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Finding free music online and saving it on your Mac it is not as easy as it should be. While there are plenty of artists who’d love you to hear their music and who are happy for you to download it for free, the process of finding and then downloading it can be a bit of a pain.
- On your Mac, click the Download button next to a song or album. On your PC, click the Download button next to a song or album. If you don't subscribe to Apple Music.
- The new Apple Music app is the ultimate music streaming experience on Mac. 1 Explore a library of over 75 million songs, discover new artists and tracks, find the perfect playlist, download and listen offline, or enjoy all the music you’ve collected over the years. And find it all in your music library on all your devices.
- Mac App Store is the simplest way to find and download apps for your Mac. To download apps from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later.
Even if you know where to go looking (and we’ll help you with that in a minute), saving lots of individual tracks in a web browser one by one can be a slow and frustrating process. That’s where a smart music downloader can help.
Best music downloaders for Mac
Get a huge set of top music download apps for macOS. Best utilities in one pack, give it a go!
Where to get free music to download
There are of course, lots of places on the internet where you can find free music to download. But many of those places link to tracks which included cracked files or music the copyright owner hasn’t given permission to share.
It’s important that when you go looking for free mp3, you only use sources that have permission to share that music.
Here are a few places where you can find free music to download legally:
- Jamendo. All the music on Jamendo has been made available by the artists on a Creative Commons licence. That means that, while they retain the rights to the music, they’ve agreed to allow it to be saved to your Mac for free.
- Soundcloud. It's a hugely popular site where amateur and professional musicians, and some well-known names, share music. Not all of it is available to download for free, and you’ll need to create an account. But there are some real gems to be found.
- Last.fm. It's another hugely popular site that, among its discovery and sharing features, also allows you to save music tracks for free.
How to download music online
Is it legal to download music for free? Yes, as long as the copyright owner consents. On all of the sites listed above, the rights owner has consented to allow their music to be downloaded.
There is a number of both paid and free tools that help download free music. Based on your requirements, decide on the functionality of a downloader you’re searching: Should it cover video and torrent as well? Batch downloads? Scheduling?
Here are the key features of music downloader we recommend you pay attention to:
- Control the speed of downloads. For instance, Folx splits large files into multiple threads, so they download more quickly.
- Schedule downloads so they only take place at times they won’t place too many demands on your computer.
- Video and torrents covered. You can get a one-stop downloader for capturing different types of media on your Mac.
- Tag downloads to easily find them later.
Get the best music downloader
Setapp offers a number of music and video downloaders in one package – so you can toggle between different features and interfaces or pick one tool that perfectly covers your needs. Once you install Setapp, click on its icon in the menu bar and search for downloaders there. You’ll be suggested Elmedia Player, AnyTrans, Folx, and Downie. On the selected app, click Install and wait for it to travel to your Mac. Double-click to launch the app.
Here’s the quick overview of each of them:
- Folx: Combines functionality of a download manager and torrent client. This is the best option for capturing large media files, while the app splits downloads in up to 20 streams.
- Elmedia Player: A great alternative to Apple’s native media player – QuickTime, with a convenient audio playback feature.
- Downie: Video and audio downloader that’s based on superb drag and drop functionality.
- AnyTrans: A file transferring solution and a media downloader that works with iOS and macOS devices.
- Pulltube: A universal media downloader that lets you instantly adjust the length of your video and music tracks.
Add the link to the track you want
Once you’ve found a track you want to save, copy the link. To do that, you’ll need to identify the download link on the site – it will usually be an icon with a downward arrow in it. Don’t click it, instead right-click or Control-click it. From the menu that appears, click Copy Link.
If you use Folx, paste the link with ⌘+V keyboard shortcut. Or the main Folx window, press the ‘+’ button next to the text bar at the top of the window. You should see that the box at the top of the window that opens already has the URL you copied in it. If not, paste it where it says ‘Add URL here.’ To download music from YouTube, select Audio in Quality.
It’s pretty similar with Downie – with the exception that you have to drag the link onto the app icon. To extract music from video, navigate to Settings > Extract Audio Only. From there, you can also customize the quality of output files, convert videos, or send to Permute – a universal media converter.
