Displays current iTunes song lyrics on desktop.
DesktopLyrics is an application that displays the lyrics of the song currently playing in 'iTunes' right on your desktop. The lyrics for the song have to be set in iTunes; DesktopLyrics does nothing to fetch them if they aren't available in iTunes. If you don't want to type-in all your lyrics manually you can use an application like 'Harmonic', 'GimmieSomeTune', or 'Get Lyrical'.
Note: As of version 2.0.0, DesktopLyrics is no longer free and costs $3.99. A 'Lite', unsupported version of the app is available here.
Note: The demo version is currently at 2.6.6. The version available for purchase on the Mac App Store is 2.6.5.
- DesktopLyrics is an application that displays the lyrics of the song currently playing in 'iTunes' right on your Mac desktop. DesktopLyrics features numerous options to customize lyrics display to.
- ดาวน์โหลดเวอร์ชันใหม่ล่าสุดของ DesktopLyrics สำหรับ Mac.
- Added support for 'Dark Mode' in OS X 10.10 'Yosemite'
- Improved performance and memory usage
- Added possibility to close the 'set lyrics' window
- Fixed rare problem where DesktopLyrics could freeze and eat up much memory
- Fixed problem where cover would not appear in presentation mode
- Added more text transformation options when setting new lyrics
- Provided hidden option to start DesktopLyrics in 'hidden' mode
. DesktopLyrics 2 is now distributed through the Mac App Store 1.3.7 (29 May 2012):. IMPORTANT: this is the last version of DesktopLyrics 1.x., visit the website to learn how to upgrade to v2.0. Feb 14, 2020 - DesktopLyrics (💻), ↘️ free ⠀See the lyrics to the songs playing in iTunes; avg 4/5 stars; $6.99 ↘️ free! DesktopLyrics is a lightweight macOS application that enables you to view on your desktop the lyrics of the songs you are playing in iTunes. Helps you display song lyrics on your Mac’s desktop.
DesktopLyrics History:
2.7.0 (10 Oct 2019):
• IMPORTANT: The minimum system requirements have been raised to macOS 10.15
• Added full compatibility with macOS 'Catalina' 10.15 and the new Music app
• Added support for 'Dark Mode'
• DesktopLyrics is now free of charge
2.6.16 (23 Jul 2018):
• Fix 'Set Lyrics' feature not setting the lyrics permanently since v2.6.13
• Fix 'Network Lyrics' only working for songs with album-art since v2.6.8
2.6.15 (24 Apr 2018):
• Fix problem with cut-off lyrics when setting horizontal text alignment to 'right'
2.6.14 (2 Apr 2018):
• The 'Network Lyrics' feature is now free, and not an in-app purchase
• Automatically detect incompatibility with 'LiveDesktop' and 'EarthDesk' apps
• Fix lyrics-tooltip position when using 'Bartender'
• Fix problem where lyrics-tooltip may not be positioned completely correctly
2.6.13 (13 Mar 2018):
• Fixed problem where next/previous page buttons can not be clicked
• Fixed rare problems when lyrics are cut onto a very large number of pages
2.6.12 (19 May 2017):
• IMPORTANT: The minimum system requirements have been raised to macOS 10.10
• Fixed possible problem with in-app purchases
• Added complete German localization
• Translated main menu into 34 languages
2.6.11 (2 May 2016):
• Fixed problem with 'network lyrics' displaying other Mac's lyrics
2.6.10 (1 Mar 2016):
• Added experimental support for the music player 'Swinsian'
• Added retina version of menubar icon
2.6.9 (16 Dec 2015):
• Allow remembering lyrics for tracks where iTunes does not allow this (streamed music)
• Add option to add 'Play Count' and 'Last Played' to the displayed song-info
• Cache lyrics transformation (Python) results for increased performance
• Fix problem where album cover/artwork would be 'behind' the lyrics background
2.6.8 (16 Oct 2015):
• Make recording of page-turns emit a helpful on-screen user-notification
• Fix recording of page-turns with song that have been paused or fast-forwarded
• Fixed crash when moving DesktopLyrics while it is running
