Metadata columns in Finder

Question

I was just wondering why there is no option to view extra metadata information within the finder (i.e. for audio files: title, artist, etc). Obviously in the form of a column within the list view. As such, is there any way to go about doing so? Any good third party apps that don't require a change of file browser?
Cheers.

Answer 1

You can use an AppleScript (or any application) from a Finder window's toolbar. I use something like the following script to show Spotlight metadata - paste it into the *AppleScript Editor*, save it as an application (wherever you want), then drag the application icon into the toolbar of a Finder window. From there, just make a selection in the Finder window and click the toolbar button.
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
font-weight: normal;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 340px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFEE80;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the AppleScript Editor">
-- get file metadata - selections are copied to the clipboard
set theClipboard to "" -- this will be what gets copied to the clipboard
try
try
tell application to get window 1 -- test for an open Finder window
tell application "Finder" to set itemList to the selection
if itemList is {} then set itemList to (choose file with multiple selections allowed and invisibles)
on error -- no window (e.g. double-click from the desktop)
set itemList to (choose file with multiple selections allowed and invisibles)
end try
repeat with myItem from 1 to (count itemList)
set theItem to (item myItem of itemList)
activate me
set {tempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, return}
try
get paragraphs of (do shell script "mdls " & quoted form of POSIX path of (theItem as text))
on error errorMessage
get errorMessage as list
end try
choose from list result with title "Spotlight metadata  (" & myItem & " of " & (count itemList) & ")" with prompt (POSIX path of (theItem as text)) with empty selection allowed and multiple selections allowed
if result is false then -- no choice
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tempTID
error number -128
else -- add items to the clipboard
if theClipboard is "" then -- blank item
set theClipboard to result as text
else
set theClipboard to {theClipboard, result} as text
end if
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tempTID
end if
end repeat
set the clipboard to theClipboard
on error errorMessage number errorNumber
if (errorNumber is -128) or (errorNumber is -1711) then -- nothing (user cancelled)
else
activate me
display alert "Error " & (errorNumber as string) message errorMessage as warning buttons {"OK"} default button "OK"
end if
end try
</pre>
The dialog displayed is just a raw dump of the metadata - as mentioned, there can be a lot of information (and not all files have the same metadata), but the script can be modified to clean up specific items if needed.