Choose where your music are stored
Once you’ve added the link, choose where you want to save it to. If you’re happy to leave the destination at its default, great. If not, you can change it as you like in any app. In Downie, open Preferences > General > Put new downloads in/Save files to folder. For those using Folx, you can also customize app’s behavior upon completing a download – quit, sleep, shutdown, or do nothing.
In case you want to move your audio collections across devices, you can do so with AnyTrans for iOS. A handy file transferring app with an in-built media downloader, it helps you flexibly manage downloads – transfer from iPhone to Mac, integrate with iTunes, or copy to any iOS device.
Choose when to download tracks
Downie and Folx have scheduling features, so you can choose when the downloads should take place.
To activate delayed queue start in Downie, go to File > Delayed start and select a custom time slot.
In Folx, click on the menu and choose ‘Manual’ or ’Schedule’. If you choose manual, the download will be set up and then paused and displayed in the main Folx window. You can start it at anytime by clicking the icon to the left of its name. If you want to change a download from manual to scheduled or automatic, you can double-click it in the main window and change the setting in the menu.
If you choose to schedule, files will be downloaded according to the schedule you create in Folx Preferences.
Download a song and set it as a ringtone
If you can’t stand your default phone ringtone anymore, there’s a solution. You can grab any of your favorite songs from the web and transform it into a custom ringtone with Pulltube app.
You can download music to Pulltube by simply dragging the link into the app window, or saving via a browser extension. After you download your file, click on the scissors button below it and enter the Trimming Mode. In the pop-up window, you’ll be able to play the audio and adjust the length of your ringtone. Once you’re ready, hit Trim and save the ringtone.
Create a download schedule
If you want to plan multiple downloads, Folx is there to help. Open Preferences from the Folx menu and click on ‘Scheduler’. Now click on the time slots where you want downloading to take place. When the box changes color, click on it twice so it turns bright green. Scheduled downloads will now take place at that time.
Continue customizing
Once you’ve scheduled, think whether there are any other settings you want to twick. If you use Folx, you can select the number of threads into which you want to split the download. The default is two and for most music files that will be fine. If the file you’re downloading is particularly large, you might want to select a higher number.
Elmedia Player has robust customization options for audio – for instance, you can select audio device and the number of playback channels.
Authenticate if it’s required
If the website needs a username and password, click Authenticate. Click ‘Saved Passwords’ and then ‘Add.’ Choose ‘HTTP or FTP password’ and type in the URL of the login page, your username and your password in the next window that opens. Click Ok.
You’re all set. You can now download free music using Folx from any website that makes it available.
Most of the music you find will be MP3 files, which can be played on your Mac. If the files are in a format that won’t run on your Mac, you can use Permute to convert media.
You’re all set. You can capture and manage free music downloads using a Mac app that suits your flow.
Spotify, a well-known music streaming service, offers millions of songs, albums, and podcasts for users. Everyone can easily get instant access to it with free subscription, though you may encounter boring ads, low quality music or other limit. Yet, you can upgrade to the premium account, pursuing a high audio quality and better listening experience. Besides, it also allows you to download the songs for offline playback. Spotify offline mode allows you to download music but it can only be played within its own app. So, is there any tool that can download Spotify songs offline without premium, or even play on any device? That's what we are going to discuss here.
To get the most of Spotify, the best solution is to find out an ideal Spotify downlaoder to download songs from Spotify, no matter you are a free or paid user. Luckily, there are many solutions on the market supposed to work. In order to save your time, we've made an ultimate list of the top 7 best Spotify downloaders 2021 to download Spotify music easily.
- No.1. ViWizard Music Converter for Spotify [Best]
- No.2. KeepVid Music
- No.3. Spotiload (former Spotify VK Downloader)
- No.4. Mp3fy.com Online Spotify Downloader
- No.5. TunesKit Streaming Audio Recorder
- No.6. Tunelf Spotibeat Music Converter
- No.7. Spotify & Deezer Music Downloader
No.1. ViWizard Music Converter for Spotify (Windows & Mac)
ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is a professional music downloader and manager for Spotify. It's one of the best Spotify song downloaders to help any Spotify user. Both free and premium users can download tracks, albums, artists and playlists from Spotify for offline playback on any device and MP3 player.
