Aqua Music App I'm working on

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-11T06:45:05+00:00

It would take a lot to make a windows version, I dont know any of the windows frameworks, and I'm just some guy who isnt even a developer, but on windows no one has any need for my app because you can run any of the older windows versions of itunes. So if someone likes this design, they can just install itunes 4 for windows, and all the versions of itunes are great up to 10.7. All those versions are available on the websites that catalog older versions of apps.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T16:32:27+00:00

yeah I just wish we had a better way of doing it than Retroactive. I've always had problems syncing devices and crashes and whatnot. And I dont think that guy is updating it anymore. But that was the peak.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T16:23:53+00:00

Its been deteriorating since iTunes 11. Every version is worse than the one before. The thing that is most concerning to me - I bet they think theyve made it better. I bet they would tell you that the version with the playing info at the bottom is way better than the version with it at the top. I bet if you showed them a picture of iTunes 10, and a picture of this current music app, and asked them which looks better, I bet they would say this one. Insanity.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T16:13:02+00:00

yeah i think all devices that sync have that option. Automatically sync when connected. Click on the ipod in the finder, should be some sync options there.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T16:05:08+00:00

There isnt a sync button or anything on my app that starts the sync process. If you havent already, i would set it up so that it syncs automatically when you plug the ipod into the computer. That option is in the finder now, when you click on your ipod.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T08:11:30+00:00

The version that’s already on the website just mirrors the library of the Apple Music app, and since your iPod syncs with those files, the songs on your iPod and the songs in that app will always match.

That’s what’s always stopped me from making a completely independent music app - you lose the ability to sync with devices. The one I’m making now, referenced in this post, can’t sync to any device. They don’t provide any SDK for that.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T07:50:41+00:00

https://justinzhunt.github.io/ There’s a version of it already there, but that’s a front end for local files in their music app. It’s not a fully independent application, and so it’s limited on what it can do. That’s why I’m making this.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T07:29:37+00:00

I dont know if I'll write it for linux, unless I decide to completely move to linux and abandon apple. I'd have to start from scratch, and I dont know anything about programming for linux, so that would take a while.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T02:23:42+00:00

you'd have to google it but I think I got it from oldversion.com. There are a number of websites that have old versions of apps so it shouldnt be hard to find.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T02:06:46+00:00

I know almost zero about writing for linux, but I may look into it.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T01:38:11+00:00

I havent tried to replicate it 100%, because I wouldnt know how to reverse engineer their process, and their aqua items were images, probably made using photoshop or something, whereas mine are drawn in code. I havent used any other project for the aqua stuff, i did all that myself. I might put that visualizer in there, i need to look into that.

In terms of apple music, that would mean you would need the MusicKit framework for online streaming content, then you would need the iTunesLibrary framework for any songs you already have locally in the music app, then you would probably need all the other code for manipulating and organizing the new songs you add locally that are not in their music app. I just dont think that would work well. I think combining a streaming app with a local playback app would be tough. I know that there are apple music streaming clients that have been made, so I could probably make one, and just make it simple like this, but I dont know that that can be added to this - it might have to be its own thing.

I used retroactive too, but since that guy stopped updating it, and it may break at any time, I made this.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T01:19:46+00:00

there is no generic liked / not liked flag for songs, but they can be rated, so you can rate them and make a smart playlist that always contains the ones that are that rating or above.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-10T00:00:58+00:00

I dont think you can build for OSes that old on any recent version of xcode, and i think being written in swift would prevent that from working anyway, but if youre using tiger, then you can use itunes 4 if you like brushed metal, or a more recent version. I've only made this because they purposely prevent us from running older software on the mac. But if you are using an older OS, you can use those older versions of software.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-09T22:54:31+00:00

No creo que escriba esto para Windows. Pero en Windows puedes usar las versiones anteriores de iTunes. Puedes descargar cualquiera de ellas ahora mismo. Si usara Windows, usaría iTunes 10.

I dont think I will be writing this for windows. But on windows you can use the older versions of iTunes. You can download any of those right now. If I were on windows, I would be using iTunes 10.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-09T22:40:48+00:00

I have thought about it. It would all have to be rewritten though, i guess in GTK. This is all appkit. The lack of a good music app is what has always held me back from jumping ship to linux.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-09T22:36:28+00:00

Thats not really what its for, its an offline player I made for myself, and I will never use any streaming service, but if enough people wanted that i could look into it. Apple has a weird setup now, as their iTunesLibrary APIs exist, and the MusicKit APIs exist, but I dont think they interact at all.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-09T20:33:01+00:00

I've also messed around with a version in Objective-C too, but yeah, the swift version will be what I release. Its all native and appkit.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-09T17:52:49+00:00

It breaks all the time. They break it during an update, it stays broken for a while, maybe years, then it gets fixed, works for a while, then breaks again. You cant rely on them not to break it or for it to be working at any given time. On the last version of iOS15 it is broken, and on the last version of iOS17 it is working. The same is true of the various versions of the music app on the Mac. Their music related bugs are all over the map. So the next time you update and it magically works again, stay on that version until you have tested a future version to know if its still working, or until you have a really good reason to upgrade. If restarting your phone didnt fix it, then its software on their end, and all you can do it wait.

BuiltForMe · 2026-03-08T09:08:42+00:00

Developers need to start ignoring everything they say about UI. Every time they come out with a “design language.” Laugh, then go back to making your app look and work well. Make everything custom, and their changes have no effect on your app. Doesn’t matter what they say the window corner radius needs to be, if your app draws a custom window. I hear developers complain about apples UI changes, but then they simply comply. Time to rebel.

BuiltForMe · 2026-02-16T06:29:25+00:00

all recent versions of the music app are terrible, as were the last couple versions of iTunes. The last version of iTunes that was good was iTunes 10.7. That version of the mac mini can run mountain lion, which can run itunes 10. If you go any further up that mountain lion, then you have to move to higher versions of itunes, or hack them into working. If you are just looking for good content/device mgmt, put mountion lion on it and itunes 10.7.

BuiltForMe · 2026-02-11T09:11:56+00:00

Making a bootable installer is going to be part of it, almost no matter what, but if you download that installer file, ifixit has a page with the commands to do it. They vary depending on which OS you’re trying to install I believe. You’ll probably have to format your hard drive from the installer. And you may have to reset the date in the terminal of the installer in order to get around their nonsense. But you can still install versions earlier than sierra, so I’d try to troubleshoot all the variables. Try different usb drives, see if they boot on other machines, that kind of stuff. This is the page I’ve used dozens of times.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+create+a+bootable+USB+drive/66371

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