• Updated documentation for correctness of Terminal-codes
2.6.7 (14 May 2015):
• Fixed problem where page change buttons could not be clicked anymore
• Fixed display of tooltip on Macs with 'Retina' screen
• Improvements to the welcome assistant
• Include our 'privacy policy'
2.6.6 (21 Jan 2015):
• Fixed problem with superfluous log messages
• Expanded ReadMe and FAQ
• Detect problematic configuration with DesktopLyrics being in the 'Login Items'
• Provided hidden option to refresh cover for every song and not for every album:
defaults write com.corecode.DesktopLyrics HiddenOptionAlwaysUpdateCover -bool true
2.6.5 (20 Oct 2014):
• Added support for 'Dark Mode' in Mac OS X 10.10 'Yosemite'
• Improved performance and memory usage
• Added possibility to close the 'set lyrics' window
• Fixed rare problem where DesktopLyrics could freeze and eat up much memory
• Fixed problem where cover would not appear in presentation mode
• Added more text transformation options when setting new lyrics
• Provided hidden option to start DesktopLyrics in 'hidden' mode:
defaults write com.corecode.DesktopLyrics HiddenOptionStartHidden -bool true
2.6.2 (26 Aug 2014):
• Fixed problem where the presentation mode popup would be disabled
• Made presentation-mode settings apply immediately if mode is currently enabled
• Made it obvious that 'presentation mode' needs to be activated to be in effect
• Fixed problem where the lyrics in the tooltip would be editable
Desktop Lyrics For Windows
• Made tooltip invokable with shortcut when displaying icon in dock and not in the menubar
• Expanded documentation with respect to viewing lyrics when covered by other windows
2.6.1 (30 Apr 2014):
• Fixed problem where some fonts could prevent the main window showing
2.6.0 (7 Apr 2014):
• Added HotKey combination to toggle the tooltip
• Added options to configure font smoothing&anti-aliasing
• Added option to make the presentation mode hide all apps
• Show font names in the preferences in their respective fonts
• Prettified tooltip on the menu-bar item (showing the lyrics)
• Added helpful information to prevent mis-configuration
• Improved handling for tracks from shared libraries
• Fixed regression with tooltips not showing immediately
• Fixed problem with set-lyrics hot-key not showing up
• Allow positioning of album art on different display
2.5.5 (16 Jan 2014):
• Added option to split lyrics non-evenly across multiple pages
• Improved stability
2.5.1 (4 Dec 2013):
• Added option for showing the 'action-button' when not displaying in Dock or Menubar
• Fixed 'action-button' being available even when no lyrics are displayed
• Fixed placement of the page-choose-buttons when not displaying song-info
• Fixed problems when the 'Arial' font is not available
2.5.0 (8 Nov 2013):
• NETWORK LYRICS: the ability to display the lyrics of songs playing on a Mac
on another Mac, iPhone or iPad is now available as an additional in-app purchase
• LYRICS FILTERING: lyrics can now be transformed by optional Python scripts
• IMPORTANT: The minimum system requirements have been raised to Mac OS X 10.7
• Lyrics position on the screen can now be easily defined with presets or by mouse-dragging
• Show lyrics also in a tooltip when hovering the mouse over the Menubar icon
• Added option to have images / patterns as background for the lyrics or presentation mode
• Added HotKey combination to toggle the presentation mode
• Added support for showing song information from internet radio stations
• Added option to transform lyrics (lowercase, etc) when setting new lyrics
• Added FAQ entry about incompatibility with BitPerfect
• Removed restrictions on minimum font size
• Fixed problem when using DesktopLyrics to set the lyrics for a track
• Improved placement of the page-choose-buttons
• Improvements when not displaying a Dock or Menubar icon