Besides, it's able to save the downloaded Spotify songs as MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, and other popular formats without quality loss. Only with one click, you can download any ads-free Spotify track with original ID3 tags preserved at 5× speed. You can also edit the output music quality by setting audio codec, bit rate, sample rate according to your requirements.
Pros:
1. Easy-to-use lossless Spotify playlist downloader;
2. Directly download Spotify music on Mac & PC in one click;
3. Save Spotify songs in MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, M4A, M4B;
4. Keep ID3 tags;
5. No extra hardware required, very easy to use.
Cons:
1. Only English UI available.
How to use it:
1. Download and install ViWizard on your PC or Mac;
2. Launch it and add your target Spotify songs;
3. Choose output format and start to download Spotify.
- See More: How to Download and Convert Spotify Music to MP3 with ViWizard
No.2. KeepVid Music (Windows & Mac)
KeepVid Music, also known as iMusic, is a complete streaming music downloader. It works not only with Spotify, but also downloads playlists from up to 3,000+ music sites like Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, Google Play Music, and so on. It's one of the most comprehensive Spotify music managers, allowing you to download, manage and share Spotify playlists in high quality.
In addition to Spotify playlist downloader, it can be served as a music recorder to record any song play through your computer. If you have any need to transfer media between iDevices without iTunes, KeepVid Music will immediately get it done for you.
Pros:
1. Support direct downloading as well as recording;
2. Download Spotify and other 3000+ streaming music sources;
3. Transfer downloaded Spotify songs to iOS devices easily;
4. Fix ID3 tags.
Cons:
1. Support MP3 output only.
How to use it:
1. Install the software on your computer;
2. Copy the Spotify playlist link into KeepVid;
3. Choose MP3 as output format and click Download button to start.
No.3. Spotiload (former Spotify VK Downloader) (Windows & Mac)
Formerly known as Spotify VK Downloader, its name was now changed to Spotiload. It's actually a chrome extension which uses vk.com social network to download any Spotify playlist and save them in mp3 files.
It can be easily found in extension section on Chrome. Once installed, it will require you create and log into a vk.com account. Then simply go to Spotify and browse the playlists you want to download. From the Spotiload toolbox, you can select the tracks and click the 'Download' button to get the songs.
Pros:
1. Easy to install;
2. Free of charge.
Cons:
1. Using vk.com might be illegal and not allowed in some countries;
2. Only download Spotify songs available on vk.com;
3. Unstable when downloading Spotify songs with multiple artists;
4. Output music quality is lossy.
How to use it:
1. Install the chrome extension to your browser;
2. Find the songs on Spotify you'd like to download;
3. Click the Download button to start downloading.
No.4. Mp3fy.com Online Spotify Downloader (Windows & Mac)
Mp3fy.com is an ultimate online Spotify music downloading solution. It supports 1000+ streaming sites, like Spotify, YouTube, Vemeo, Facebook, Soundcloud, Vine, etc. It's able to download and convert Spotify playlists to MP3 format in just seconds. Aside from Spotify, you can also use it to download video content without limit.
Pros:
1. Free;
2. Very clean and easy to handle;
3. Support downloading both music and video.
Cons:
1. Support MP3 output only;
2. Music quality is lossy;
3. So many ads.
How to use it:
1. Go to its official site on the browser;
2. Paste the link of Spotify song you want to convert;
3. Click the Convert button and then press the Download button after the link is validated.
No.5. TunesKit Audio Capture (Windows & Mac)
TunesKit Audio Capture is an all-in-one audio recording software developed by TunesKit Studio. It is able to assist Spotify users easily record any music track and playlist with high quality for free. Instead of downloading, it uses recording technology to record the Spotify songs. And then it saves them to common MP3, WAV, AAC, M4A, M4B for playback on any device offline.
As a multi-track recording tool, TunesKit Audio Capture lets you capture multiple Spotify tracks at the same time. The ID3 tags of Spotify music will be retained and corrected automatically after recording. You can also edit the audio quality and ID tags in the way you like. Except for Spotify, it supports recording any other sound on your computer as well.
