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Bowtie 1.5

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(14) 4.428571428571429

Control iTunes with keyboard shortcuts; last.fm integration. Free

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Bowtie is a desktop accessory that allows you to see and control your music (iTunes, Spotify, Sonora, or Rdio) with customizable shortcuts, advanced Last.fm support, and hundreds of beautiful themes available to download for free.

What's New

Version 1.5:

Adds support for Sonora, a beautiful, lightweight iTunes replacement
Adds support for Rdio, a music streaming service with free and paid plans
Minor bug fixes

Requirements
Intel, Mac OS X 10.6 or later

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Bowtie User Discussion (Write a Review)

ver. 1.x:

(14)

Your rating: Now say why...

Overall:

(14)

sort: smiles | time

+36

VRH reviewed on 24 Feb 2012

Wonderful, wonderful application -- and it's free! I love that they added control for Rdio! I may give MOG a try in the future and it would be great if control for that gets included, too. I'd also like to see them include a keyboard shortcut for switching sources.

Great stuff! Thanks for an excellent and useful app so well done!

[Version 1.5]

Sachi commented on 23 Nov 2011

get beta 1.4: http://updates.13bold.com/release-notes/bowtie/1.4beta

[Version 1.3.1]

+43

Aetnaria commented on 27 Jul 2011

Good little application, but I wish they fixed the issue with vertical text (That is, taking a long segment of text and rotating it 90°). It gets cut off!

[Version 1.3.1]

+165

Leo Spill commented on 16 Feb 2010

Great software, I own Coversutra and this is surely far better.

My one request would be controls in the Menu bar, shortcuts are OK
- but I think that this app is just a funky visual song changing notice
- without being a controller.
( Shortcuts to learn, or use a skin that has controls... are the only supported options )

The other thing to mention - is why no central resource of themes/Skins ?
They are scattered about all over the place.
Darrin Horn's 'CD jewelcase with text' theme is amazing
- but was nearly impossible to find.
( http://macthemes.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16791239&p=1 )

Download and enjoy this little Jewel.

[Version 1.0]

2 Replies

-2

+65

Roy-Van-Der-Woning replied on 16 Mar 2010

Can you comment on how this is way better than CoverSutra? I can see how it is different, but better? For example, how do you go about lookup songs like you can with CoverSutra? Or switch to a playlist?

+72

cottinghamk replied on 16 Jun 2010

Coversutra is designed better and has much more in the way of control (like you said: switching playlists and searching [I liked the mini-window as well]), but Bowtie is faaar more responsive and more customizable. CS lagged so much for me it was unusable. I own it too, but have fully switched over to Bowtie.

+37

Mcyukon reviewed on 13 Feb 2010

Great software!
I love the way it fades in and out of view when I quit or start iTunes.
That way it is only there when I need it, and never in the way when I don't. It is very easy to use and has some nice features, like Last.Fm support. I also like the fact that anyone can make themes for it if they have even a basic knowledge of HTML/CSS. I made my own in under 10 minutes using one of the default themes as a template. For even more themes than the included ones, SmokingApples has a nice list.
http://smokingapples.com/software/10-beautiful-bowtie-themes/

[Version 1.0]

+126

Doug S. reviewed on 13 Feb 2010

This is a great piece of software. There are loads of free themes already available from the community surrounding it, it's extremely easy to use and very easy to configure. Also, it comes with a number of nice features like Last.fm support.

The only criticism I have is that before this latest release the software was rather unstable with the controls portion crashing rather regularly. Since this latest version I haven't seen one issue but I am keeping my eyes open given how frequent they were before.

If you're looking for a great alternative to the CoverSutras ove the world this is the app for you.

Assuming the stability issue is now fixed this app is, as far as I'm concerned, the new king of iTunes controllers.

[Version 1.0]

1 Reply

+126

Doug S. replied on 16 Feb 2010

Just a follow-up:
I've been using it on a daily basis and it has yet to crash or do anything untoward the entire time. It is now extremely stable and behaves perfectly.

Well done! Wish I could edit my review and make it a 5/5.

Btgxcell reviewed on 13 Feb 2010

This has been a long time in the making, but has been oh so worth it! Bowtie simply has a unique philosophy of end user customizability that makes it gorgeous to use. In fact, Ecoute took this philosophy and even posted up instructions on how to convert Bowtie themes into Ecoute themes. Bowtie is the original! It may not have the largest feature set or any fancy display with which to interact with your library, but it fits a nice niche that I'm sure many will appreciate. If you need the library interactivity, check out Cover Stream or CoverSutra. If you want a standalone player that can access the iTunes library, check out Ecoute or Everplay.

[Version 1.0]

andyselby had trouble on 16 Jan 2011

This is such great software, except for 2 problems. There is a huge memory leak (still) and it revs my MacBook Pro's GPU like crazy.

[Version 1.3]

1 Reply

andyselby replied on 16 Jan 2011

Okay, scratch this. It was VLC that had the memory leak, and there's an easy fix for. Back to BowTie!!!!

Mr. Leo rated on 25 Mar 2012

[Version 1.5]

Bostonguy3737 rated on 05 Dec 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

-13

Yasinsky rated on 28 Oct 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

Creativeinsanity rated on 23 Aug 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

Rauto rated on 15 Jul 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

LucasH rated on 25 Apr 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

Pmdf rated on 23 Mar 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

Clientsim rated on 20 Feb 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

+102

Hal2007 rated on 08 Feb 2011

[Version 1.3.1]

Jean-Loup rated on 08 Dec 2010

[Version 1.2]

Downloads:7,480

Version Downloads:1,041

Type:Multimedia & Design : MP3

License:Free

Date:24 Feb 2012

Platform:Intel

Price:Free

Overall (Version 1.x):

Features:

Ease of Use:

Value:

Stability:

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