Aural Player

Update (Feb 14, 2021)

Version 2.3.0 released - first working release for macOS Big Sur ! Download from here.

Update (Feb 5, 2021)

Version 3.0 was in active development last year, but due to unforeseen personal circumstances, I have not been able to work on this project since Oct 2020. The planned 3.0 release will be delayed.

Overview
Documentation
Download
Summary of features
Known issues
Screenshots
Third party code attributions
Contributor attributions

Overview

Aural Player is an audio player for macOS. Inspired by the classic Winamp player for Windows, it is designed to be to-the-point, easy to use, and customizable, with some sound tuning capabilities for audio enthusiasts.

Goals:

To have a simple drag-drop-play player for the music collection on your local drives, that requires no configuration out of the box, although plenty of customization/configuration is possible.
To make sound tuning an integral part of the listening experience and to have it within quick and easy reach at all times.
To have a decent macOS alternative for Winamp.

Limitations:

Does not play protected content (e.g. Apple's M4P or Audible's AAX).
Does not integrate with online services for streaming / scrobbling, etc.

Documentation

All the documentation can be found on the wiki.

How To's

NOTE - The documentation is incomplete and is a work in progress.

Download

Download the DMG image (containing the app bundle) from the latest release here.

Note for macOS Big Sur

If you're on macOS Big Sur, you must download v2.3.0 or later versions. No older app versions will run on macOS Big Sur.

See all releases

NOTE - The ffmpeg source code (and build script / instructions) for each release can be found in the Source code archive (zip / tar) for the release, under aural-player-x.y.z/Resources/ffmpeg (when extracted).

Installation

Mount the AuralPlayer-x.y.z.dmg image file
From within the mounted image, copy Aural.app to your local drive (e.g. Applications folder)
Run the copy from your local drive. You will likely see a security warning and the app will not open because the app's developer is not recognized by macOS.
Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Open anyway, to allow Aural.app to open.

NOTE - Please don't run the app directly from within the image. It is a compressed image, and may result in the app behaving slowly and/or unpredictably. So, copy it outside and run the copy.

Granting access on macOS Catalina or later versions (for Aural Player v2.2.0 or older)

Aural Player v2.2.0 (and older versions) use the Documents user folder to store persisted application state, logs, and transcoder output files. In other words, Aural Player needs access to the Documents directory to function.

Due to increased security on macOS Catalina and later versions, you will need to grant Aural.app access to your Documents folder. Please perform this step once by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Files and Folders, and adding Aural.app with permission to access your Documents folder.

NOTE - v2.3.0 and newer versions circumvent this problem by storing app state in the Music user folder instead of Documents.

Compatibility

User: macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or later versions.

Note for macOS Big Sur

If you're on macOS Big Sur, you must download v2.3.0 or later. No older app versions will run on macOS Big Sur.

Developer: Swift 5 and XCode 11.

Enabling media keys support (optional)

Quit Aural Player if it is running.
Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy, and select Accessibility from the list of features.
Click on the lock icon in the bottom left corner, if it is shown as locked. Enter your macOS password to authenticate.
Click the + button and select Aural.app in the file browser that opens, to add Aural Player to the list of apps allowed to control your computer (See image above).

NOTE

Media keys support is available from version 1.3.0 onwards.
You will have to repeat this simple process whenever you upgrade to a new version of the app, because the macOS Accessibility permissions are tied to a single instance of the app.

Summary of features

(Comprehensive feature list here)

Supports all Core Audio formats (inc. FLAC) and several non-native formats: (inc. Vorbis, Opus, APE, WMA, DSD & more)
Supports M3U / M3U8 playlists
Playback: Repeat / shuffle, bookmarking, segment looping, 2 custom seek intervals, last position memory, autoplay
Chapters support: Chapters list window, playback functions including loop, current chapter indication, search by title
Effects: Graphic equalizer, pitch shift, time stretch, reverb, delay, filter
- Built-in and custom effects presets, per-track effects settings memory
- Recording of clips with effects captured
Playlist: Grouping, searching, sorting, type selection
Information: ID3, iTunes, WMA, Vorbis Comment, ApeV2, and other metadata (when available). Cover art, lyrics, file system and audio data. Option to export.
Track lists: Favorites list, recently added and recently played lists.
UI: Color schemes (built-in and custom), window layout presets (built-in and custom), window snapping, collapsible UI components, adjustable text size.
Usability: Configurable media keys support, swipe/scroll gesture recognition

Known issues

Bad audio quality when plugging in Bluetooth headphones

If you notice poor audio quality when you first plug in Bluetooth headphones, try the following:

Fix# 1 - Set your system's input device to the built-in device

When you connect Bluetooth headphones to your Mac, if your headphones have a microphone, the OS will typically switch to using your Bluetooth microphone as its input device. Simply go to System Preferences > Sound > Input, and change the input device back to your Mac's built-in input device.

This should fix the problem. If not, try Fix# 2.

Fix# 2 - Change your system's Bluetooth audio codec settings

Follow the steps clearly detailed here.