Having looked out on the internet for iTunes visualizers for Windows, I’ve been very disappointed. There are a few, but none did what I wanted. As a simpleton, I want to replicate the ‘bars’ in Windows Media player. Sounds simple… but couldn’t find it. So, I had to write one, here it is.

At this moment, it is stable, so I’m putting it out there for others to critique and make suggestions for, but this has been a hard and long road, since I’m more of a hack than a professional programmer, and you’re not really making a Windows program, you’re making a DLL for an environment, so a lot of what I know how to do, I can’t apply. But here it is, and when I finally get the last bugs out, I’ll release the first official version and open-source it.

To use it, you need to create a folder in your iTunes installation called Plug-Ins, for example, C:\Program Files\iTunes\Plug-Ins. Then download the zip file, extract the DLL, and copy it into the Plug-Ins folder you just created. Then, launch iTunes, and under Visualizations, you’ll see ‘Bars’ in the list, select it and you’re good to go.

v0.9.4 – current release [download]
Fixed bugs:
Font issue when streaming
Outstanding bugs:
Refreshing of invalidated screen isn’t handled as an event/message
TBD:
User interface to configure bar parameters

v0.9c
Fixed bugs:
Buffer issue with Artist info when streaming
Addressed how text placement is handled (now dynamic)
Outstanding bugs:
Refreshing of invalidated screen isn’t handled as an event/message
TBD:
User interface to configure bar parameters

v0.9b
Fixed bugs:
Sometimes unsymetrical number of bands L/R
Other Changes:
Added streaming info to display – this is different from track info
Changed how memory is allocated for unicode strings
Changed size of bars – moving towards this being user-defined (not there yet)
Outstanding bugs:
Refreshing of invalidated screen isn’t handled as an event/message

v0.9a
Initial bugged release
Known bugs:
Refreshing of invalidated screen isn’t handled as an event/message
Sometimes unsymetrical number of bands L/R