• Prevent entry of invalid numeric values
• Fixed problem where preference changes would not be picked up
2.2.0 (12 Apr 2013):
• IMPORTANT: The minimum system requirements have been raised to Mac OS X 10.6.8
• Add option to control whether to display lyrics on all spaces or just on a single one
• Add 'Presentation Mode' to show lyrics while hiding the Desktop
• Usability improvement for hiding the text related to empty lyrics
• Added ability to display the song composer and genre in the song info
• Added smooth animation between album covers
• Added support for line breaks in song info
• Performance improvements
• Warn when the Tryout version is still installed and running in addition to the full version
• Add keyboard shortcut to close the window to change song lyrics
• Fixed placement of the page-choose-buttons
• Automatically record page-turn timecode by holding down shift while clicking 'next page'
• Prevent misconfiguration when changing screen resolution or lyrics screen
• Added options to rate the app on the MacAppStore or on MacUpdate
2.1.0 (05 Nov 2012):
• Added support for showing the song rating
• Added support for searching for song lyrics
• Added support for setting/modifying the song lyrics
• Added support for lyrics sharing with the 'Mountain Lion' native sharing options
• Added HotKeys for searching lyrics or setting new lyrics
• Fixed possible crash related to (dis)connecting additional displays
• Fixed ugly black window on launch with the system setting 'reopen windows'
• Fixed opening preferences window on launch with the system setting 'reopen windows'
• Fixed cosmetic problem related to the Exposé 'Show Desktop' function
• Improved usability by preventing setting problematic configurations
• Fixed a problem with the HotKeys
2.0.1 (23 Jul 2012):
• Now works with Mac OS X 'Mountain Lion' 10.8
• Displaying lyrics on other monitors now works
• Fixed album cover artwork not displaying under Mac OS X 10.6
• Fixed issue where changing the song info size or content would not work
2.0.0 (11 Jun 2012):
• REDESIGNED: completely overhauled user interface to be more capable and easy to use
• Performance, stability and memory usage improvements
• The displayed lyrics now 'flicker' less when changing songs or 'pages'
• Added convenience options for sharing the current lyrics by:
* Printing the lyrics
* Copying the lyrics to the clipboard
* Sharing the lyrics via email/twitter/facebook
• DesktopLyrics functions like toggling visibility or lyrics sharing can now be invoked by:
* The Dock menu (if displaying in the Dock)
* The Menubar menu (if displaying in the Menubar)
* The 'action-button' embedded between the song title and lyrics
• Added option to display DesktopLyrics in the menubar instead of the Dock
• Added option to display current song artwork (cover) in addition to the lyrics
• Added option to use a different font for the song information than for the lyrics
• Added option to define custom time-codes for lyrics page-switching
• DesktopLyrics can now hide its Dock icon without having to restart itself
• Fixed cases where the lyrics could be smaller than the defined minimum font size
• DesktopLyrics is now 'sandboxed' for maximum security
• The system requirements have been raised to Mac OS X 10.6.6 with a 64-bit processor
• DesktopLyrics 2 is now distributed through the Mac App Store
1.3.7 (29 May 2012):
• IMPORTANT: this is the last version of DesktopLyrics 1.x., visit the website to learn how to upgrade to v2.0
• Improved compatibility Mac OS X 10.8. 'Mountain Lion'
• Visual improvements for Mac OS X 10.7 'Lion' and newer
Desktoplyrics Osx
• Improved stability
• Default to running in 64-bit mode
• Fixed the 'hide lyrics' HotKey to last permanently and not only until the next song
1.3.6 (7 Dec 2011):
• IMPORTANT: The minimum system requirements have been raised to Mac OS X 10.6.
