Mac Alert: This setup would work for Mac users only.

David Allen recommends that you always have Material that you want to read separately stacked or filed in a “To Read” shelf or a “To Read” tray or “To Read” folder. Well, what about the material to which you would like to listen or watch? During the many hours that you spend traveling from home to office or the many business trips that you might be taking, if you are in the mood to listen to or watch something, what do you do? Do you force feed yourself the material that’s lying around in the plane or just randomly play something in your iPod? Well here’s a step by step guide to always having just the stuff you would like “to hear” or “to watch” in your iPod.

I’m a huge fan of pod casts, audio books, lectures, debates and any audio learning material. I am currently subscribed to some 40 odd pod casts, purchase audio books frequently and download lectures very often. So when I do have 30 minutes or hour of time, here’s my system to avoid being overwhelmed with the deluge of information and to listen to and/or watch just the material that are relevant for me. (On a side note, to see my top favorite 5 pod casts click here).

First Step:
Ensure you have the following installed. TuneTagScript, Quicksilver, Hazel and Cosmopod Downloader .

Second Step:
In iTunes, create a smart play list by hitting Cmd+Opt+N. Set the Rule to read Comments Contains *ToListen
- Create a second smart play list but this time set rule to be Comments contains *ToWatch

In Hazel:
- Set two rules that all mp3 files and mp4 files are to be imported to iTunes. See images below:

Third Step:
Now, whenever I come across a blog post that has a YouTube video that I’d like to watch but don’t have the time to, I hit the Cosmopod Download button in my Safari address bar to download it immediately using Cosmopod Downloader. If it’s an audio mp3 lecture file, the I just hit rightclick to download it to your Downloads folder.

Fourth Step:
The beauty of Cosmopod is that it downloads the video file, converts it from flash to mp4 and automatically imports it iTunes. So I just hit the download button, I get back to further browsing or whatever I was doing. Once the download and importing to iTunes is complete I get a window (see below) that informs me to enter data into the various fields for the iTunes audio/video file. I don’t enter much and hit OK to complete importing to iTunes.

Fifth Step:
Once the YouTube or any other video file is imported to Itunes automatically by Cosmopod Downloader (or for audio files automatically by Hazel), I select the respective file, hit Cmd+Space to launch Quicksilver. Type “.” Then type “ToListen” for the audio files just downloaded and “ToWatch” for the video files, then I hit Tab, and type, “tags”, which brings up the Tag Selected script. And hit Enter.

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Final Step:
Now the above is fine for stuff that you come across while browsing, but what about all the new pod casts that are being downloaded behind your back that you don’t even know about. Well, once a fortnight, (for me it’s every alternate Tuesday) I’ve put a recurring reminder for myself in my calendar to add further new content and clear my existing stuff from my “ToListen” and “ToWatch” lists. So come Tuesday I:

- Browse through all the pod casts / lectures that I have downloaded using the iTunes Genre Browser (hit Cmd+B to show or hide the Browser)
- Select the files that I would like to listen to or which are my focus for the forthcoming weeks.

- Once highlighted, I bring up Quicksilver by hitting Cmd+space. Type “.” Then type “ToListen”, then I hit Tab, and type, “tags”, which brings up the Tag Selected script. Then hit enter.
- Voila! That’s it. You’re done. All you need to do is sync your iPod and just listen to the pod casts and lectures that are now present in your “ToListen” list.

- Next time before you add new files, ensure you have removed the files that you’ve heard/watched from your “ToListen” and “ToWatch” list by deleting the comment *ToListen and *ToWatch from the comments field.

In Conclusion:
When listed out like above the process may seem heavy, but it’s super-easy to setup and really fast when your fingers are at the keyboard. Also, it doesn’t take long to get used to doing this. So in summary, next time I come across a file I need to listen to or watch, but don’t have the time to do so right away, I download it immediately. Cosmopod or Hazel automatically import it into iTunes for me. I just tag the file as ‘ToListen’ or ‘ToWatch’ using Quicksilver. And I’m done! I sync my iPod once a week or two. And when I do, I simply browse to my “ToListen” list to hear the stuff that I had earlier marked.

Do let me know how this works for you, specially if you run into any snags.

Tags: Arif and Ali Vakil, Contributors, Features, Getting Things Done, LifeHacks, Mobile, Tips - How To's //