Which is the best free MAC music player ?

[bencat]

I have a friend on here who is using spotify via his MAC to play via his system using USB out . He also has a 2TB HD with lots of music on it which in the past he used LMS and SBT . As he wants to just keep using the MAC I am looking for a free music player that can play FLAC files and is easy to use and could access the music on the HD plugged in to his MAC then output in the same way he using Spotify . I previously thought about putting LMS on the MAC and then adding a Squeezelite player but I do not use MAC's and found getting the player to work to be a complete pain .

Graham has been away for a holiday for while so I left well alone but now he is back starting thinking again and reaslise there was no need for LMS all I needed was amusic player that plays nicely with MAC's and can send FLAC through the usb out and can read the music stored on the HD . Should be pretty simple so could I ask for the benefit of those who use MAC's to point in the right direction for an easy to use and decent player preferably free but would consider a small payment if it is worth it .

 

[pmcuk]

I use iTunes on my Mac, which is free and bundled with it. Works fine. I've recorded all my CDs in AIFF, so no compatibility issues. I think there are some free programmes that convert FLAC to AIFF, so with one of those you could start archiving everything in AIFF. That's the Mac version, so if you are committed to a Mac, why not standardise on AIFF?

 

[Bazzer]

free music player that can play FLAC files and is easy to use and could access the music on the HD plugged in to his MAC

IINA , been using it since I got a MAC

https://iina.io

 

[bencat]

Firstly because this is not my MAC but as I posted a friends . Secondly over 65,000 tracks are already ripped and encoded in FLAC and this is the defacto lossless codec used with most players . My friend also does not like iTunes so not something that will be considered for this case . I am looking for alternatives .

 

[bencat]

IINA , been using it since I got a MAC

https://iina.io

Thanks Baz will have a look at this and see how it looks . If it is free to use then could well be just what i am looking for .

 

[Man in a van]

https://fixthephoto.com/best-flac-player-for-mac.html

 

[Man in a van]

https://www.foobar2000.org/mac

 

[Cable Monkey]

£100 buys him Audirvana Origin. It does what he needs and will do so better than almost anything else. A free suggestion is VLC player. That should work very well but apparently it’s GUI is a bit meh!

 

[bobovox]

Pine Player is free and does gapless. The interface is a bit rudimentary so if your friend is looking for a "rich media experience" look elsewhere. If he just wants to cue some tunes up it's fine. Oh and it doesn't go telling stories about you either.

 

[Man in a van]

Get LMS working

 

[Man in a van]

Andrew; this morning I fired up a Late 2012 Mac Mini running Mojave v10.14.6

I connected a Topping DX3Pro Dac (using headphone output) and used Audio MIDI to set it for use as Sound Output.

I plugged in a usb stick (Fat32 format) with a few albums to use instead of a HDD.

I opened Safari and downloaded the latest Mac OSX installer. (this last week has seen some pretty intensive work by members of the Slimdevices community and M Herger)

http://downloads.slimdevices.com/nightly/?ver=8.3

I used the default installer to install the package and accepted all screen prompt requests for access.

I used the Mac Systems Preferences pane (LMS Server was already running) to navigate to the usb stick.

I then opened the default LMS gui, went to Basic Settings and scanned the usb disk into the Library.

Next stop was Settings >> Plugins >> tick Update plugins automatcally >> Apply

When the screen returned I ticked the box for Local Player, waited a minute and represhed the screen.

I did NOT go to the ADVANCED tab

I then returned to the LMS Home Page and selected Squeezelite from the dropdown, selected an Album and hit Play.

Music !!!

I rebooted the Mac whilst it was playing (the setting in the Preference pane STATUS window was "Automatcally start server when system boots)

Reopen windows when logging back in was ticked for the Restart and I'm set to login automatically in Users & Groups)

The windows reopend but the rLMS restart failed ( thiis has been an unresolved problem for at least a couple of years

I clicked Start Server in the Status tab and all was well.

I changed to "Automatcally start server at login" This worked, but it does take a while and I had to refresh the LMS gui

Hope this helps

ronnie

 

[bencat]

Thanks Ronnie will give this a try when I next get myself in front of this MAC . Would it be best to unistall the copy of LMS already on the MAC first and then go for a new install ? Also dont laugh but how do I access the MAC System Preferences ? If you say that it is best to uninstall the current version of LMS then what is the right way to do this on a MAC ? I know these are very obvious questions but I have never ever used a MAC so for me none of the sequences are obvious as they are to me on Windows which I have used for years .

This follows on from my thread getting LMS and Local Player to work which you also added to but I have not visited Graham since so not had any chance to update much . Just to add here are the details of the current MAC Set up

Okay it is an iMac 21.5 from 2014 and it has dual core Intel processor the OS is Monterey 12.4 hope this is enough .

 

[Man in a van]

Uninstall LMS from a MAC

I'll come back to you on that. I sed to have a paid app that completely removed everything at an uninstall, but I think that was deprecated by Apple at some time.

When I tested last night I used my iMac, which is also my Windows Desktop.
I just did an install over the top.
I can't remember if I had updated LOcal Player Squeezelite

This morning it was a fresh install, but on 32 bit OS.

