Controlling itunes from SSH

Code Listing. Combined with codes on comments

#!/bin/sh
#
####################################
# iTunes Command Line Control v1.0
# written by David Schlosnagle
# created 2001.11.08
####################################
 
showHelp () {
echo "-----------------------------";
echo "iTunes Command Line Interface";
echo "-----------------------------";
echo "Usage: `basename $0` ";
echo;
echo "Options:";
echo " status   = Shows iTunes' status, current artist and track.";
echo " play     = Start playing iTunes.";
echo " pause    = Pause iTunes.";
echo " next     = Go to the next track.";
echo " prev     = Go to the previous track.";
echo " mute     = Mute iTunes' volume.";
echo " unmute   = Unmute iTunes' volume.";
echo " vol up   = Increase iTunes' volume by 10%";
echo " vol down = Increase iTunes' volume by 10%";
echo " vol #    = Set iTunes' volume to # [0-100]";
echo " shuf  = Shuffle current playlist";
echo " nosh  = Do not shuffle current playlist";
echo " playlist "@" = Play iTunes' playlist named @";
echo " stop     = Stop iTunes.";
echo " quit     = Quit iTunes.";
}
 
if [ $# = 0 ]; then
showHelp;
fi
 
while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
arg=$1;
case $arg in
"status" ) state=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to player state as string'`;
echo "iTunes is currently $state.";
if [ $state = "playing" ]; then
artist=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to artist of current track as string'`;
track=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to name of current track as string'`;
echo "Current track $artist:  $track";
fi
break ;;
 
"play"    ) echo "Playing iTunes.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to play';
break ;;
 
"pause"    ) echo "Pausing iTunes.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to pause';
break ;;
 
"next"    ) echo "Going to next track." ;
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to next track';
break ;;
 
"prev"    ) echo "Going to previous track.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to previous track';
break ;;
 
"mute"    ) echo "Muting iTunes volume level.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set mute to true';
break ;;
 
"unmute" ) echo "Unmuting iTunes volume level.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set mute to false';
break ;;
 
"vol" ) echo "Changing iTunes volume level.";
vol=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to sound volume as integer'`;
if [ $2 = "up" ]; then
newvol=$(( vol+10 ));
osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to set sound volume to $newvol";
break ;
fi
 
if [ $2 = "down" ]; then
newvol=$(( vol-10 ));
osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to set sound volume to $newvol";
break ;
fi
 
if [ $2 -gt 0 ]; then
newvol=$2;
osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to set sound volume to $newvol";
break ;
fi
break ;;
 
"playlist" ) echo "Changing iTunes playlist.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes"' -e "set the new_playlist to \"$2\" as string" -e "play playlist new_playlist" -e "end tell";
break ;;
 
"shuf" ) echo "Shuffle is ON.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set shuffle of current playlist to 1';
break ;;
 
"nosh" ) echo "Shuffle is OFF.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set shuffle of current playlist to 0';
break ;;
 
"stop"    ) echo "Stopping iTunes.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to stop';
break ;;
 
"quit"    ) echo "Quitting iTunes.";
osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to quit';
exit 1 ;;
 
"help" | * ) echo "help:";
showHelp;
break ;;
esac
done

Reference:
MacOSX Hints

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