• Since defining HotKeys makes these key-combinations unusable in all other apps:
• HotKey controls have been changed to require at least the Command-key (⌘) to be used
• Added a lengthy explanation that chosen key-combinations stop working in all other apps
• Fixed a problem where no lyrics would be displayed on Mac OS X 10.7 'Lion'
• Fixed compatibility with other desktop-displaying apps like EarthDesk on 10.7 'Lion'
• Fixed behavior on Mac OS X 10.6, lyrics would be displayed above folders on the Desktop
1.3.5 (29 Aug 2011):
• Fixed a problem with the page-choose-buttons on Mac OS X 10.7 'Lion'
1.3.4 (29 Jun 2011):
• Fix the placement of the page-choose-buttons when not displaying the song-info
• Expanded the FAQ
• Provided hidden option to disable font anti-aliasing
1.3.3 (27 Feb 2011):
• Improved stability
• Option to configure the lyrics line-spacing
• Fix the placement of the page-choose-buttons for narrow lyric window configurations
• Fix the height of the gap between the lyrics header and the actual lyrics for large font sizes
• Improved localizations
1.3.2 (19 Oct 2010):
• Increase maximum lyrics font size from 30 to 100
• Fixed donation option not to send users to the german paypal website
• Fixed automatic update-check which would not work automatically in some cases
• DesktopLyrics code is now signed with a digital certificate
• Fixed a problem where automatic updates would result in a broken installation, necessitating a re-download
1.3.1 (2 Sep 2010):
• Fix a problem with the automatic page-turning not turning beyond page two
• Handle case when DesktopLyrics is launched from its disk image
• Handle case when DesktopLyrics is moved while active
1.3.0 (24 Jul 2010):
• Hide / Show the lyrics or turn over the lyrics pages with customizable 'hot key' combinations
• Option to customize the song-info-header
• Option to automatically turn the pages of multi-page lyrics
• Option to sign up for beta-testing to help development
• Fixed problem that the help menu would not appear
• Live updating of the preference setting of the indenting from the screen edges
• Provide facility for more extensive localization
• Removed broken option to change the current lyrics page with the arrow keys (hotkey functionality replaces this)
1.2.1 (2 Jan 2010):
• Fix a bug where DesktopLyrics would display a dash when iTunes is not running
• Improved stability
• Added link to 'Get Lyrical'
• DesktopLyrics automatically restarts itself when turning off visibility in the Dock
1.2.0 (17 Sep 2009):
• IMPORTANT: The minimum system requirements have been raised to Mac OS X 10.5.
• IMPORTANT: Do not directly upgrade from a release older than 1.0.2, or your preferences won't be taken over
• Completely reimplemented the communication with iTunes based on the 'ScriptingBridge' for improved performance and reliability
• Added 64-bit support (on Intel), but by defaults starts in 32-bit mode. To change this use the 'Get Info' panel in the Finder on SMARTReporter
• Added option to change the current lyrics page with the arrow keys (when DesktopLyrics is the front application)
• Added the specified text shadow to the page index text as well
Desktop Lyrics App
• Fixed the CrashReport sending facility to only send 'real' crashes
1.1.1 (23 Feb 2009):
• IMPORTANT: Users of Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' have to update manually to this release since the update check has been disabled on this platform already
• Fixed multiple issues where the page-choose-buttons would be positioned incorrectly, possibly obscuring the lyrics display
• Fixed possible crash
• Fixed the update-check, which would still check for updates even if disabled (sorry!)
• Fonts unsuitable for lyrics display are filtered-out
• Restrict font minimum and maximum size to 3 - 30 to prevent problems
1.1.0 (28 Dec 2008):
• IMPORTANT: The minimum system requirements have been raised to Mac OS X 10.4.
