Mac OS X | Audio / Video | Players | Dropsound

Dropsound - 2.90

small samples player

Download Now

(File Size: 2.5M)

Free Product Alerts!

All Time:	(4.5)
This Version:	(4.5)
Current Version:	2.90
Release Date:	2005-08-09
License:	Freeware
Downloads (this version):	2,508
Downloads (all versions):	4,450

Information Related to Version:

Broken Link? Newer Version? Tell us!

Product Description:

Dropsound plays sound files, and that's about it.

Well, actually that's not it. What I mean to say is that it plays sound files, among other things, although those "other things" all have to do with the aforementioned sound files. For example: if you have a lot of samples and you want to preview them before using them or cataloging them or what have you, you can drop the lot on DS and they will load into a nice queue and play, one by one, one after the other, until they've all been played. At that point, should you designate the proper checkbox in the preferences window, the queue will clear itself or DS will quit.

The queue is the main feature of DS; all other features exploit this form of organization. One such feature is that DS can convert every file in the queue to AIF or WAV format, which comes in handy sometimes.

For a satisfactory list of major features, see "What DS Can/Cannot Do", on the website.

Succinctly, Dropsound is somewhat useful especially for working with samples, but not the sort of application that changes your life around and saves your marriage or civil union. Despite that, I would say it's "freakin' awesome", and so would my former friend Ryan Laster, who remarked of DS, "Your app f***in' rocks!" (real quote !).

What's new in this version:

You can rename files through the "Rename Current Track" menu item (in the 'control' menu).
"Convert" and "Convert Queue" are now contextual menu items.
Preferences now saved in XML format, just because.
"[" and "]" operate the left and right disclosure triangles, respectively.
The old method of changing the position of the playing track- which was a slider that appeared when you rolled the mouse over the progress bar- is no more. Now you can click directly on the progress bar to change the position. You cannot drag, though.
New File menu item: "Open a Folder" that allows you to select a folder to be loaded from within DS.
You can drag and drop tracks directly from iTunes onto DS, and they will be added to the queue like regular files. You can drop only one at a time, though.
You can import iTunes playlists into DS through the File > Import An iTunes Playlist menu item (command-I).
When you hover the cursor over the queue, the number of tracks therein will appear just below the window.
DS can load files with non-roman characters without issue (apparently).

Operating System Requirements:

This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:

Mac OS X 10.4 PPC
Mac OS X 10.3.9
Mac OS X 10.3
Mac OS X 10.2

Additional Requirements:

Mac OS X 10.2 or later

Feedback Summary:

This Version:
Overall Rating:	(4.5)	Features:	(4.2)	Support:	(3.8)
Ease of Use:	(4.2)	Quality / Stability:	(4.0)	Price:	(5.0)

Key to Types of Feedback:

Reviews Reviews Troubleshooting Usage Tips Developer Notes Commentary Featured Reviews

Love the idea yet have one problem - Version: 2.90, 6/26/2007 09:22AM PST

HokkaidoFreewareBum

I'll begin by explaining why Dropsound does things for me that I can't get from iTunes. I have two 250 gb external drives full of music that is separated by band in folders that are additionally sorted based on type of music and I have all of my iTunes music in one folder on one external drive, but I also keep another folder with the music in the original form that i obtained it, which may be in flac, aiff, mp3, Ogg etc. Some of it I additionally convert with "Max" to Mp3, sometimes strip audio files from video with "ffmpeg" for iTunes playback availability. i playback flac and Ogg files with the excellent apps "Cog" or "Play." All are free.

My original archive audio folders also hold the music with accompanying supplemental data such as text files and additional cover artwork in both larger and smaller files sizes, so if I just dump it all into iTunes it is harder to find. (I',m a pack rat). Sometimes my iTunes external drive gets full and in the interum I am juggling the music around to roms and elsewhere, until I get a buy larger external drive, i can't yet bother to drop it into iTunes. Some music i also play so rarely that I do not bother to add it to iTune's folder. Once and a while I decide i want to play some of this archived music though, music but do not ever want in iTune's folder, so "Sounddrop" is a nice way to drag and drop a folder and listen to it without loading all the music into iTunes.

If I go to iTunes preferences and shut off "Copy to iTunes Music Folder When Adding to Library," and try to just play the music, iTunes will play a few songs but not the entire set I've dropped in, I am not sure why it does not play them all. So again, i hoped Dropsound would be the solution , but sometimes Dropsound also won't play more than the first song in the que.

I set dropsound preferences so that it is set to "Play Continuously" and also "Read folders as deeply as Possible," so I am not sure why Dropsound won't play the entire que. Any ideas how to enable this function other than what I've done? i know I'll get it straightened out so I am still giving "Dropsound" five stars for it's simplicity, and I give iTunes 5 stars for it's complexity! I am also experimenting with shoutcast-like "MacAmpLight" for similar usage as Dropsound.

Love the idea yet have one problem - Version: 2.90, 6/26/2007 09:21AM PST

HokkaidoFreewareBum

Weird keystroke bug... - Version: 2.90, 4/1/2007 12:10PM PST

cantwell

Using latest version with 10.4.9. Every time I tap a shortcut key, it acts as if I hit it twice (e.g. tapping right arrow key once makes it skip two tracks). Very annoying, anyone else encountered this or know what might be the cause?