artemgordinskiy/spotifree

An OS X app that automatically mutes ads on Spotify [DISCONTINUED]

Spotifree (DISCONTINUED)

Spotifree is a free OS X app that automatically detects and mutes Spotify audio ads.

Installing

1. Download Spotifree from the website;
2. Move Spotifree.app to the Applications folder, run, and enjoy your ad-free music listening experience :)

On the first run, Spotifree will be added to the login items. From this moment, Spotifree will mute all Spotify ads it detects (usually, all of them). Don't worry though, it will not impact your Mac's performance and you'll never notice it running.

How it works

Spotifree is polling Spotify every .3 seconds to see whether the current track number is 0 (as in all ads). If it is, Spotify is muted for a duration of an ad. When an ad is over, the volume is set to the way it was before.

Alternatives

MuteSpotifyAds by Simon Meusel is a good alternative if Spotifree does not work for you.

Thanks

Thanks Chris Ferrara from MacRumors forums, for the original idea and the proof-of-concept script.
Thanks Eneas, for turning that brittle AppleScript into a robust native application.
Thanks to all other contributors for helping make Spotifree better.

spotifree's Issues

iTunes Radio silence?

Love the app! I don't know if it's something you're interested in, but muting iTunes Radio would be awesome.

Video ads are not blocked

System Information app forces open randomly when Spotifree is running

Hi there,

I've noticed that the System Information utility opens both when I start Spotifree manually or if I set it to open at login. Afterwards, System Information will not quit or force quit once it is open. If I go into Activity Monitor and manually quit Spotifree, only then am I able to quit out of System Information app. It's interesting behavior. I don't know much about scripts but it looks like you do call upon the System Information utility to do some work. I appreciate this app; it's a blessing. Thanks for any feedback.

I am running a Macbook Pro with 10.7.5. Let me know if I can provide any more information.

• Michael

EDIT: I realize now there have been updates to the script since my last download. I have replaced my current Spotifree app with the most recent and will let you know if this happens in the future.

The volume isn't being restored when an ad was the last thing played by Spotify

When an ad plays after the last track (e.g., last on the playlist), the sound volume isn't being turned back up.

Latest version 1.6.1 doesn't mute ads

Spotifree is detecting local files as ads and muting them

Remains inactive

Hello guys,
i've installed spotifree to remove ads from spotify free but it doesn't turn active, in fact an icons is showed in the top-bar of my mac but, if i click on it, it says 'inactive'.
Thank you in advance!

Ad Crossfade

I noticed that since Spotify cross-fades adds in with songs, and your app mutes right when the ad starts and not when the songs end, that means that however much of the song was going to be crossfade-ed instead gets muted. Not sure what the best way to fix this is, perhaps just a message telling people that if they are annoyed by it, to disable crossfade in Spotify (advanced) preferences.
Thanks so much for your development work!

Spotifree broken with latest update 0.9.16.25.g241bf986.

Version 0.9.16.25.g241bf986.

Not muting Spotify ads. Maybe they've changed something like the detection of track 0.

Happening for anyone else?

Ads Not Blocked

I have been using spotifree and reccomending it to all my friends at absoloutely love it! Recently I was using Spotifree and it showed "active" and when the ad came on (It was about downtown abbey by warner music) and this ad made spotifree "offline" which is the state in which spotify is paused. This makes me think that spotify may be testing of how to make this app not work. :/

Just straight up not working

Let me know what kind of info you want for troubleshooting. Spotifree is running and an ad just was not muted.

$ ps aux|grep free|grep -v grep
xxxxx 30880 0.0 0.1 2598588 10140 ?? S 5:14PM 0:00.57 /Applications/Spotifree.app/Contents/MacOS/applet -psn_0_8390656

won't mute Ads

For a few weeks my Spotifree won't block the Ads on my mac. I tried to reinstall, but it didn't fix the issue.
It's still active and there are no Update available. Do you have any thoughts?

Core (!=2) Duo compat..

i got a older CoreDuo MBP (10.6.8) where Spotifree 1.3.0 won't run.. (marked as not compatible). Easy way to make it compat?

Can't close Spotify if Spotifree open

If I try to quit Spotify when Spotifree is open, Spotify can't quit. Pretend to quit for a sec and open instantly again. If I close Spotifree then everything is normal.