• IMPORTANT: Users of Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' have to update manually to this release since the update check has been disabled on this platform already
• Added minimum font size:
• Minimum font size prevents lyrics from becoming unreadable small
• Lyrics not fitting in the destination area with the minimum size are are displayed on multiple 'pages'
• The currently viewed lyrics page can be toggled with small buttons embedded in the lyrics display
• Fixed the 'Start on login' feature on Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' through a new Leopard-specific implementation (again)
• Fixed hyperlink to 'Harmonic' in the ReadMe (again)
• Hide the dummy lyrics iTunes sends for OGG-files ('(null)')
1.0.6 (20 Aug 2008):
• Disable the update-check on Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4 as those won't be supported in future releases
• To automatically update to future releases you must first update to this version
• Updated 'Sparkle' (the Framework used for Version Checking and Automatic Updates), to fix possible crashes
• Fixed a problem where DesktopLyrics might display the lyrics of the previous song because iTunes was busy while being asked for lyrics
• Fixed a problem where DesktopLyrics would still display lyrics after iTunes was quitted when not using the option 'Hide lyrics when iTunes is paused'
• Added French translation (thanks to Pierre Rudloff)
• Fixed hyperlink to 'Harmonic' in the ReadMe
1.0.5 (28 Feb 2008):
• IMPORTANT BUGFIX: Fixed crash-on-launch on 10.3.x and 10.4.x
• Fixed possible crash while sending CrashReports
1.0.4 (20 Feb 2008):
• IMPORTANT BUGFIX: REALLY fixed the crashes on 10.3.x this time
1.0.3 (19 Feb 2008):
Desktop Lyrics Spotify
• IMPORTANT BUGFIX: Fixed crashes on 10.3.x caused by the Update-Framework
1.0.2.1 (6 Feb 2008):
• IMPORTANT BUGFIX: Disabled the new Leopard-specific 'Start on login' as it seems to crash
1.0.2 (6 Feb 2008):
• Fixed the reporting of crashes (of DesktopLyrics) to work under Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard'
• Fixed the 'Start on login' feature on Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' through a new Leopard-specific implementation
• Added a help-menu and moved appropriate items there
• Renamed preferences-files to avoid possible conflicts (the old one is automatically reused)
• Updated/Expanded the ReadMe/FAQ
• Updated 'Sparkle' (the Framework used for Version Checking and Automatic Updates), to fix possible crashes during updates
1.0.1 (2 Oct 2007):
• Updated all hyperlinks in the application and the documentation because of the move to a new hosting for website & e-mail
• Added German translation (Thanks to Thomas Meyer)
• Added a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions - with answers ;-), separated the History into a file and expanded the ReadMe
• Fixed icon which was wrong at small sizes
• Fixed file permissions which could cause DesktopLyrics to fail/crash for unprivileged users
• Fixed hyperlink to 'Harmonic' in the ReadMe
• Refined defaults for better first-use experience
1.0 (7 Aug 2007):
• Hide (nontransparent ) background window when the lyrics are empty or iTunes is paused
• Added folder icon
• Added donate option
• Added option to vertically center lyrics
Desktop Lyrics
• Fixed crash if the font to use is no longer available
• Fixed update-check, which would still check for updates even if disabled
• Fixed the reporting of crashes to work under Mac OS X 10.3.x, include additional information and ignore some crashes which are not related to DesktopLyrics
1.0b3 (14 Mar 2007):
• Added option to select the screen to display the lyrics on
• Added option to start DesktopLyrics at login
• Added new menu items:
'Send Feedback…',
'Visit Homepage…',
'Open ReadMe…'
• Reorganized Preferences
• Sorted Font-list for better usability
• Changed default update-check interval to 'Weekly'
• Added update-check interval options 'Bi-weekly' and 'Monthly'
• Added check if DesktopLyrics crashed with option to send me the details
1.0b2 (16 Feb 2007):
• Ability to check for updates automatically
• Option to hide user-interface and dock-icon
• Option to hide lyrics like '[Instrumental]'
• Option to show song-info even when the lyrics are empty
• Hide the dummy lyrics iTunes sends for shared music ('msng')
1.0b1 (31 Jan 2007):
• Initial public release