The iPhone makes music portable but music on the Mac brings a couple of different flavors not found on devices in the pocket.
First up, my Mac running iTunes and connected to a whopping honking speaker system is to die for. It’s one thing to hear music, but it’s something else again to feel it in your bones. Literally.
Second, I like loud music while I’m working on the Mac and the only diversion I allow is song lyrics. You’d be surprised what you learn when you can read song lyrics while listening to the song at the same time.
iTunes does song lyrics but one of the better ways is with the inexpensive Mac app Lyrical which mashes together artwork, artist, song name and playback controls. How? It’s a Mac Notification Center Widget for OS X Yosemite.
By living in the Notification Center Lyrical is available from within any Mac app. It displays song title, artist, album art, and the lyrics (only if they’re already in iTunes; that’s the only negative as Lyrical doesn’t scour the web for additional lyrics).
Lyrical also gives you iTunes controls for playback, including volume, ratings, pause, skip ahead and go back. If you’re into it, Lyrical also handles Last.fm integration to scribble, ban, or love currently playing tracks on Last.fm.
Considering the nominal 99-cent price tag, Lyrical is a bargain; a good way to use iTunes without opening iTunes, view album artwork, control everything you really need from Notification Center, and view lyrics with a click.
What Lyrical needs is a way to change from one playlist to another without using iTunes. Otherwise, a worthy addition to any Mac running Yosemite and iTunes.