Spotify (1.0.3.101.gbfa97dfe)
Spotifree (1.6.2)

Not working?

This has worked only once since I installed it. Most advertisements are still playing.

Any suggestions to help me debug?

Crash on OS X 10.6.8

dyld: Symbol not found: _kSecDigestSHA1
  Referenced from: /Applications/Spotifree.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/Sparkle.framework/Versions/A/Sparkle
  Expected in: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
 in /Applications/Spotifree.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/Sparkle.framework/Versions/A/Sparkle
Trace/BPT trap

Sparkle 1.9 claims to be compatible with 10.6, and I can't find any similar issues in their repository. Not sure if it's the problem in their library or if we are doing something wrong.

LICENSE?

you know the drill

Every song restarts after two seconds, or just skips

I just restarts the song most of the time.

• I have spotifree on
• When I press on a song, it plays for two seconds, then restarts the same song
• Sometimes when it naturally goes to the next song it does the same thing

B&W menu bar icon

Yes, this is another totally OCD low priority request, but it would be great to have a B&W option for the menu bar icon (similar to dropbox's option). Thanks!

Assertion "PreventUserIdleSystemSleep

The application causes the system to never sleep because it has a power assertion called "PreventUserIdleSystemSleep

You can figure this out by issuing the following command on the Terminal:

$ pmset -g assertions
4/16/14, 8:56:48 PM CDT  
Assertion status system-wide:
   ...
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     1
Listed by owning process:
   pid 425(applet): [0x000000010000016c] 56:10:03 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "executing event" 
...

Is there a way to not have this? I need my iMac to go to sleep whenever possible... And it's a pain to quit spotifree every now and then.

Think of it this way: This fix would potentially save hundreds of tons of CO2 going in to the atmosphere :)

The app is almost impossible to quit normally

Cant' view the source

I'm not going to run this unless the source is in a state where I can ensure evil things aren't happening to the system.

Changing from manually opening to automatic opening?

hi, great job with the application it works very well, however the first time i opened it i selected non-automatic opening upon turning on of computer, but now i would like to change this to automatic. Is there anyway this is possible? I have already tried to delete the application by first killing the process in activity monitor then deleted the 'package contents' including the application, downloading a fresh install file and starting from scratch but i still don't receive the prompt i got the first time, anyway to fix this?
Thanks
EDIT: I'm an idiot... Just control click

The app fails when Spotify receives an update

Has to be restarted afterward.

Playback gets unpaused when paused on an ad

Log file location is hardcoded

If debug mode is true, then the output log path is

Mountain Lion:Users:Mephistopelus:Developer:The Stuff:AppleScript:SpotiFree:Spotifree_log.txt

This should be built from a user's environment.

Also, the log-message method is unused.

Hide menu icon

This is definitely an OCD suggestion, but it would be nice to have spotifree hidden from the menu bar for those of us with small screens. The automatic start/stop with Spotify.app issue helps towards this, but it would be nice to have an option to revert to the previous behavior. Still LOVE the app!

mutes songs I add to spotify from my local library

I have song I pulled from a youtube video and turned into an mp3 but every time it comes on, spotifree mutes it like it's an ad. Is there any way to tell spotifree to ignore specific songs even if they look like ads?

Also, is the converse possible? If spotifree misses an ad can I flag the ad so that spotifree knows to skip it in the future? This should probably be a separate issue, but it's semi-related.

Spotifree generates several system.log messages per second in Yosemite

Running Yosemite DP6 and seeing my system logs filled with this exact message as long as Spotifree is open and Spotify is playing a song:

8/20/14 4:03:42.271 PM Spotifree[1087]: AppleEvents: Send port for process has no send right, port=( port:28651/0x6feb rcv:1,send:0,d:0 limit:5) (findOrCreate()/AEMachUtils.cp #526) com.apple.main-thread

I realize Yosemite is pre-release, but just wanted to give a heads-up on the potential issue.

Change icon when OS X uses dark theme

When the dark theme is enabled in OS X Yosemite (System Preferences -> General -> Use dark menu bar and Dock), Spotifree's menu bar icon doesn't change. It doesn't look as good as it could. Probably the icon should be made lighter.

