Spotlight search iTunes Match

Question

Back before I used iTunes Match, I enjoyed being able to search my library via spotlight. Now it seems that this doesn't work anymore. I guess this is because the music is not stored locally, but certainly there has to be a way to duplicate this functionality.

Basically, I want to hit a hot key (ie. Command+Space) then type a song title, then hit enter to play. I tried quicksilver, but it doesn't appear to support iTunes Match either. Alfred requires use of their "miniplayer" that needs more keystrokes to work with (plus it costs monies). Does anyone have an idea?

Answer 1

Create a Automator service like the first answer in this page

Put this text in the "Run AppleScript" action.

activate
set tString to text returned of (display dialog "Type a song title to >search via iTunes" default answer "")

tell application "iTunes" to tell (first playlist whose special kind is Music)
     tell (search for tString only songs) to if it is not {} then play item 1
end tell

Save the worflow.

To create a keyboard shortcut to this service: go into System Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts, select 'Services' on left panel

Answer 2

An alternative thought: I've had good luck with using a supplementary quick search like Google Quick Search. I have it load on boot and it quietly runs in the background (with optional icon up top), and assigned it to Option+Space (a built in feature) so it has the same feel as Spotlight.

When I use this to search for a song name that is in my iTunes Match, but not stored locally, it will still find it and open the song in iTunes.

http://www.google.com/quicksearchbox/