SpotMenu

SpotMenu is a handy tool that helps you keep track of your music. While Spotify and iTunes are great for listening, they don’t let you see what’s playing or control playback from the menu bar. It’s pretty surprising, right? After all these years, we still don’t have this feature built-in. But no worries, that's where SpotMenu comes to the rescue!

What Does SpotMenu Do?

This little app shows you the song title, artist, and album right in your menu bar! Plus, it even displays the cover art. You’ll also get playback controls without any fuss thanks to its clean interface.

Easy Installation

Getting started with SpotMenu is a breeze! Once you install it and give it some permissions, you're good to go. You'll see all the details for each song right up top. And hey, if you want to customize what shows up or hide some icons, you can totally do that.

User-Friendly Features

If you click on the text showing what’s playing, a small window pops up with the cover art. It disappears as soon as you click anywhere else. Hovering over that art? You'll find playback controls—perfect for pausing songs or skipping tracks.

No Complicated Settings Needed

You won’t have to worry about complex setups either! Just make sure SpotMenu has permission to control Spotify and iTunes. Play any song and watch it pop up in the app automatically! There’s an icon in your menu bar to show which audio source is currently active; switching between them is super easy!

Tidying Up Your Menu Bar

A heads-up: there’s only so much text that fits in the menu bar at once. If a song's title is long, it'll scroll across the screen. To keep things neat, consider hiding album info and extra icons.

Add More Functionality with Widgets

You can also add an optional widget to your Today view that works just like the menu bar app!

Desktop Display Feature

If you're curious about what's next while paused, just hit Ctrl+Shift+M. This shows you the current song's details on your desktop—a nice touch if you've hidden song info during playback.

The Bottom Line: Why Use SpotMenu?

In short, SpotMenu is a well-designed open-source app that makes managing music playback super simple for both Spotify and iTunes users. It's low-key and easy to use while giving you plenty of options to customize how it works for you!