Linking to the iTunes Music Store

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This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on May 1, 2003). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Excellent tip that I’m saving here for future use: how to create a website link that performs a search on the iTunes Music Store.

Link format (as a single line, broken here for clarity): itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/ com.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction/advancedSearchResults?

Immediately following the ending ? are any of four search terms, or a global search term:

  • songTerm= (song title)
  • artistTerm= (artist name)
  • albumTerm= (album title)
  • composerTerm= (composer name)
  • term= (global, search all fields)

Use & between query items if you are using more than one of the first four (non-global) querys, and replace any whitespace with %20.

Example: building a link to search for U2:

itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/ com.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction/advancedSearchResults?artistTerm=U2

Example: building a link to search for U2’s ‘The Joshua Tree’:

itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/ com.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction/ advancedSearchResults?artistTerm=U2&albumTerm=the%20joshua%20tree

Many thanks to Jim, Fuse, Erik, and Bill!