Announcing BitPerfect v3.2.0

Today we announce the release of BitPerfect v3.2.0 which supports the new Apple Music app that replaces iTunes in macOS Catalina. As always, this is a free update for all existing BitPerfect users.

Privacy, macOS Catalina, and Apple Music

With the new release of macOS Catalina, Apple has dropped iTunes and replaced it with an App called Music.  This means that BitPerfect no longer functions correctly, as it tries to load iTunes and fails because it is no longer there.  We have new version of BitPerfect that fixes this problem and works with Catalina, but it turns out we cannot release it yet because Apple now requires us to have a Privacy Policy on our web page.

So, now we have a Privacy Policy, which you will find on our sidebar, just below the support link.  I do hope you enjoy reading it!  Now that the privacy policy is in place we have re-submitted our new BitPerfect build with Catalina support to the App Store, and will release it as soon as we get approval from Apple.

I will also choose this opportunity to mention a serious issue I encountered with Apple's new Music App.  It automatically inherited my iTunes library when I upgraded to Catalina, but all of my Album Art - yes, all 4,000+ albums' worth - has disappeared.  It's not lost, but the new Music App isn't displaying it.  This is the worst of a number of amateurishly careless errors Apple has made with this Music release, and I expect (hope) it will be corrected in a future update.

macOS Mojave update

We can confirm that there is a minor problem with BitPerfect under macOS 10.14 (Mojave) which is preventing Integer Mode from being selectable. Interestingly enough, if you had previously been using Integer Mode on your selected DAC, BitPerfect was still playing using Integer Mode, even though the check box was unchecked and grayed out.

In any case, we have developed a fix for this issue. It is currently undergoing test, and will soon be released for Approval to Apple. You should be seeing it in due course as an update.

macOS Mojave problem

We are seeing evidence of unusual behavior of BitPerfect under macOS 10.14 (Mojave). It seems that the Integer Mode checkbox appears to be greyed out and unchecked, and yet playback is still happening in Integer Mode.

It looks like something that will need to be addressed with an update to BitPerfect. As soon as we have any further information to report we will post it here.

macOS 10.14 Mojave

I have just installed macOS 10.14 Mojave on one of my Macs and so far BitPerfect seems to be working just fine with it.  This is not yet a comprehensive approval, but at least I have not encountered an out-of-the-box catastrophe.  BitPerfect users who wish to upgrade to Mojave can do so if they need to for other reasons.

AirPlay with High Sierra

After my slightly encouraging reports on AirPlay under Sierra, the newer High Sierra (macOS 10.13) has proven to be a catastrophic step backwards.  AirPlay under BitPerfect failed completely.  You would go through all the hoops to get BitPerfect to select your preferred AirPlay device as its designated audio output device, but as soon as music started to play - and BitPerfect hogged the AirPlay device - macOS would observe that the device had suddenly disappeared, and would delete its Standard Audio Interface.  Since this is what BitPerfect was using for playback, it meant that playback instantly stopped, before it even got started.

Well, without any fanfare, it seems Apple have fixed this with the 10.13.3 update to High Sierra.  I am now getting it to work.  The approach is pretty much as described in the previous post (which I linked to above) except for one thing which has changed.

As before, you still need to go into iTunes and in its “Choose which speaker…” selector (the button with a ‘transmission beacon’ icon to the right of the iTunes volume slider).  But now you need to be sure to choose the AirPlay device that you actually want BitPerfect to play to and NOT "Computer".

I hope this is a sign that Apple are taking seriously the situation where third-party software (such as BitPerfect) "hogs" a device (in Apple-speak, puts it in "exclusive mode").

Announcing BitPerfect v3.1.2

Today we announce the release of v3.1.2 of BitPerfect.  This is primarily a maintenance release which addresses a specific problem where BitPerfect is unable to play to AirPlay devices under macOS High Sierra (i.e. OSX 10.13).  

This is a workaround rather than a proper solution.  The workaround means that BitPerfect plays without Hog Mode when playing through an AirPlay device.  This means that other extraneous noises and sounds will be audible even when BitPerfect is in control of playback.  However, this only happens if an AirPlay device is used, and if the Operating System is 10.13 (High Sierra) or higher.  Hog Mode will continue to be engaged under all other conditions.

This release requires OSX 10.8 or higher, as will all future updates of BitPerfect until further notice.
 
As usual, BitPerfect v3.1.2 is a free upgrade to all existing BitPerfect users.