Pros:
1. Support recording all sounds play on PC/Mac;
2. Save Spotify in most popular formats;
3. Keep and fix ID3 tags.
Cons:
1. Output quality is not 100% lossless.
Free Music Downloads Mac
How to use it:
1. Install the app on your Mac or PC computer;
2. Insert the Spotify app to TunesKit interface;
3. It will start downloading the song while you're playing it on Spotify.
- See More: Complete Guide to Record Spotify Music with TunesKit
No.6. Tunelf Spotify Music Converter (Windows & Mac)
This is a desktop program, well-designed to download Spotify songs, playlists and podcasts, etc. No matter you're a free or premium subscriber, you can use Tunelf Spotify Music Converter to download Spotify for listening on any device. It is a professional music converter to convert Spotify to MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, etc. easily and quickly. The converted files will preserve all the ID3 tags and metadata info. Plus, it works on both Mac OS and Windows platforms.
Pros:
1. Easy to download Spotify;
2. Support multiple output audio formats.
Cons:
1. It's paid and trial version cannot download the whole length of the song.
How to use it:
Free Fleetwood Mac Music Downloads
1. Download and install Tunelf on your computer;
2. Open the program and import Spotify songs to it;
3. Select output format and start the conversion.
No.7. Spotify & Deezer Music Downloader (Windows & Mac)
Spotify & Deezer Music Downloader is a Google Chrome extension. It enables users to download Spotify tracks to MP3 in one click. You can search and install the add-on on your Chrome. Once installed, a green icon will appear to the top right corner of your browser. Click it and then Spotify web player will be opened automatically. You're required to sign in the account. Then open a playlist and you can see a green 'Download' button at the right side of each song. Click it and the song will be downloaded to your computer in MP3 format.
Pros:
1. Free and easy to install;
2. Support downloading Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud and many other music resources.
Cons:
Music Download Macheso
1. Not stable and sometimes it failed to download;
2. The download process is slow if your network is not good;
3. The output sound quality is average.
Music Download Macbook
How to use it:
1. Install the extension on the Chrome;
2. Find the song you want to download;
3. Click the Download button to download it.
Comparison: Best Spotify Downloader 2021
Now you can read the following chart about the comparison among these top-rated music downloaders for Spotify. Hope you can easily make your decision then.
ViWizard Spotify Converter | KeepVid Music | Spotiload | Mp3fy.com | ViWizard Audio Capture | Tunelf Spotify Converter | Spotify & Deezer Downloader | |
Supported OS | Mac & Windows | Mac & Windows | Mac & Windows | Mac & Windows | Mac & Windows | Mac & Windows | Mac & Windows |
Supported Input Formats | Spotify music (songs, playlists, albums, artists), podcasts, audiobooks | Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, Google Play Music, etc. | Spotify | Spotify, YouTube, Vemeo, Facebook, Soundcloud, Vine, etc. | Spotify, and any other sound on the computer | Spotify | Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud, etc. |
Supported Output Formats | MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, M4A, M4B | MP3 | MP3 | MP3 | MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, M4A, M4B | MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, etc. | MP3 |
Conversion Speed | 5× | 1× | 1× | 1× | 1× | 5× | 1× |
Output Music Quality | 100% lossless quality | High quality | Lossy quality | Lossy quality | High quality | High quality | Lossy quality |
Keep ID3 Tags | √ | √ | × | × | √ | √ | × |
Audio Editing | √ | × | × | × | √ | √ | × |
Price | From $14.95 | $49.95 | Free | Free | $29.95 | From $14.95 | Free |
Summary & Suggestion
Now you may have a clear understanding of all those 7 best Spotify downloaders. Generally speaking, if you are looking for a free solution to download Spotify playlist online, you can pick Mp3fy.com. It will download and convert any Spotify playlist/song to MP3 for you.
But if you care much about the downloading speed and music quality, ViWizard Spotify Music Converter could be the best choice. It works directly to download all Spotify playlists and tracks at 5× speedy conversion with original quality kept. Tunelf Spotify Converter can also be a nice option.
Keepvid Music is a priority option if you are going to download not only Spotify songs, but also other popular sites like YouTube. Last but not least, be careful when using Spotify VK Downloader as it might be illegal in your country. If you're not sure about your country law, you'd better not use it. Or if you known any other efficient Spotify song downloader, please don't be hesitate to leave your comments below.
Music Download Macbook Pro
Now what's next? Download ViWizard Spotify Music Converter for free and have a try!
Adam Gorden is an experienced writer of ViWizard who is obsessed about tech, movie and software.
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