I did not select a Binary and it worked, but I only tested for Music from a usb stick.

I'll do some more research and keep you posted.

I already have a spoof sheet for you regarding the update to squeezelite, should you need it.

To access System Preferences:

Left click on the Apple logo in the tl-hc
From the dropdown left click on System Preferences
Left click on LMS icon


ronnie

 

[Chumpchops]

Thanks Ronnie will give this a try when I next get myself in front of this MAC . Would it be best to unistall the copy of LMS already on the MAC first and then go for a new install ? Also dont laugh but how do I access the MAC System Preferences ? If you say that it is best to uninstall the current version of LMS then what is the right way to do this on a MAC ? I know these are very obvious questions but I have never ever used a MAC so for me none of the sequences are obvious as they are to me on Windows which I have used for years .

This follows on from my thread getting LMS and Local Player to work which you also added to but I have not visited Graham since so not had any chance to update much . Just to add here are the details of the current MAC Set up

Okay it is an iMac 21.5 from 2014 and it has dual core Intel processor the OS is Monterey 12.4 hope this is enough .

Not sure how MAc works, but on PC with LMS, a clean fresh install often works best as it clears the registry etc - this means you lose preferences and favorites etc.

 

[Man in a van]

The app I referred to still works on 32bit CleanMyMac X but I paid a few pounds and now it is too much (if it is the same one, I think so because it is listed with anoth app I paid for)

Any way first I would uninstall from the System Preference, the use finder, go to Download and put anything related to LMS into the Trash.
Empty the trash and reboot


https://forums.slimdevices.com/show...stall-reinstall-of-LMS-7-8-on-OSX-10-9-how-to

The wiki instructions should still work


Then use the terminal to paste the commands in the wiki, one by one see what you get returned

Here is another basic guide to the same principle

https://howtoremoveapp.com/remove-logitech-media-server.html

Often the Folder containg "Preferences" and some the Cache is left with a Linux uninstall because they are deemed to be "not empty" and a simple sudo rm -r path to the folder gets rid. This is slightly different for an uninstall with a MAC OS.

It should be similar with Windows I would guess.

I run RevoUnistaller (free version) for my windows uninstalls

ronnie

I just did a quick drag and drop to the Trash and installed a fresh download of LMS and it opened wih my favourites.
Now I remember, slaps head, scroll down to the bottom of the Information tab in Settings and the folder pathways are listed, doh!
Well enough maybe to clean out a removed install

 

[Man in a van]

Well a lot of faffing about on my Mac Mini today.
Here is the gritty
CleanMyMac X is available as a free download and will uninstall apps.
I used it to clean up the Mini after I tried to use the Terminal commands in the Wiki:--Don't bother with he Wiki
Either install a new version of LMS over the top, use the Cleaning app to uninstall or go for a fresh install all together.
When you install the Local Player Plugin DO NOT CONFIGURE IT, LEAVE AS IS.
So far Albums on usb stick play.
BBC Sounds Play
I'll test more later, but I have had enough for today.

Will report back

ronnie

 

[Man in a van]

So, Mac-mini almost sorted

I installed the Catalina OS (which is 64 bit) on an External SSD drive.

Downloaded and installed

http://downloads.slimdevices.com/ni...719b/LogitechMediaServer-8.3.1-1668787267.pkg

Accepted all access request (two I think).

Installed a few Plugins; Spotty, BBC Sounds, Radio Paradise, Radio France, and Local Player.

Set the Binary on Local Player to squeezelite-osx.

Configured the Audio output to 100% volume for my Topping DX3 Pro.

Album playback was fine, all Plugins played well, apart for Radio Paradise (only the interactive flac stream would work). I did test the 320 acc stream and that played OK and displayed album art.

I'll look at updating Squeezelite for that.

I'll do another post to cover misc. stuff

 

[Man in a van]

Should one uninstall LMS before using the updated package.

My thought is; install over the top first and see what happens.

It's a bit of a convoluted performance to clean the old stuff out of the way, but preferable to doing a fresh install of the OS.
A MAC "waiting time nine minutes" is in a new continuum, ( a bit like the Windows one )

The new package seems to sit on the top (technical term) and uninstalls without leaving much (if any) residue.

Andrew, if Graham decides to go with LMS give me a poke when you are ready to do it and I'll do my best to be available to help.

ronnie

 

[bencat]

Thanks Ronnie will do.

 

[Man in a van]

I have updated the Squeezelite in the Local Player and all the Radio Paradise options are now available.

I installed Spotify on the Catalina rubbish and that works.

I can switch from LMS playback to Spotify playback without a problem, stop one , start the other.

Spotify-Connect to the Mac-mini works but when I enabled Squeezelite as a Spotify-Connect device it did not at first register as a player, but it did after a restart (or two) of LMS.
This LMS feature is known to be flakey, so should not (imo) be too relied upon.
Indeed it played one track and then stopped.
I restarted it and it continued on to the next track but the Album art was frozen.
When the third track started, the Album art changed to the correct display but the music stopped.
This problem has been reported severl time but is not yet resolved.

ronnie