README for spotify_playlist_exporter

###Description

This script exports Spotify playlists to a plain textfile. It works by iterating through Spotify URIs and querying Spotify's web API for the track data.

###Overview

# NAME:         spotify_playlist_exporter
# VERSION:      0.2
# AUTHOR:       (c) 2014 Glutanimate <https://github.com/Glutanimate/>
# DESCRIPTION:  Exports spotify playlists to a plain textfile
# CHANGELOG:    -- 0.2 - Script now uses Spotify's web API
#               -- 0.1 - Initial release
# DEPENDENCIES: curl yad jq
# SOURCES:      https://developer.spotify.com/technologies/web-api/lookup/
#
# LICENSE:      GNU GPLv3 (http://www.gnu.de/documents/gpl-3.0.en.html)
#
# NOTICE:       THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. 
#               EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES 
#               PROVIDE THE PROGRAM “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR 
#               IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY 
#               AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND 
#               PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE,
#               YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
#
#               IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY 
#               COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS 
#               PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, 
#               INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE 
#               THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED 
#               INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE 
#               PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER 
#               PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
#
# USAGE:        Select all items in your Spotify playlist, right click and select 'Copy Spotify URIs',
#               paste the output in them ultiline entry field. Make sure to also enter a name for the 
#               playlist. Then hit 'OK'.

###Changelog

• 0.2
  • the script now uses Spotify's web API. Everything should be much faster.
• 0.1
  • initial release

###Dependencies

curl and jq should be available in your standard repositories. You can install them with

sudo apt-get install curl jq

YAD is an advanced fork of Zenity. Unfortunately it hasn't arrived in the Debian/Ubuntu repos yet but luckily enough the folks over at www.webupd8.com created a PPA for it. You can add the YAD PPA and install YAD with:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install yad

###Installation

1. Grab the latest source tarball and extract it.

2. Copy spotify_playlist_exporter to your $PATH (e.g. ~/bin for single user installation or /usr/local/bin for multi user installation)

3. Copy spotify_playlist_exporter.desktop to ~/.local/share/applications for single user installation or /usr/local/share/applications for multi user installation)

Spotify Playlist Exporter should now appear in your launcher (e.g. Unity dash).

###Usage

Select all items in your Spotify playlist, copy them, and paste the output in the multiline entry field. Make sure to enter a name for the playlist. Then hit 'OK'.

###Output

The script will write the track data to a new CSV file in the specified folder. This is what the output looks like:

Claire De Lune|Claude Debussy|Journey To The Heart, Volume 1|spotify:track:0BeN6CA7RuwNdJa64NV1l0
To Build A Home|The Cinematic Orchestra|To Build A Home (Versions)|spotify:track:6LK4QAJzm6wPWITxSftVhG
Nocturne No. 2 in E flat Major, Op. 9,2|Frédéric Chopin|Chopin|spotify:track:6wjrQAhYkgn54EP3hGhubu
An Ending (Ascent)|Brian Eno|Pure Cinema Chillout|spotify:track:1sGpjDlrzobaQW6nUPmVIR
Moonlight Sonata: Adagio Sostenuto|Ludwig van Beethoven|Classical Best Of|spotify:track:6onVtBLxZpq4cwMa3fUMJs
Flower duet from Lakme - Remasterisé en 1987|Orchestre Du Théatre National De L'Opéra Comique - Alain Lombard - Mady Mesple - Danielle Millet|Classical Chillout|spotify:track:5stPdVFNnyEahYLpWs2akd
The Book Of Love - Live In London/2011|Peter Gabriel|Live Blood|spotify:track:0JdMl2NJftvVTuXocw1lTG
Blue Ridge Mountains|Fleet Foxes|Fleet Foxes|spotify:track:6T8qnBbc2rxlWLiweD1e5M
Divenire|Ludovico Einaudi|Divenire|spotify:track:4O0Yww5OIWyfBvWn6xN3CM
Comptine d'un autre été, l'après-midi|Yann Tiersen|Amelie From Montmartre|spotify:track:2AkcjsKlRbIBYGAgpQVFii
Ára bátur|Sigur Rós|Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust|spotify:track:5MKdXkjlDvA36JE8l4A9yE

You can easily import this CSV file to a Spreadsheet by setting the delimiter to |:

###Common issues

The playlist export is taking very long to complete

spotify_playlist_exporter fetches the track data for each item separately. This might take a while with larger playlists.

###Notice

This product uses a Spotify API but is not endorsed, certified or otherwise approved in any way by Spotify. Spotify is the registered trademark of the Spotify Group.

###Alternatives

• spotify-export by jlund - very similar utility; coded in Ruby; caches playlist data in a database to accelerate frequent backups

• Spotify Playlist Converter by HeDo - new web service that exports Spotify tracks to CSV

• Spotify Playlist Extractor by Julian Xhokaxhiu - Chrome extension that exports Spotify playlists to JSON/M3U. Did not work for me but it might work on your system.

• export-spotify-playlist-to-csv-with-csv-library.py by Victor W. Yee - I have yet to try this one out myself. Seems to parse the actual Spotify page of the track instead of using the API. Might be outdated (last update was in 2012)

• Copying and pasting Spotify URLs into a Word document - this only works on Windows