Local music Audio players, and CD Rippers, that aren't made by Apple?

[mattspace]

So I'm over having Apple owning my library format, and just going to reorganise my music as folders in Finder. I have MP3Tag for handling the metadata stuff, but from there...

Looking for recommendations for Audio players, and CD rippers that are not Apple Music or iTunes.

I'm trying Doppler at the moment, which has a great direct to iPhone sync option, but it's a tad sparse with no equaliser settings etc. Unfortunately searching for this stuff just brings up a whole bunch of content farm garbage, or things pretending to be comparison reviews, but are actually written by an app publisher.

So, any folks who are not using streaming audio, and not using Apple's apps, what are you using?

 

[Iwavvns]

VLC - quite a nice all-around media player. I used it for years when running Linux/BSD and there are downloads for macOS and Apple silicon systems.

HandBrake - Open source video transcoder.

I haven't tried all of the options, but this article may have some useful information: How to rip CD's and use your own audio files in macOS

 

[bogdanw]

Looking for recommendations for Audio players

See https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-classic-itunes-reboot.2425105/post-33101579

and CD rippers that are not Apple Music or iTunes.

"fre:ac is a free audio converter and CD ripper" https://www.freac.org/

 

[rhett7660]

Is there a reason behind not wanting to stream? The reason I ask, is Plex could be something to look at, but it is a streamer, with a download option.

For ripping CD's, XLD. Never looked back.

 

[mattspace]

Is there a reason behind not wanting to stream? The reason I ask, is Plex could be something to look at, but it is a streamer, with a download option.

I'm trying to consolidate devices, virtualise stuff rater than have legacy machines etc. I've looked at Plex, Subsonic etc, but I don't want to deal with browser-based UIs etc.

Also, Plex's iOS app only allows a subset of your library to be loaded on-device, for no reason other than being "opinionated", and I find that so astoundingly arrogant.

For ripping CD's, XLD. Never looked back.

Doesn't appear to be notarised, which drops it out of conentions for now, unfortunately.

 

[rhett7660]

I'm trying to consolidate devices, virtualise stuff rater than have legacy machines etc. I've looked at Plex, Subsonic etc, but I don't want to deal with browser-based UIs etc.

Also, Plex's iOS app only allows a subset of your library to be loaded on-device, for no reason other than being "opinionated", and I find that so astoundingly arrogant.



Doesn't appear to be notarised, which drops it out of conentions for now, unfortunately.

Re: Hmm... I have never had a problem downloading any file... But I don't download ALL my files.

XLD... bummer. One of the best rippers out there. Been using since 2009 or so.

Sounds like the search will continue. Good luck.

 

[mattspace]

Re: Hmm... I have never had a problem downloading any file... But I don't download ALL my files.

I either have my computer on, in which case it can play diretly, or my computer's asleep, in which case I want all my music on whatever device I want to play from.

Subsonic looks like it has a great ecosystem, but none of the guides etc are written for an audience who isn't already familiar wih media streaming from Plex etc, or isn't already a Linux nerd.

I imagine there's a scenario where you can run the music server on your local machine, and also run the client on your local machine, and have them talk to each other, without opening a network port to the outside world etc... but I'm yet to find a guide that starts from first principles, assuming the reader has never run anything like this before.

XLD... bummer. One of the best rippers out there. Been using since 2009 or so.

It looks like a pleasantly designed app, from the screenshots.

Sounds like the search will continue. Good luck.

Thanks.