AppleScript for running iTunes content 1.5x

Ever wish you could just speed through a video lecture where the presenter

t a l k s   l i k e   t h i s ? ? ? ?

Or have you ever fallen too far behind on your podcasts and need to speed through them and wish you had that iPod feature on your Mac of replaying content faster?

Well, Here is a small nugget of AppleScript that will run any iTunes audio or video at 1.5x the speed. You can change the speed to suit your needs but I’ve found 1.5 to be just the right speedup where I can still make out what is being said.

tell application "iTunes"
    pause
    set current_track to location of current track
    set player_position to player position
end tell

tell application "QuickTime Player"
    open current_track
    set current_movie to first document
    set speed to rate of current_movie
    set current time of current_movie to player_position * speed
    set rate of current_movie to 1.5 -- starts playing
end tell