Get album year for item in iPod library?

Question

Try the following code:

// Per albums
MPMediaQuery *albumsQuery = [MPMediaQuery albumsQuery];
NSArray *collections = [albumsQuery collections];

for (MPMediaItemCollection *collection in collections)
{
    NSDate *collectionReleaseDate = [collection valueForProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyReleaseDate];
    NSLog(@"collection release date: %@", collectionReleaseDate);

    MPMediaItem *representativeItem = [collection representativeItem];
    NSDate *representativeItemReleaseDate = [representativeItem valueForProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyReleaseDate];
    NSLog(@"representativeItem release date: %@", representativeItemReleaseDate);
}

// Just per item
MPMediaQuery *query = [[MPMediaQuery alloc] init];
NSArray *items = [query items];

for (MPMediaItem *item in items)
{
    NSDate *date = [item valueForProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyReleaseDate];
    NSLog(@"release date: %@", date);
}

In all cases, I get nil for NSDates ... But in the iPod library I can see the dates, so the information should be available. What is the correct way to get it?

Answer 1

Ok, I think I figured it out. I thought the Year column in iTunes corresponds to the MPMediaItemPropertyReleaseDate in the API, but this is wrong. There was no release date information on my items.

I also found how to get the Year information (which I need), but unfortunately in an undocumented way:

MPMediaItem *item = ...;
NSNumber *yearNumber = [item valueForProperty:@"year"];
if (yearNumber && [yearNumber isKindOfClass:[NSNumber class]])
{
    int year = [yearNumber intValue];
    if (year != 0)
    {
        // do something with year
    }
}