Ollix

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Music & Lyrics app has been split into three variants due to the complexity of the copyright issue for worldwide use, and the current version on the Mac App Store doesn't have the ability to search lyrics on the Internet. Learn more at HERE.

In this post, I will reveal more details about our upcoming lyrics app - Music & Lyrics. If you still have no idea of what Music & Lyrics is, please take a look at our previous post: Introducing the Music & Lyrics for Mac. You won't want to miss it if you're looking for a cool lyrics app for your Mac.

As you should probably know, Music & Lyrics will search lyrics in LRC format on the Internet that corresponded to your playing track in iTunes. What you didn't know is Music & Lyrics comes with a small icon appeared on the menu bar, and which will give you the idea of the current lyrics state.

For example, in the above image you can see a green icon on the menu bar, which indicates that the lyrics of the playing track has been found on the Internet but not saved to the lyrics field. A circle filled with the same color also appears at the top right corner of the Lyrics Manager, and you can find a simple explanation of what the color means on its right side. The rightmost number indicates the estimated accuracy of the found lyrics, as the same one you can find in the preferences window.

It's highly recommended to enable the "Save LRC to track" option in the preferences window. Although the lyrics field of the corresponded track in iTunes will be overwritten once enabled, you get the benefit of always seeing the fine-tuned lyrics. You won't want to fix offset or typo every time you play the same song. The following image shows all possible states, the blue one means the lyrics is read from the lyrics field of the current playing track in iTunes.

Obviously, lyrics is available only in Online and Current Track states. Did you notice that there is also a button on the left side of the status bar in Lyrics Manager? This is the button you can use to import the current lyrics into the editor below. Then, you can fix typo, adjust offset, or do whatever you want. After you're done, simply click the Apply button. You'll see the fine-tuned lyrics in Desktop Lyrics and Lyrics Panel.

Better, if you have enabled the "Save LRC to track" option as mentioned earlier. The next time you play the same song, you always see your fine-tuned lyrics. No need to search lyrics on the Internet nor fix the lyrics over again and again.

However, if the current lyrics is totally wrong. You can take advantage of the left sidebar to search for other lyrics. Once you clicked one of the search results, the corresponded lyrics will be loaded into the editor. In addition, the line corresponded to the current playing position will be highlighted. You can use this to quick examine whether the lyrics is matched to the current playing track.

There is also a chance that no correct lyrics found or lyrics is correct but with totally wrong time tags. In the former case, you can search plain lyrics on the Internet manually and paste it in the editor. This step is unnecessary in the latter case. But in both cases, you will need to sync time tags manually. Simply click the Sync Time button on the right of the editor and you will enter the Time Sync Mode.

It's fairly simple to sync time tags in Time Sync Mode. Besides, you can double click valid time tags in the editor to make iTunes play at the specific time, and you can press the return key or space key to update time tags once the Update Time button became green. The Update Time button goes green once you clicked on it.

Fortunately, in most situations, the only thing you need to care about is the offset. You know the lyrics just found on the Internet is correct but is a bit out of sync. In this case, you can take advantage of the convenient keyboard shortcuts for offset adjustment ("[" and "]").

Increasing the offset at a time will make each lyrics line appear earlier by 100 milliseconds. Again, the lyrics with your fine-tuned offset will be updated in the lyrics field if you have enabled the "Save LRC to track" option. Now you should be able to fine-tune your lyrics in any situation.

As a reminder, we're trying to acquire the rights to use copyrighted lyrics legally, so it won't be released until we have the rights. However, if you are interested in this app, you may want to join our Facebook fan page or follow us on Twitter to know more about the future of Music & Lyrics.