iPod library access lets your application play a user’s songs, audio books, and audio podcasts. The API design makes basic playback very simple while also supporting advanced searching and playback control.
iPod library access opens up iOS to allow a wide range of music-related enhancements to your application. Here are just a few ideas for what you can do:
Let a user assemble and play a soundtrack for your game or exercise app
Let a user retrieve the names of their favorite artists, songs, and albums from their iPod library to send to a friend
Provide a recommendation service for new music or artist touring schedules based on the content of a user’s iPod library
Before reading this document, you should already be comfortable with iOS development as described in iOS Application Programming Guide and iOS Development Guide. For a tutorial introduction to creating programs for iOS, read Your First iOS Application.
iPod Library Access Guide complements Media Player Framework Reference, which you may find helpful to refer to as you read this document.
Note: iPod library access works only on devices and not in the Simulator. This is because the Simulator has no access to a device’s iPod library. To develop applications using the classes in this technology, you need a provisioned iOS device.
This document includes the following chapters:
“About iPod Library Access”—Provides a complete overview of music playback and iPod library access using this API.
“Using Media Playback”—Explains how to create and use music players.
“Using the Media Item Picker”—Shows how to invoke the picker and implement its delegate methods for retrieving the media items chosen by a user.
“Using the iPod Library”—Goes into depth on creating and using predicates and queries to retrieve media items from the iPod library.
“Glossary”—Defines terminology used in describing this API.
To get the most out of this technology, take advantage of these resources:
Media Player Framework Reference—complete reference documentation for the classes introduced in this document.
AddMusic—an iPhone sample project that you can download, study, adapt, and extend for use in your iOS applications.
Audio Session Programming Guide—explains how to configure the overall audio behavior for your application. Read this document if you are creating an application that uses your own audio along with iPod audio playback.
Core Audio Overview—explains how audio formats can mix in iOS and describes the available audio formats for application audio.
Last updated: 2010-05-21