Seamless — Keeps the Jams Coming
Can’t tear yourself away from your Mac when that ferociously catchy song pops up in iTunes? Take your music fix with you with Seamless, which transitions a song from one device to another without missing a beat. The app creates continuity between your gadgets, helping you start a song on one device and then finish listening to it on another.
What’s the App?
Seamless, created by Five Details — not to be confused with the popular food delivery app with the same name — is a music app for Mac and iOS. The app really functions as a bundle: there’s the main iPhone app and a small “helper client” that runs on the Mac — available at the website for free. The helper client coordinates the music listening experience. Meanwhile, you can use the iPhone and tap “Transition Music from Mac” to fade out the song on your Mac and on your iPhone, picking up right where it left off. It also works in reverse, moving from iPhone or iPad to a Mac.
Seamless is one of those apps that does one thing, and one thing only — but it does it extremely well. There are some problems with equalizing volumes between devices, and some glitches to music playing when sending the app to the background. But overall, it takes the friction out of an increasingly device-saturated life. And if you’re a music lover, it’ll bring a spot of pleasure and ease to your Apple devices.
You’ll Want It If…
You’re constantly late because you can’t tear yourself away from a catchy song on your Mac. If you’ve ever started a song, got caught up and didn’t want to leave mid-verse, this app is for you.
It’s Not My Thing — What Else Ya Got?
Seamless is so specific that there are really no rivals, which is a pity if you find the $2 price a bit steep. There’s also no Android or Windows equivalent. If you want a laborious cross-platform substitute, take a look at the 8tracks app and website. It replicates a multi-device music listening experience and creates and runs playlists on the website. You can then login to the 8tracks app to pick up where your last playlist track left off. However, you need to make playlists — and that’s a huge obstacle unless you love to curate and make mixes.
In truth is, 8tracks is really a music discovery and curation site, and it doesn’t stream songs between devices very well. That’s a market gap device makers may fill in the future, especially with cloud and streaming growing. But until then, Seamless step into the breach.