Music Remote for macOS

On September 13, 2000, Apple Computer released the first Public Beta of Mac OS X ahead of its initial release in March 24, 2001. Mac users could purchase the Public Beta from Apple.com for the price of $29. This beta version of Mac OS included a music application capable of playing CDs & MP3 files, and was named Music Player.

Music Remote is a tribute to that short lived, long forgotten application. However, Music Remote is a remote application for Music on modern macOS, capable of controlling playback, volume, and playlists.

Mac OS X Public Beta with Music Player running in the foreground.

Music Remote playing "Sofa Rockers" by Sofa Surfers

Music Remote has all the basic controls to control Apple Music and just enough information and status indicators to keep it glanceable. It’s there when you need it without need any interaction and you can even keep it floating above all your other windows.

Music Remote's Playlists window displaying a playlist called "80s Favorites".

Use Music Remote to quickly switch to another playlist. Simply click on the Playlists button above the playback button, select another playlist from your library, and press Play.

Music Remote playing live radio station Channel Q.

When you’re listening to live audio such as Apple Music Hits or Channel Q, Music Remote adapts its user interface to something suitable for streaming audio.

Music Remote playing "Pale Shelter" by Tears for Fears

Music Remote is a 100% native, written in both AppKit and Swift. Much of the UI is drawn in code using Core Graphics & Core Animation⁰ in order to achieve crisp details for both Retina and non-Retina displays.

Software	macOS Monterey and newer; Music.app
Hardware	Universal Binary for Macintosh computers with Apple Silicon and Intel processors
Language	English, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, German, and Polish
Code	100% Native. Written in Swift using AppKit.

Music Widget

Music Widget is a replica of the original iTunes Widget included with Dashboard introduced in 2005.
Learn more about Music Widget

Music MiniPlayer

Music MiniPlayer is a replica of the original iTunes MiniPlayer included with early versions of iTunes.
Learn more about Music MiniPlayer

Music Remote uses Scripting Bridge and Distributed Notification Center to send and receive commands with Apple Music on macOS. 99%² of the UI is written in Core Graphics and Core Animation to achieve crisp UI that is also optimized for non-Retina Displays. Music Remote is a completely native app; written with Swift and AppKit.

Special thanks to Kyle Halevi & Dmitry Novikov for their time in helping me with visual guidance and image assets. I appreciate their time.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Apple Music and iTunes are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.
⁰ With the exception brushed metal textures and the volume knob. Images are used to render these on screen.
¹ Music Remote is notarized.
² Brushed metal textures and the volume knob are images.
³ Apple Music subscription not required. Not compatible with Spotify.

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