Speed up or slow down iTunes playback for podcasts, audiobooks, and music with Speed-Up

Still enjoying iTunes despite the beautiful mess it has become on macOS? If the answer is yes, perhaps listen up for this one. Every once in a while, seemingly low-key and low-price apps pop up in the market, claiming to have identified an imperfection or gap in Apple’s software, and in the next breath promising the fix for it. Some of these apps are superfluous to the user for the simple reason that the touted feature is already in place in Apple’s mothership software (in some shape or form), other apps are gimmicky or overly flawed.

Speed-Up for Mac firmly sits in the opposite camp, the one where ostensibly small apps are extremely wholesome and deliver on the promised goods. So what does it promise you ask? Put simply, to speed up or slow down your iTunes playback, an option otherwise notably absent on macOS. If this sounds surprisingly succinct or sober to you, that’s because it is.

Speed-Up treasures simplicity over bells & whistles, and is probably worth a look if you have ever caught yourself wishing for a speed lever in the thick of an Audiobook or Podcast session on your MacBook.

Barring your MacBook runs an iTunes version older than 12.4 (the oldest iteration compatible), Speed-Up is going to seamlessly latch onto your iTunes controls after installation. That is to say, a second control panel will become available and inherit the playback settings and progression bar seen in iTunes.

Speed up or slow down audio directly in iTunes

The upside of the second start-stop panel? You guessed it, this one features the much needed box for speed settings, meaning you can customize the playback pace entirely to your liking. Long established in iOS, to this day Apple – for reasons beyond incomprehensible – has failed to provide users the option to speed up an Audiobook, slow down a Podcast or do whatever the heck you like to do to your sweet records on iTunes.

Fortunately, there is now a remedy in Speed-Up.

The app boasts customizable speed presets and keyboard shortcuts. What’s more is that it just recently churned out support for your Touch Bar on the latest MacBook Pro. As always when we decide to call attention to an app, I can confidently recommend and vouch for its functionality and ease of use. Available for free with a $3.99 in-app purchase, it is pretty good value (if you fit the customer profile) and – best of all – unlikely to bust your savings.

Before we leave you with the link, a quick remark on the viability of DRM-protected content and Speed-Up: sources like Apple Music are exempt and won’t work. So there, told you it was a quick one.

If that has not completely dissuaded you, and speeding up your audiobooks or podcasts on Mac sounds worth a couple of coins, try Speed-Up in the Mac App Store for free, and unlock the full app’s potential with a $3.99 in-app purchase.