I love Apple Music, but I don’t like using its Mac app. Apple Music on Mac is slow, takes a while to display search results, and doesn’t even play music reliably. I often press the play button only for my song to not load for no reason. I recommended using the web version of Apple Music for best results, but now there is a better alternative. CoverSutra ($5) is an Apple Music player for Mac that focuses on speed and simplicity. If you’re looking for a version of Apple Music for Mac that will let you quickly search and play music in your library, you finally have your answer.

The CoverSutra Story

CoverSutra 4.0 launched in October, but the app dates back to 2007. Previously, it was a distraction-free app for playing and searching your iTunes library. It allows you to listen to music quickly, its search function is pretty good and it also supports Last.fm scrobble too. It was one of the few iPhone and Mac apps created by Sophia Teutschler, then an independent developer. which won an Apple Design Award in 2010 for articles in the iPhone app (no longer available, unfortunately). Teutschler joined Apple in 2013, and subsequently his apps were either acquired or eventually removed from sale.

How CoverSutra Fixes Apple Music Flaws

NOW, it looks like Sophie is back for the streaming era. The new version of CoverSutra fixes the Music app’s biggest flaws by being what Apple Music should be: fast and reliable. CoverSutra sits quietly in the menu bar and clicking on it will immediately bring up the search bar. Here you can quickly search for songs, albums or artists from your library. Just type the name and the app will display the results as soon as you stop typing. There is no need to press the return key.

You can click on the magnifying glass icon in the search bar to narrow the search to one of the three categories supported by CoverSutra, i.e. Albums, Artists, and Songs. This will ensure that you get more accurate results faster. When you see a song or album you like, click its name to start playing. So far, this app has had a 100% play rate of the songs I’ve requested. I know that sounds like a low bar, but it’s the main reason for my frustration with the Stock Music app.

Credit: Pranay Parab

The app has clickable music controls and works with the Mac’s media playback buttons, but also supports custom keyboard shortcuts for the following actions:

To configure CoverSutra’s keyboard shortcuts, open the app from the menu bar icon and click the gear icon in the upper right corner. By default, all keyboard shortcuts are unmapped.

What CoverSutra doesn’t do

Unfortunately, if you want to find music that isn’t already in your Apple Music library, then CoverSutra isn’t the app for you. It only displays and allows you to play songs already in your library. This limitation doesn’t bother me since I usually discover and add music to my library via my iPhone or Apple Watch, but it could be a problem for those who want a direct replacement for the Music app on Mac.

CoverSutra is a bit simple at the moment. The app doesn’t let you search your playlists, which I hope the developer can fix in the future. I would like to be able to browse the playlists in my library and play them quickly using this app. If this app adds the ability to listen to my Apple Music playlists, I would be very happy to use it every day and abandon the Mac Music app for good