Unmixing the MIX 10 Content

Every year Microsoft puts on a big conference called MIX, this year was MIX 10. It’s a big developers conference focused mostly on Web development, although this year also had a fair amount of information on the new Windows Phone 7 platform. Microsoft is also kind enough to make the sessions available for free download to anyone interested after the conference is over. As of this blog post the average quality WMV recordings are up, and the high quality ones should be up soon. You can download them at http://live.visitmix.com/Videos .

To make downloading easy I suggest using FireFox with an add-in called Down-Them-All. Yes, I know, you’re probably a die hard Microsoft guy and use IE all the time, but you probably have FireFox installed for testing purposes. Go grab the Down-Them-All add-in. Then go to the Mix website (link above), right click anywhere in the webpage, and pick “DownThemALL!”. In the dialog that pops up it will show all the downloadable content on the page. Set the directory to “Save files in:” in the lower part of the dialog (for the average quality WMV files you’ll need about 12.4 gig), then under filters you can pick Videos to get all the WMVs. You could also go to the fast filtering area and set something like *.pptx to download all the slides. Click “Start!” and the downloads will begin. Then go get coffee. And lunch. And probably dinner as well, as this will take a while.

Once you’ve got it all downloaded you’re left with a lot of files with the session names as the file names. CL01.wmv, CL02.wmv, etc. I find it much easier if the file names also contain the text of the session description. That way when I’m looking over the media inside my Zune library or even just browsing in Windows explorer it’s easy to pick something to watch. So using the column mode capabilities plus a simple macro in a text editor called UltraEdit (easily the best software purchase I’ve ever made in my life) I quickly put together a batch file to rename all the files for me. Here is the contents of it:

