Petrichor
Creative
music player
SHOW HN2025
202points
106comments
#317of 3,837 in 2025
Top 9%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
DebatedReal support and real criticism
10 positive, 19 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 11 critical, out of 40 comments about the project. Thread score +0.01.
Design: 4 for, 3 againstExecution: 0 for, 5 againstPerformance: 2 for, 0 againstIdea: 1 for, 0 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Native Swift app, small size and good performance
From 2 comments
I just want to point out that the .app is only 14MB. This is the way. Nice work, OP
tbeseda on HNI don't own a Mac, so I wont use it directly, but I use Macs from time to time, and it looks great! +1 (or +10) for being native code made with Swift and not the x-th…
ale42 on HN
Clean, modern UI
From 2 comments
Congrats for Petrichor, really impressive work! I love the clean, modern UI. I’m currently using Swinsian (still solid in many ways), but Petrichor feels like a breath of fresh…
8mobile on HNLooks clean. Good work
leshokunin on HN
Name is liked
From 1 comment
Without even looking at anything else, I love the name.
beschizza on HN
Objections
macOS may block the app as malicious because it is ad-hoc signed
From 3 comments
Get a malware warning when trying to open disk image, Sequoia refuses to open it :(
yborg on HNI've been looking for exactly this for the longest time. Using Foobar2000 right now but looking for something better and I think this might be it. HOWEVER. I can't run it. I get…
arkensaw on HNRight-click and select open as the app is currently signed using ad-hoc signing as Apple notarization costs money. :(
kushalpandya on HN
No CUE sheet support; albums show as single track
From 1 comment
Petrichor shows my albums as a single track. CUE sheet support is a must. I also have a hard time seeing myself using a desktop music player without an iTunes-style column-mode…
SloopJon on HN
No column-mode browser
From 1 comment
Petrichor shows my albums as a single track. CUE sheet support is a must. I also have a hard time seeing myself using a desktop music player without an iTunes-style column-mode…
SloopJon on HN
Requires macOS 14 or later
From 1 comment
> macOS 14 or later That’s a pretty high bar for a Mac app assuming some hardcore offline music lovers might use older OS versions.
rock_artist on HN
Requests
iOS app
From 3 comments
Beautiful app, well done. Pleaaaaaaaase make this available on iOS. Bonus points if the desktop version could do syncing with my iPhone. I could finally treat my iPhone like an…
dlivingston on HNLooks fantastic, I used to love using iTunes for my music library until they screwed up queuing albums. Will there be mobile apps too?
benoau on HNCongrats for Petrichor, really impressive work! I love the clean, modern UI. I’m currently using Swinsian (still solid in many ways), but Petrichor feels like a breath of fresh…
8mobile on HN
Volume leveling
From 2 comments
I've been searching for the perfect "old school iTunes" program for a while. I'm pretty sure it does not exist, maybe I'll try to make one someday unless someone beats me to it?…
Meekro on HNThanks for the recommendation! This one's the best "old school iTunes" program I've tried so far. I might stick with this one for now. I especially like how I can make smartlists…
Meekro on HN
Smart playlists
From 2 comments
I've been searching for the perfect "old school iTunes" program for a while. I'm pretty sure it does not exist, maybe I'll try to make one someday unless someone beats me to it?…
Meekro on HNIs the alpha currently limited to max 200 songs? Because I can't seem to get it to add more. Also, I'd like to ask if it currently supports smart playlists? Congratulations on…
carlosjobim on HN
AirPlay support
From 1 comment
Airplay is kind of a must
dwiehoff on HN
Homebrew and MacPorts distribution
From 1 comment
Two suggestions, if you have the time to look at the effort and difficulty to implement them: > P.S. I plan publish it on Homebrew soon. 1. Please consider publishing on MacPorts…
newscracker on HN
Questions
Does it support FLAC or lossless formats and sample rate matching
From 2 comments
Does it have FLAC support (or other high res audio formats)?
dvdplm on HNWill it support playing lossless files in FLAC or ALAC format? Will it be able to change the audio sampling rate per song to match the song's sampling rate?
reader9274 on HN
Can it sync with a NAS or Subsonic server
From 2 comments
The most issues I encounter with music players are related to my situation of NAS. My NAS is straightforward: I just connect a RAID to a Mac and share it, then let other Macs…
tianqi on HNAny thoughts on syncing against an external music library that uses the Subsonic API (like Navidrome or similar) so an offline/"away from home" laptop could still listen to music?
zdw on HN
Can it import play statistics and date added from iTunes
From 2 comments
I've been looking for an alternative since Apple decided to turn iTunes into the mess that is Apple Music. But I still need to import the two decades of playing statistics…
tambourine_man on HNDitto. I would also add that what has stopped me from ever using an iTunes or Music alternative is the inability to directly transfer the "Date Added" data, along with the…
afewscribbles on HN
Alternatives named
Swinsian
From 2 comments
If you are looking for a “old school iTunes” kind of player there’s also https://swinsian.com/
dewey on HNThe Readme mentions that app under "Motivation" > Motivation > I have a large collection of music files that I’ve gathered over the years, and I missed having a good offline…
gpm on HN
Doppler
From 1 comment
If you’re looking for a “iTunes before it went to shit” vibe I can also recommend Doppler: https://brushedtype.co/doppler/
Cenk on HN
Apple Music app
From 1 comment
How's this compare to the native macos music app formerly known as itunes?
toomim on HN
foobar2000
From 1 comment
foobar for Mac https://www.foobar2000.org/mac
haunter on HN
Quod Libet
From 1 comment
quodlibet comes highly recommended for Windows/Linux users that want a more retro media player: https://github.com/quodlibet/quodlibet
bigyabai on HN