Because you are about to create clips in Final Cut Pro that are already linked to their media files you should start by copying or moving the audio files where you intend to keep them for editing.

With XMiL Songster you can import MP3, WAVE and AIFF files into Final Cut Pro. If your favorite file type is not one of these send an email to info@xmil.biz.

Select the metadata information you want to transfer into Final Cut Pro from the menus in the main window.

Check the box "Transmit ..." to have XMiL Songster send the XML document straight to Final Cut Pro. This works with FCP v 5.1.2 and later. No file is created.

To create an XML file on disk that you can import into Final Cut Pro later on, check the box "Save XML file..."

Set the destination folder for saved XML files by clicking the button "Path..."

Click the button "Floater" to open a floating window that you can drag files onto. This floating window will always appear in front of any other window, providing an easy drop-target on cluttered desktops.

Audio files can be dragged to the green XMiL Songster logos in the Floater window or the application's main window. On the Finder level files can be dragged onto the XMiL Songster application icon where ever you see it.

After 'transmission' or import of the XML document Final Cut Pro will open a new, untitled project with the clips for the audio files in them. Be sure to display the pertinent columns in the Final Cut Pro bin window to see your imported metadata: control-click the column headings to select the columns to display.

Learn about the registration status by clicking the help button "?".

Click the words "Registration Status" to start the registration process.

All settings, including the position of the windows, will be retained for the next time that you run the application.

XMiL Songster uses iTunes to extract the metadata embedded in the audio files that were dragged onto the application. It creates a new playlist in iTunes, and adds the dragged songs to that playlist. It then queries iTunes about each song's metadata, and generates an XML document for Final Cut Pro. The temporary playlist and the added songs will be deleted from iTunes.

Because the dragged audio files will only be in iTunes for a short time it is advisable to turn off the option to copy the files to the iTunes Music Library. This option is in the iTunes preferences. XMiL Songster will not delete any copied files.

A short video demonstration of XMiL Songster is available here.