Playing music files on Mac OS X

[Dave2002]

I had always assumed that trying to play music files on Mac OS X would invoke iTunes - unless other players were installed and chosen to play the files of a given type.

A year or two back one of my friends/colleagues said that there were different tools, and that if what he called preview in the OS were used, then the music would play without invoking iTunes. He noticed that he thought there were differences between playing this way, and using iTunes.

Up to now I've not really bothered with this, but today I was browsing through my music files, and indeed I found an mp3 file which is now playing. I got it going by simply clicking on the icon in the pane - example below. I am playing it from "preview", and it is very audible.


What software is actually doing this? There is no sign of iTunes!

[Richard Barrett]

Soundfile playback can be done directly from the Finder by selecting the icon for the file and pressing the space bar. I'm sure this has been said here before, but in my opinion iTunes is an unwieldy and unnecessary thing. (I recommend Vox for soundfile playback - it plays back all formats and its little window sits in the corner of the screen and minds its own business.)

[Anastasius]

Soundfile playback can be done directly from the Finder by selecting the icon for the file and pressing the space bar. I'm sure this has been said here before, but in my opinion iTunes is an unwieldy and unnecessary thing. (I recommend Vox for soundfile playback - it plays back all formats and its little window sits in the corner of the screen and minds its own business.)

Brilliant tip, Richard, thanks.

[Dave2002]

Brilliant tip, Richard, thanks.

Agreed.

I've been using OS X for centuries (!!) and didn't know this. I did discover that clicking on the icon plays the file, but I didn't know about the panel which pops up if the space bar is pressed.



Is the playback software part of Finder, then?

[MrGongGong]

Soundfile playback can be done directly from the Finder by selecting the icon for the file and pressing the space bar. I'm sure this has been said here before, but in my opinion iTunes is an unwieldy and unnecessary thing. (I recommend Vox for soundfile playback - it plays back all formats and its little window sits in the corner of the screen and minds its own business.)

Spot on
iTunes is the work of Satan (in my unbiased opinion)

[Dave2002]

Spot on
iTunes is the work of Satan (in my unbiased opinion)

I only half agree with you there.

There are problems with iTunes, but what do you particularly dislike? Is it sound quality, or the way it organises (!!) things, or something else?

[MrGongGong]

I only half agree with you there.

There are problems with iTunes, but what do you particularly dislike? Is it sound quality, or the way it organises (!!) things, or something else?

I don't have a "library" of music on my computer to listen to
The way it makes it complicated for me to move music I have made myself from iTunes to other devices/programmes
The sound quality (even with a resonably 'high end" external sound card)
The way it 'organises' things
I have thousands of audio files on my computers in multiple formats they aren't ALL SONGS FFS

BUT (and this is important) I do realise that I am atypical in the way I do stuff so i'm sure it's great for most folks.

"Garage Band" on the other hand should be thrown into the firey pits of hell ASAP

[Anastasius]

I'm with Mr GG there. Have to say, though, that since signing up to Qobuz I can't remember the last time I listened to anything stored on my Mac. The 300GB of recorded audio is still sitting and languishing on an external drive and I've never felt the need to fire it up. In fact I haven't a clue where it is!!

I'd also be interested in knowing what model of Mac you will be 'disposing of' - if that is the right word, FF. Or selling !

[Dave2002]

I don't have a "library" of music on my computer to listen to
The way it makes it complicated for me to move music I have made myself from iTunes to other devices/programmes
The sound quality (even with a resonably 'high end" external sound card)
The way it 'organises' things
I have thousands of audio files on my computers in multiple formats they aren't ALL SONGS FFS

I think I can cope with the way it organises things - I have largely figured that out.
I don't particularly like ending up with duplicate files.

I am really interested in your comment re sound quality. Is it really a lot worse than other players? If so, which would you recommend for sound quality? This would be a significant factor for me - if I ever get round to doing decent sound again, which perhaps is unlikely due to domestic circumstances. I may just console myself by going to concerts and opera instead. The most recent outing - to Iris (Mascagni) at Holland Park had much better SQ, dynamics, wide sound stage etc., than almost all my CDs.

I agree that the files/tracks are not all "songs"!

[MrGongGong]

I am really interested in your comment re sound quality. Is it really a lot worse than other players? If so, which would you recommend for sound quality?

If I want to listen to something closely I would usually open it in an audio editor (usually Audition or Reaper) which are able to deal with higher quality than most "players"... but that can be a bit like using the Bentley for only going to the allotment

[Dave2002]

If I want to listen to something closely I would usually open it in an audio editor (usually Audition or Reaper) which are able to deal with higher quality than most "players"... but that can be a bit like using the Bentley for only going to the allotment

But is the quality really better, or is it a function of the input source file? I mean - if it's a ripped file from a CD (I usually use alac with iTunes) - would it really sound better using a different player? Some people have I think suggested that even WAV files sound better - though there should be no difference between WAV and ripped compressed lossless files - apart from the file size.

However, some so-called hi-res recordings may not work with iTunes, and would need to use different DACs - and I can believe that some of those might sound better. There are reports elsewhere that some different Windows or Linux software players can sound different (better?) perhaps due to drivers etc. Does the same apply in the Mac world?