Volume Stuck in 0%

Hello,

Just installed the latest version and wanted to report that in my install, the application lowers the volume when ads appear. The problem is that it never comes back to normal after the ads finish, it stays stuck in 0%.

OSX 10.8.5
Spotify 0.9.6.81.gd359a796
Spotifree v1.1

Impossible to quit Spotify while the script is running

Temporary workaround:
Download and run this app or shut SpotiFree manually from the Activity Monitor.

Spotifree always says a new version 1.5.0 is available

It keeps saying a new version (1.5.0) is available, and this update installs latest (1.5) version. This difference is probably causing the issue

Visual Ads / Audio quality

Hey!

First at all... terryfic app you got there, it's the best that I've tried. OTOH I know how to disable Visual Ads and enable the High Quality Streaming... I think those would be a good addition for the app. Please let me know if you're interested.

Regards.

Needs new icon for Graphite Theme in Yosemite

You can see that the image cannot be seen.

It is fine when toggled:

Spotify won't play music while spotifree open (spotify reinstall fixed)

I just updated to the new Spotify v 0.9.14.13.gba5645ad (mac). Now, Spotify refuses to play any music while SpotiFree is open. I get the blue bar with the "Can't play the current track" error. If I close spotifree and click next track, it plays instantly. Local files always work, it's just for streaming. Reenabling SpotiFree while Spotify is playing seems to work until the next ad is played and finished; then I get the error.

“Spotifree” can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.

Hello Artem,

I downloaded the latest version of Spotifree, and when I attempt to run the application, I see this:

“Spotifree” can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.
Google Chrome Canary downloaded this file today at 10:44 PM from spotifree.gordinskiy.com.

While I can change the Security & Privacy settings in OS X, I prefer not to. Could it be that the application is unsigned?

Crash on 1.0.1.1060.gc75ebdfd [1.6]

Description by the user:
Spotify is running > I launch Spotifree > SF appears in menubar & Activity Monitor for 5 sec > SF disappears from both.