rename CL01.wmv "CL01 – Changing our Game – an Introduction to Windows Phone 7 Series.wmv"
rename CL02.wmv "CL02 – Authoring for Windows Phone Silverlight 4 and WPF 4 with Expression Blend.wmv"
rename CL03.wmv "CL03 – Prototyping Rich Microsoft Silverlight Applications with Expression SketchFlow.wmv"
rename CL06.wmv "CL06 – Designing Bing – Heart and Science.wmv"
rename CL07.wmv "CL07 – Microsoft Silverlight 4 Overview – What’s in Store for Silverlight 4?.wmv"
rename CL08.wmv "CL08 – Microsoft Silverlight 4 Business Applications.wmv"
rename CL09.wmv "CL09 – Developing with WCF RIA Services Quickly and Effectively.wmv"
rename CL10.wmv "CL10 – Stepping Outside the Browser with Microsoft Silverlight 4.wmv"
rename CL13.wmv "CL13 – Overview of the Windows Phone 7 Series Application Platform.wmv"
rename CL14.wmv "CL14 – Windows Phone UI and Design Language.wmv"
rename CL15.wmv "CL15 – An Introduction to Developing Applications for Microsoft Silverlight.wmv"
rename CL16.wmv "CL16 – Building Windows Phone Applications with Silverlight Part 1.wmv"
rename CL17.wmv "CL17 – Building Windows Phone Applications with Silverlight Part 2.wmv"
rename CL18.wmv "CL18 – Windows Phone Application Platform Architecture.wmv"
rename CL19.wmv "CL19 – Development and Debugging Tools for Building XNA Games for Windows Phone.wmv"
rename CL20.wmv "CL20 – Distributing and Monetizing Windows Phone Applications and Games.wmv"
rename CL21.wmv "CL21 – Building Windows Phone Games.wmv"
rename CL22.wmv "CL22 – Building a High Performance 3D Game for Windows Phone.wmv"
rename CL23.wmv "CL23 – Designing and Developing for the Rich Mobile Web.wmv"
rename CL24.wmv "CL24 – The Microsoft Silverlight Analytics Framework.wmv"
rename CL25.wmv "CL25 – Microsoft Silverlight Media  – Moving at 60fps.wmv"
rename CL26.wmv "CL26 – Introducing the Silverlight Rough Cut Editor.wmv"
rename CL27.wmv "CL27 – HTML5 – Cross-Browser Best Practices.wmv"
rename CL28.wmv "CL28 – In-Depth Look at Internet Explorer 9.wmv"
rename CL29.wmv "CL29 – HTML5 – High-Performance Best Practices for Web Sites.wmv"
rename CL30.wmv "CL30 – Building Innovative Windows Client Software.wmv"
rename CL50.wmv "CL50 – Search Engine Optimization for Microsoft Silverlight.wmv"
rename CL51.wmv "CL51 – Building an Accessible Microsoft Silverlight Experience.wmv"
rename CL52.wmv "CL52 – Microsoft Silverlight Optimization and Extensibility with MEF.wmv"
rename CL53.wmv "CL53 – Flash Skills Applied to Microsoft Silverlight Design and Development.wmv"
rename CL54.wmv "CL54 – Software and Web Entrepreneurs – Go Big with BizSpark and WebsiteSpark.wmv"
rename CL55.wmv "CL55 – Dynamic Layout and Transitions for Microsoft Silverlight 4 with Microsoft Expression Blend.wmv"
rename CL56.wmv "CL56 – A Case Study – Rapid WordPress Design and Prototyping with Expression Web 3.wmv"
rename CL58.wmv "CL58 – Accessing Web Services in Microsoft Silverlight.wmv"
rename CL59.wmv "CL59 – Unit Testing Silverlight and Windows Phone Applications.wmv"
rename CL60.wmv "CL60 – Silverlight Performance on Windows Phone.wmv"
rename DS01.wmv "DS01 – The Laws of User Experience.wmv"
rename DS02.wmv "DS02 – Treat Your Content Right.wmv"
rename DS03.wmv "DS03 – Running with Wireframes – Taking Information Architecture (IA) into Design.wmv"
rename DS04.wmv "DS04 – Lifecycle of a Wireframe.wmv"
rename DS05.wmv "DS05 – Total Experience Design.wmv"
rename DS06.wmv "DS06 – Touch in Public – Multi-touch Interaction Design for Kiosks and Architectural Experiences.wmv"
rename DS07.wmv "DS07 – The Art Technology and Science of Reading.wmv"
rename DS08.wmv "DS08 – Creating Great Experiences through Collaboration.wmv"
rename DS09.wmv "DS09 – Peanut Butter and Jelly – Putting ‘Content Management’ Back into Context.wmv"
rename DS10.wmv "DS10 – Service Design Goes Social.wmv"
rename DS11.wmv "DS11 – Great User Experiences – Seamlessly Blending Technology and Design.wmv"
rename DS12.wmv "DS12 – Total Experience – A Design Methodology for Agencies.wmv"
rename DS13.wmv "DS13 – The Elephant in the Room.wmv"
rename DS14.wmv "DS14 – The Democratization of the Design Industry.wmv"
rename DS15.wmv "DS15 – The Type We Want.wmv"
rename DS16.wmv "DS16 – An Hour With Bill Buxton.wmv"
rename EX01.wmv "EX01 – Cloud Computing Economies of Scale.wmv"
rename EX02.wmv "EX02 – The Mono Project.wmv"
rename EX03.wmv "EX03 – Modern Web Form Design.wmv"
rename EX04.wmv "EX04 – Robots at MySpace – Massive Scaling a .NET Website with the Microsoft Robotic Studio.wmv"
rename EX06.wmv "EX06 – 10 Ways to Attack a Design Problem and Come Out Winning.wmv"
rename EX07.wmv "EX07 – Principles of Microsoft Silverlight Graphics and Animation.wmv"
rename EX10.wmv "EX10 – Building a Next-Generation Web Application with Microsoft ASP.NET MVC 2 and jQuery.wmv"
rename EX11.wmv "EX11 – Using Storage in the Windows Azure Platform.wmv"
rename EX12.wmv "EX12 – Creating Effective Info Viz in Microsoft Silverlight.wmv"
rename EX13.wmv "EX13 – Microsoft Surface Goes Social – Research Project at the University of Linz.wmv"
rename EX14.wmv "EX14 – Understanding the Model-View-ViewModel Pattern.wmv"
rename EX15.wmv "EX15 – Build Your Own MVVM Framework.wmv"
rename EX16.wmv "EX16 – Securing Microsoft Silverlight Applications.wmv"
rename EX17.wmv "EX17 – IronRuby for the .NET Developer.wmv"
rename EX18.wmv "EX18 – Developing Natural User Interfaces with Microsoft Silverlight and WPF 4 Touch.wmv"
