I love Apple Music, but I do not enjoy using its Mac app. Apple Music on Mac is slow, takes ages to display search results, and doesn't even play music reliably. I often hit the play button only for my song to fail to load for seemingly no reason at all. I've recommended using the web version of Apple Music for better results, but now there's a better alternative. CoverSutra ($5) is an Apple Music player for the Mac that focuses on speed and simplicity. If you've been looking for a version of Apple Music for Mac that'll let you search for and quickly play your library's music, you finally have your answer.
CoverSutra 4.0 launched this October, but the app originally dates back to 2007. It used to be a distraction-free app for playing and searching through your iTunes library. It let you play music fast, its search feature was pretty good, and it also supported Last.fm scrobbling, too. It was one of a few iPhone and Mac apps made by then-indie developer Sophia Teutschler, who won an Apple Design Award in 2010 for the iPhone app Articles (no longer available, unfortunately). Teutschler joined Apple in 2013 and, subsequently, her apps were either acquired or eventually removed from sale.
Now, it seems Sophie is back for the streaming era. The new version of CoverSutra fixes the Music app's biggest flaws by being what Apple Music should be—fast and reliable. CoverSutra sits quietly in the menu bar, and clicking on it will immediately bring up the search bar. Here, you can quickly search for songs, albums, or artists from your library. Just type the name and the app will display results the moment you stop typing. There's no need to press the return key.
You can click the magnifying glass icon in the search bar to narrow down the search to one of the three categories CoverSutra supports, i.e., albums, artists, and songs. This will ensure that you get more accurate results faster. When you see a song or album you like, click its name to start playback. So far, this app has had a 100% record in playing songs that I've requested. I know that sounds like a low bar, but it's the biggest reason behind my frustration with the stock Music app.
The app has clickable music controls and works with the Mac's media playback buttons, but also supports custom keyboard shortcuts for the following actions:
Show/Hide Music Search: Show or hide CoverSutra without clicking its menu bar icon.
Play/Pause Current Song
Next Song
Previous Song
Toggle Repeat Mode
Shuffle On/Off
To set up CoverSutra keyboard shortcuts, open the app from its menu bar icon and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner. By default, all keyboard shortcuts are unmapped.
Unfortunately, if you want to look for music that's not already in your Apple Music library, then CoverSutra is not the app for you. It only shows and lets you play songs that are already in your library. I don't mind this limitation because I usually discover and add music to my library via my iPhone or my Apple Watch, but this could be a dealbreaker for those who want a direct replacement for the Music app on the Mac.
CoverSutra's a bit barebones at the moment. The app does not let you search your playlists, which is something I hope the developer can address in the future. I'd love to have the ability to look through the playlists in my library and to play them quickly using this app. If this app adds the ability to listen to my Apple Music playlists, I would be very happy to use it every day and give up the Mac Music app for good
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