11/03/2015 19:02:11.310 Spotlight[933]: LSExceptions [0x6080002ba820] unloaded
11/03/2015 19:02:12.429 Console[3823]: LSExceptions [0x6000000a5a60] unloaded
11/03/2015 19:02:12.711 Spotlight[933]: LSExceptions [0x6080004b05c0] loaded
11/03/2015 19:02:12.726 taskgated[94]: no system signature for unsigned /Applications/Spotifree.app[3828]
11/03/2015 19:02:12.765 Spotifree[3828]: LSExceptions [0x6080000a9180] loaded
11/03/2015 19:02:12.944 Spotifree[3828]: Performance: Please update this scripting addition to supply a value for ThreadSafe for each event handler: "/Library/ScriptingAdditions/Google Authenticator BT.osax"
11/03/2015 19:02:12.992 taskgated[94]: binary have embedded signature that validated /System/Library/CoreServices/System Events.app[3829]
11/03/2015 19:02:13.035 System Events[3829]: LSExceptions [0x6000000ba7c0] loaded
11/03/2015 19:02:13.382 Spotifree[3828]: warning: failed to get scripting definition from /Users/user/Applications/Spotify.app; it may not be scriptable.
11/03/2015 19:02:13.383 Spotifree[3828]: -[SBApplication playerState]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x608000241140
11/03/2015 19:02:13.384 Spotifree[3828]: An uncaught exception was raised
11/03/2015 19:02:13.384 Spotifree[3828]: -[SBApplication playerState]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x608000241140
11/03/2015 19:02:13.385 Spotifree[3828]: (
    0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f3cf66c __exceptionPreprocess + 172
    1   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007fff8d11d76e objc_exception_throw + 43
    2   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f3d26dd -[NSObject(NSObject) doesNotRecognizeSelector:] + 205
    3   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f319aa4 ___forwarding___ + 1028
    4   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f319618 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
    5   Spotifree                           0x0000000100001ac3 Spotifree + 6851
    6   Spotifree                           0x00000001000013e6 Spotifree + 5094
    7   Spotifree                           0x000000010000145d Spotifree + 5213
    8   Spotifree                           0x000000010000287c Spotifree + 10364
    9   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f2dd85f -[NSSet makeObjectsPerformSelector:] + 223
    10  AppKit                              0x00007fff89d295cd -[NSIBObjectData nibInstantiateWithOwner:options:topLevelObjects:] + 1216
    11  AppKit                              0x00007fff89839605 loadNib + 384
    12  AppKit                              0x00007fff89daa5ab +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) _loadNibFile:nameTable:options:withZone:ownerBundle:] + 313
    13  AppKit                              0x00007fff89838cd5 -[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibNamed:owner:topLevelObjects:] + 201
    14  AppKit                              0x00007fff89838aa1 +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibNamed:owner:] + 344
    15  AppKit                              0x00007fff89834549 NSApplicationMain + 605
    16  Spotifree                           0x0000000100001094 Spotifree + 4244
)
11/03/2015 19:02:13.385 Spotifree[3828]: *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[SBApplication playerState]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x608000241140'
*** First throw call stack:
(
    0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f3cf66c __exceptionPreprocess + 172
    1   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007fff8d11d76e objc_exception_throw + 43
    2   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f3d26dd -[NSObject(NSObject) doesNotRecognizeSelector:] + 205
    3   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f319aa4 ___forwarding___ + 1028
    4   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f319618 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
    5   Spotifree                           0x0000000100001ac3 Spotifree + 6851
    6   Spotifree                           0x00000001000013e6 Spotifree + 5094
    7   Spotifree                           0x000000010000145d Spotifree + 5213
    8   Spotifree                           0x000000010000287c Spotifree + 10364
    9   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fff8f2dd85f -[NSSet makeObjectsPerformSelector:] + 223
    10  AppKit                              0x00007fff89d295cd -[NSIBObjectData nibInstantiateWithOwner:options:topLevelObjects:] + 1216
    11  AppKit                              0x00007fff89839605 loadNib + 384
    12  AppKit                              0x00007fff89daa5ab +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) _loadNibFile:nameTable:options:withZone:ownerBundle:] + 313
    13  AppKit                              0x00007fff89838cd5 -[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibNamed:owner:topLevelObjects:] + 201
    14  AppKit                              0x00007fff89838aa1 +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibNamed:owner:] + 344
    15  AppKit                              0x00007fff89834549 NSApplicationMain + 605
    16  Spotifree                           0x0000000100001094 Spotifree + 4244
)
11/03/2015 19:02:13.405 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.ReportCrash[3831]) Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.ReportCrash
11/03/2015 19:02:14.022 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (de.eneas.Spotifree.55412[3828]) Service exited due to signal: Abort trap: 6
11/03/2015 19:02:14.068 ReportCrash[3831]: Saved crash report for Spotifree[3828] version 1.6 (1.6) to /Users/user/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Spotifree_2015-03-11-190214_user-Air.crash
11/03/2015 19:02:22.712 Spotlight[933]: LSExceptions [0x6080004b05c0] unloaded
11/03/2015 19:02:24.027 System Events[3829]: LSExceptions [0x6000000ba7c0] unloaded
11/03/2015 19:02:30.107 taskgated[94]: binary have embedded signature that validated /System/Library/CoreServices/ManagedClient.app[3887]
11/03/2015 19:02:32.087 taskgated[94]: binary have embedded signature that validated /usr/sbin/diskmanagementd[3891]
11/03/2015 19:02:33.728 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.CoreRAID[3896]) Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.CoreRAID

Doesn't work with new Spotify.

It automatically crash just after it opens.

New Spotify update breaks Spotifree

New Spotify update also includes videos now...

video ads

hello, thanks for the great work, which i've been using for a long time now.
i know you said that video ads cannot be muted.
the thing is, now that video ads have become pervasive (one every 10 minutes or so), and because they are particularly loud and nasty, spotifree becomes useless if we cannot mute them.
is it absolutely sure that there will never be a way to mute them?
thanks!!

Spotifree leaves Spotify muted if an ad comes after last track

If an ad comes after the last track when listening a single album, Spotify stops after playing the ad, and remains muted.

The next time you go to play something, you have to manually move the volume slider up.

Translations in another languages

I can help you to translate the application in another languages.

Intros and commentaries under 40 seconds of duration are being blocked as well

Ads are being detected by duration of under 40 seconds and popularity of zero, and most intros and commentaries bear these properties too. No idea how to distinguish them from ads yet.

