thread, but I don't believe this issue has been resolved. Apple (for some unknown reason) doesn't allow access to the current MPMediaItemCollection that is playing.

The initial code works with a few adjustments:

NSArray *ar=mediaItemsInList;
MPMediaItemCollection     *mediaItemCollection=[[ MPMediaItemCollection alloc] collectionWithItems:ar];

should be changed to

MPMediaItemCollection     *mediaItemCollection=[MPMediaItemCollection collectionWithItems:mediaItemsInList];

mediaItemsInList is already an NSArray and doesn't need to be cast. Also, calling alloc on the MediaItemCollection is unnecessary and will cause a crash. If you want to keep the collection around for later just throw a retain on it.

Oh yes... I also found after skipping 15 songs it kept repeating the track information, so for some reason the skipToNextItem is not moving forward.

I have found that skipToNextItem isn't always instantly cooperative. I fixed this by testing the previous item to the current nowPlayingItem to see if they are equal. If they are in fact equal, just sleep for a small period of time and try again. This could of course go on indefinitely if 2 songs are the same right after one another, so make sure to set a timeout.

[Whiteninga]

Oh I forgot to mention that this process can take a looooooong time depending upon how many songs you want to parse through.

I use NSOperation to run it concurrently with whatever I am doing so that the app is still responsive while grabbing the songs.

[informatics]

Originally Posted by Whiteninga

Oh I forgot to mention that this process can take a looooooong time depending upon how many songs you want to parse through.

I use NSOperation to run it concurrently with whatever I am doing so that the app is still responsive while grabbing the songs.

many thx!