Posted on Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - 12:40 pm:

#!/usr/bin/python 
 
# Download amstracker from http://www.kernelthread.com/software/ams/ 
# Put amstracker and bumptunes.py in the same directory. Go to this directory 
# in the Terminal and type: 
# ./amstracker -u 0.1 -s | python bumptunes.py 
# Hit ctrl-c to exit. 
 
THRESHOLD = 3 # lower numbers makes this more sensitive 
COMPONENT = 1 # three dimensions: sideways: 0, forward/back: 1, up/down: 2 
 
# two types of behaviour: 
# bump: go to the next track whenever the machine is bumped 
# nextprev: rock backwards to go to next track, forwards for previous track 
BEHAVIOR = "bump"  
 
import sys, os 
 
def run_command(command): 
	script = os.popen("osascript", "w") 
	script.write('tell application "iTunes"\r\n') 
	script.write("%s\r\n" % command) 
	script.write('end tell\r\n') 
	script.close() 
 
since = 0 
while 1: 
	try: 
		line = sys.stdin.readline() 
		since += 1 
		x = int(line.split()[COMPONENT]) 
		if abs(x) > THRESHOLD and since > 5: # ignore commands for 0.5 seconds 
			if "bump" == BEHAVIOR: 
				run_command("next track") 
			elif "nextprev" == BEHAVIOR: 
				if x > 0: 
					run_command("next track") 
				else: 
					# first command goes to beginning of current track, 
					# next command goes to the actual previous track 
					run_command("previous track") 
					run_command("previous track") 
			since = 0 
	except KeyboardInterrupt: 
		sys.exit(0) 
	except: 
		pass