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Many Mac OS X users have probably heard about Growl - it's a great piece of software that allows users to install extensions, which allow supported applications to display notifications on the screen. For example, if a user receives a new email, the Mail application will able to pop-up a notification on the screen saying just that.

Many have expected that Apple would directly integrate something similar into Mac OS X, but that has yet to happen - or has it? Mac OS X Hints has discovered a "secret" (not so secret anymore) Terminal "hack" that allows users to get a pop-up notification of the "Now Playing" song in iTunes. The notification appears above the iTunes icon in the Dock when enabled.

At this time, it's unknown whether Apple is testing a notification system in OS X and is beginning with iTunes, or if this is the remnants of a system that was being worked on.

Nonetheless, follow these steps if you'd like to enable a "Now Playing" notification for iTunes on Mac OS X:

NOTE: Please keep in mind that this tweak only works on Mac OS X 10.7 or later (a.k.a. "Lion")

NOTE: Please quit iTunes before beginning this tweak

Step 1: Launch Terminal - it can be found in Applications>Utilities>Terminal

Step 2: Copy and paste in the following code EXACTLY as it appears below:

defaults write com.apple.dock itunes-notifications -bool TRUE;killall Dock

Step 3: After this, open iTunes and beginning playing a track. You should notice a notification pop-up and then disappear after a few seconds. If you notice that there is no iTunes icon on the notification, enter Terminal once again and copy and paste the following EXACTLY as it appears:

defaults write com.apple.dock notification-always-show-image -bool TRUE;killall Dock

That's it! You should now have a working iTunes "Now Playing" notification directly from Mac OS X!

Source: http://itsalltech.com/2011/11/19/itunes-notification-mac-os-x-how-to/

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Heh, that's pretty cool but kinda disruptive though. It's nice to see that people are still discovering these hidden features.

I'm liking it more without the icon btw, since it adds no additional value whatsoever and increases the menu in size. You already know its iTunes since the menu hovers above and points directly towards the iTunes icon below it. Album art would have been nice though.

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Hmm, haven't tried this yet but how does this behave when the dock is hidden?

Displays a notification where iTunes icon would be if you could see dock.

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Thanks, celticpride678.

Did you really had to ask Xtreme $niper? :laugh:

Honestly, yes. =P

I knew this was going to be a 90% chance of being the case, but there was that 10% that had me curious, especially considering it was disabled by default and is a terminal hack so I don't know if they had covered all the conditions in the code.

Cool stuff though!

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Thanks, celticpride678.

Honestly, yes. =P

I knew this was going to be a 90% chance of being the case, but there was that 10% that had me curious, especially considering it was disabled by default and is a terminal hack so I don't know if they had covered all the conditions in the code.

Cool stuff though!

Really want to see this implemented on every app...Mail and iCal being the first of course. And allow developers to use it as well. Mac OS X 10.8, anyone?

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I have always used iScrobbler to accomplish this (via Growl) because it also scrobbles my tracks for Last.fm, but I just tried this and I prefer it so I have turned off the growl notifications for now.

I also found out that by default the iTunes icon shows when your Dock is hidden, but doesn't show when your Dock is showing. Also, I don't know if it's just because I'm using DockArt, but the iTunes icon changes to be the album cover art when you have one for that track as well. I find it nice.

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Really want to see this implemented on every app...Mail and iCal being the first of course. And allow developers to use it as well. Mac OS X 10.8, anyone?

With Mail, Safari, iChat, iCal and iTunes running, the Dock would turn into a New Year's Eve fireworks display only with contexual menus popping up instead.

I also found out that by default the iTunes icon shows when your Dock is hidden, but doesn't show when your Dock is showing. Also, I don't know if it's just because I'm using DockArt, but the iTunes icon changes to be the album cover art when you have one for that track as well. I find it nice.

Yup, that's why I didn't enable the second Terminal command. Album art doesn't show by default, it has to do with DockArt.

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Kind of neat. I wouldn't mind other apps being able to use this notification system, as long as it could be controlled per app like it is with Growl (and iOS).

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I made an AppleScript-App to quickly turn on/off the notification and change the icon behavior.

It notify if iTunes is running:

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Here you can select modes:

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Here it is:

iTunes Now Playing Notifications Settings_by_nyolc8.app.zip

Enjoy.

That's nifty! Nice for users who are scared of the terminal.

It would be nice if you could have the album art instead of the icon in the notification

Use DockArt and your wish will come true. http://www.splook.com/Software/DockArt.html

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Yeah, but I'll loose my precious iTunes icon in the Dock. I-I-I just can't deal with that... :cry:

The solution is simple! Simply pause the song, witness the iTunes icon in all its blue-ish glory, and resume the song once you have had your dose. :laugh:

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The solution is simple! Simply pause the song, witness the iTunes icon in all its blue-ish glory, and resume the song once you have had your dose. :laugh:

I wouldn't hear a single song again then!

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Use DockArt and your wish will come true. http://www.splook.co...re/DockArt.html

Actually, I do notice that the album art that shows up in the notification is actually the one for the previous song... Looks like the notification system is taking the icon snapshot before DockArt has a chance to change it... Odd.

I wouldn't hear a single song again then!

Ah, but think of the zen you would be able to achieve! It practically should be filed under Productivity Tools in the app store!

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