rename EX19.wmv "EX19 – The OpenRasta Framework for Building RESTful Applications.wmv"
rename EX20.wmv "EX20 – Building Great Standards-Based Websites for the Big Wide World with Microsoft ASP.NET 4.wmv"
rename EX21.wmv "EX21 – Syncing Audio Video and Animations in Microsoft Silverlight Applications.wmv"
rename EX22.wmv "EX22 – Six Things Every jQuery Developer Must Know.wmv"
rename EX23.wmv "EX23 – Building Facebook Apps with Microsoft .NET and Deploying to Windows Azure.wmv"
rename EX25.wmv "EX25 – Design the Ordinary Like the Fixie.wmv"
rename EX26.wmv "EX26 – From Comp to Code – A Design Communion.wmv"
rename EX27.wmv "EX27 – Do You Speak My Language? Microsoft Translator and the Power of Collaboration.wmv"
rename EX28.wmv "EX28 – Building Rich and Interactive User Experiences in SharePoint.wmv"
rename EX29.wmv "EX29 – Building Platforms and Applications for the Real-Time Web.wmv"
rename EX30.wmv "EX30 – SVG – The Past Present and Future of Vector Graphics for the Web.wmv"
rename EX31.wmv "EX31 – Developing Multiplayer Games with Microsoft Silverlight 4.wmv"
rename EX32.wmv "EX32 – Smooth Streaming Live in HD – From Camera to Screen.wmv"
rename EX33.wmv "EX33 – Smooth Streaming Live in HD – 2010 Olympic Winter Games.wmv"
rename EX34.wmv "EX34 – Participating in the Web of Data with Open Standards.wmv"
rename EX35.wmv "EX35 – Opening Up Opportunity with Twitter.wmv"
rename EX36.wmv "EX36 – How jQuery Makes Hard Things Simple.wmv"
rename EX37.wmv "EX37 – Adding the Where to the When of Social Applications.wmv"
rename EX38.wmv "EX38 – Building Large-Scale Data-Centric Applications with Silverlight.wmv"
rename EX39.wmv "EX39 – The Tale of JavaScript. I Mean ECMAScript..wmv"
rename EX50.wmv "EX50 – Debugging Microsoft Silverlight Applications.wmv"
rename EX51.wmv "EX51 – Building Finance Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 4.wmv"
rename EX52.wmv "EX52 – Copyright – A Cloudy Subject.wmv"
rename EX53.wmv "EX53 – Storm Clouds – What to Consider About Privacy Before Writing a Line of Code.wmv"
rename EX55.wmv "EX55 – Building the eBay Simple Lister with Silverlight.wmv"
rename EX56.wmv "EX56 – Designing Rich Experiences for Data-Centric Applications.wmv"
rename FT03.wmv "FT03 – Tips and Tricks for Making Web Forms Shine with Microsoft ASP.NET 4.wmv"
rename FT04.wmv "FT04 – What’s New in Microsoft ASP.NET MVC 2.wmv"
rename FT05.wmv "FT05 – The HaaHa Show – Microsoft ASP.NET MVC Security with Haack and Hanselman.wmv"
rename FT06.wmv "FT06 – Deep Dive into Orchard Extensibility for CMS Developers.wmv"
rename FT07.wmv "FT07 – Beyond File – New Company – From Cheesy Sample to Social Platform.wmv"
rename FT08.wmv "FT08 – Improving Software Quality for the Modern Web.wmv"
rename FT09.wmv "FT09 – Pumping Iron on the Web – IronRuby and IronPython.wmv"
rename FT10.wmv "FT10 – Driving Experiences via Services Using the Microsoft .NET Framework.wmv"
rename FT11.wmv "FT11 – Designing and Delivering Scalable and Resilient Web Services.wmv"
rename FT12.wmv "FT12 – OData – There’s a Feed for That.wmv"
rename FT13.wmv "FT13 – Implementing OData – How to Create a Feed for That.wmv"
rename FT14.wmv "FT14 – Web Deployment Made Awesome – If You’re Using XCopy You’re Doing It Wrong.wmv"
rename FT15.wmv "FT15 – Accessing Data in a Microsoft .NET-Connected Web Application.wmv"
rename FT50.wmv "FT50 – Advanced Web Debugging with Fiddler.wmv"
rename FT51.wmv "FT51 – Internet Explorer Developer Tools.wmv"
rename FTL01.wmv "FTL01 – Reactive Extensions for JavaScript.wmv"
rename FTL02.wmv "FTL02 – Building Pivot Collections.wmv"
rename FTL03.wmv "FTL03 – Unlocking Audio-Video Content with Speech Recognition.wmv"
rename FTL50.wmv "FTL50 – Incarnate – Behind the Scenes.wmv"
rename FTL51.wmv "FTL51 – Quickly Implementing New Cross-Browser Features with Ruby and Python.wmv"
rename KEY01.wmv "KEY01 – Keynote Day 1.wmv"
rename KEY02.wmv "KEY02 – Keynote Day 2.wmv"
rename PR01.wmv "PR01 – Designing Corporate Web Sites using SharePoint 2010.wmv"
rename PR02.wmv "PR02 – Designing an Internet-Facing Web Site Using SharePoint 2010.wmv"
rename SVC01.wmv "SVC01 – Using Windows Identity Foundation for Creating Identity-Driven Experiences in Microsoft Silverlight.wmv"
rename SVC02.wmv "SVC02 – Microsoft Project Code Name Dallas – Data For Your Apps.wmv"
rename SVC03.wmv "SVC03 – Using Ruby on Rails to Build Windows Azure Applications.wmv"
rename SVC04.wmv "SVC04 – Lap around the Windows Azure Platform.wmv"
rename SVC05.wmv "SVC05 – Building Web Applications with Windows Azure Storage.wmv"
rename SVC06.wmv "SVC06 – Microsoft Silverlight and Windows Azure – A Match Made for the Web.wmv"
rename SVC07.wmv "SVC07 – Building Web Applications with Microsoft SQL Azure.wmv"
rename SVC08.wmv "SVC08 – Connecting Your Applications in the Cloud with Windows Azure AppFabric.wmv"
rename SVC09.wmv "SVC09 – Building and Deploying Windows Azure-Based Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.wmv"
rename SVC10.wmv "SVC10 – Building Offline Web Apps Using Microsoft Sync Framework.wmv"
rename SVC12.wmv "SVC12 – Building PHP Applications using the Windows Azure Platform.wmv"
rename SVC50.wmv "SVC50 – Improving the Usability and Security of OpenID.wmv"

Simply take the above content, copy into notepad and save it in the same folder as all the WMV files. (I saved it as WmvRename.bat). Then just run it and your Mix10 filenames will no longer be all MIXed up!