How to download Mac music
Have you just switched to Mac and are you looking for programs that allow you to download music from the Internet? So I have good news to give you: you’ve come to the right place at the right time. With today’s tutorial, I would like to suggest some applications for Mac that allow you to purchase and download music legally from the Internet.
They are all extremely intuitive – they do not require complicated configurations – and they also work with the latest versions of macOS / OS X. Furthermore, many of them are similar or completely identical to software that you have already used on your old computer. In short, it will take you very little to start having fun. Mac programs aside, it will be my concern to point out also the specific network resources available to all regardless of the operating system used on the computer and that in this specific case can be particularly convenient.
If I were you I would not waste any more time and I would immediately see how to download Mac music by following the instructions below. Whatever your favorite musical genre; that you are looking for the latest hits of the moment or “free” music to use in your personal or commercial projects; you will surely find what you need! Good reading and, of course, have fun!
Go directly to ▶ ︎ iTunes Store | Apple Music | SoundCloud | BitTorrent | Sites to download music for free
How to download Mac music from iTunes Store
The main way to download music on Mac is that of iTunes, Apple’s multimedia store that allows you to buy albums and songs at fairly affordable prices: individuals usually cost 1.29 euros or 89 cents, but there are also special offers for download recent hits at 69 cents; the albums instead have prices that range between 4.99 and 12.99 euros.
To download a single or an album from iTunes you must start the application by clicking on its icon in the Dock bar (the musical note with the white background), then you must select the item Music from the menu located at the top left and go to the Store tab located at the top on the right.
When the initial page of the store appears, you can choose whether to browse the recent releases placed at the center of the screen or whether to consult the charts with the songs and albums “top” from the right sidebar.
In the sidebar there is also the drop-down menu All the genres that allows you to browse albums and songs on iTunes according to their genre, while scrolling through the rest of the page you can find the albums on offer, the big hits and banners for the promotion of special contents, such as great songs at special prices (at a cost of 69 cents). Unfortunately, no downloadable music has yet arrived on the Italian version of the iTunes Store.
To start downloading a content, you must then click on its cover image and then on the button with the purchase price. The albums are not necessarily downloaded in full, you can also take individual tracks. Moreover, before making any purchase you can listen to a short preview of the selected songs and albums by clicking on the play buttons that you can view by bringing the cursor next to the relevant titles.
Of course, to conclude the purchase of content on the iTunes Store you must have an Apple ID associated with the program. If you have not already done so, click on the Account item located in the upper left part of the menu bar, select Log in … and authenticate by typing in the username and password of your Apple ID. Do not have an Apple ID yet? No problem! You can create one “on the fly” by following the instructions I gave you in my tutorial on how to create an Apple ID.
How to download Mac music from Apple Music
Apple Music, you can guess from the name itself, is the Apple music streaming service. You can always access it through iTunes, from the tabs For you (that is to say the content recommended by Apple according to what are your musical tastes), Discover (it is the card that brings together all the new music, the current playlist, the videoclip, rankings etc.) and Radio (through which you can listen to the radio seasons on Apple Music), in the Music section of the program and in addition to listen to the Internet all the favorite songs also allows you to download locally so be able to listen to individual songs, internal albums and playlists directly offline.
It costs 9.99 euros / month with single account, 14.99 euros / month with Family account and 4.99 euros / month with student accounts after an initial 90-day trial.
To download a single song or an entire album from Apple Music, go to one of the aforementioned sections of the Music section of iTunes, click on the preview of the compilation or playlist of your interest and then press the + Add button located at the top right. If you want to download individual tracks, simply click on the + button (plus symbol) on the right of the relevant title.
When the download is complete, you will find all the contents on the Library tab of the Music section of iTunes. Use the items in the left side coffin to choose how to view the songs, compilations and playlists you’ve downloaded from Apple Music and start playback by simply clicking on the play button on the cover next to the title. If you want, you can also start random playback by clicking on the item you find at the top.
How to download Mac music from SoundCloud
SoundCloud is one of the most popular music services in the world. It hosts thousands of songs to listen to and, in some cases, download for free. The songs available for download almost never include the hits of the moment but on the other hand you can find many covers, remixes and original works that are definitely worth listening to. Considering all its features, SoundCloud is therefore an excellent solution for downloading Mac music.
To use it in this sense you have two roads at your disposal to choose from: the first is to connect to the service from the browser, find the song that interests you and start the download by clicking on the appropriate button under the title. The second instead involves the use of a convenient free app called SoundCloud Downloader.
If you are interested in SoundCloud Downloader, connected to the MacUpdate page hosting the software and click on the Download button (top left) and then on Stable version to download it to your computer. Then drag SoundCloud Downloader into the Applications folder of macOS / OS X and start the program by right clicking on its icon and selecting the item Open from the menu that appears.
In the window that opens, click on No, I understand and I’d rather not to accept the conditions of use of the software without installing its extension for Safari (useful but not essential) and use the search field on the main screen of the application to find a song to download.
At this point, click on the No button, thanks to not register with SoundCloud (this is necessary only for managing favorites) and select from the list that appears the song you want to listen or download: to listen to streaming click on the play button placed next in its title, to download it instead use the arrow button.
When the first download starts, the program will ask you if you want to automatically add all the downloaded songs to the iTunes library: answer yes or no according to your preferences.
How to download Mac music from BitTorrent
There are some sites that allow downloading of legal music via BitTorrent. One of these is Archive.org which hosts thousands of songs, radio recordings and albums no longer protected by copyright (or otherwise in the public domain). On its home page you will find links to browse some of the most interesting content of the moment, while in the right sidebar there is a complete list of music genres and categories available.
To download the contents of sites such as Archive.org that allow the download of music via Torrent, I suggest you turn to Transmission, a free, open source BitTorrent client without advertising banners.
To download it to your computer, connected to its website and click on the Download now link and then on the item Transmission-x.xx.dmg located next to the Mac OS X logo. Then open the package in .dmg format that contains the program and drag its icon to the Applications folder. As for the use of the program, you can read my article on how to download Torrent files to clear your ideas about it.
I point out then that, apart from Archive.org, there are also other Internet sites that allow the download of 100% legal torrent content offered at no cost to the large network. For example there is Legit Torrents, a portal that offers the download of books, videos and of course also songs whose authors have explicitly authorized the online diffusion at no cost. It’s definitely worth a look!
Sites to download music for free
How to download Mac music
Although in this guide we are dealing specifically with how to download Mac music, it is good to remember that there are Internet sites that allow you to download “free” music at no cost and even to reuse it in commercial purposes.
The most famous of all is Jamendo. All the songs available on the site can be listened to and downloaded freely, but some of them, distributed under Creative Commons license, can also be reused in personal projects. To reuse the tracks in commercial projects, instead, you can contact the Jamendo Licensing service that for a few euro a month allows you to access a vast catalog composed of songs and soundtracks of various kinds.
Apart from this, there are also other Internet sites that allow you to download the music for free. You can find a beautiful full-bodied list in my post dedicated to the sites to download free music. Read it right away and you will see that you will not regret it!
Warning: Unlawfully downloading copyrighted music from the Internet is illegal. The tutorial just linked was written for the purpose of illustration, it is not my intention to encourage piracy and therefore I take no responsibility for how you use the information contained in it.
How to download Mac music