Script doesn't understand the isInLoginItems message on startup

After running the latest version and following troubleshooting steps repeatedly, upon opening Spotifree a dialogue box pops up with the message: "«script» doesn’t understand the isInLoginItems message." gives option to "Edit" or "Okay." The latter doesn't mute ads.

tell current application
do shell script "defaults read com.ArtemGordinsky.Spotifree 'hasRanBefore'"
--> error "2012-12-28 11:21:01.100 defaults[665:f07]
The domain/default pair of (com.ArtemGordinsky.Spotifree, hasRanBefore) does not exist" number 1
end tell
tell application "AppleScript Editor"
isInLoginItems()
--> error number -1708
Result:
error "«script» doesn’t understand the isInLoginItems message." number -1708 from «script»

Does this work currently?

When I mute spotify it normally just pauses the ad and resumes it when the volume is restored (both system and spotify volume).

Can anyone confirm that this works anymore?

Why Spotifree stuck at mute state after ad?

Not everytime but sometimes. I don't know how you can reproduce this issue but it is really annoying.

Crash upon start [SOLVED]

After spotify update the app crashes upon start, I tryed reinstalling app and spotify (By instructions on web (http://spotifree.gordinskiy.com/troubleshooting.html), but it didn't help. I'm able to get the app running when spotify is off, but when I turn spotify back on, it doesn't seem to register the app running.
Spotify version: 1.0.1.1060.gc75ebdfd
Spotifree v 1.5

Nevermind, deleting everything with AppZapp and installing again solved it. (At first I did it wrong, deleted one app, reinstalled, tryed deleted other app, reinstalled and tried, both apps must be removed and reinstalled at once.)

2015-03-04 18:44:31.126 Spotifree[2533:333718] warning: failed to get scripting definition from /Applications/Spotify.app; it may not be scriptable.
2015-03-04 18:44:31.126 Spotifree[2533:333718] -[SBApplication playerState]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x106b3a5e0
2015-03-04 18:44:31.127 Spotifree[2533:333718] An uncaught exception was raised
2015-03-04 18:44:31.128 Spotifree[2533:333718] -[SBApplication playerState]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x106b3a5e0
2015-03-04 18:44:31.128 Spotifree[2533:333718](0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93bb366c __exceptionPreprocess + 172
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff8a38576e objc_exception_throw + 43
2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93bb66dd -[NSObject%28NSObject%29 doesNotRecognizeSelector:] + 205
3 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93afdaa4 forwarding + 1028
4 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93afd618 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
5 Spotifree 0x0000000100002394 Spotifree + 9108
6 Spotifree 0x0000000100001ba7 Spotifree + 7079
7 Spotifree 0x0000000100001c1e Spotifree + 7198
8 Spotifree 0x0000000100003055 Spotifree + 12373
9 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93ac185f -[NSSet makeObjectsPerformSelector:] + 223
10 AppKit 0x00007fff95c485cd -[NSIBObjectData nibInstantiateWithOwner:options:topLevelObjects:] + 1216
11 AppKit 0x00007fff95758605 loadNib + 384
12 AppKit 0x00007fff95cc95ab +[NSBundle%28NSNibLoading%29 _loadNibFile:nameTable:options:withZone:ownerBundle:] + 313
13 AppKit 0x00007fff95757cd5 -[NSBundle%28NSNibLoading%29 loadNibNamed:owner:topLevelObjects:] + 201
14 AppKit 0x00007fff95757aa1 +[NSBundle%28NSNibLoading%29 loadNibNamed:owner:] + 344
15 AppKit 0x00007fff95753549 NSApplicationMain + 605
16 Spotifree 0x0000000100001824 Spotifree + 6180
17 ??? 0x0000000000000001 0x0 + 1)
2015-03-04 18:44:31.128 Spotifree[2533:333718] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[SBApplication playerState]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x106b3a5e0'
*** First throw call stack:
(
0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93bb366c exceptionPreprocess + 172
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff8a38576e objc_exception_throw + 43
2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93bb66dd -[NSObject(NSObject) doesNotRecognizeSelector:] + 205
3 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93afdaa4 __forwarding + 1028
4 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93afd618 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
5 Spotifree 0x0000000100002394 Spotifree + 9108
6 Spotifree 0x0000000100001ba7 Spotifree + 7079
7 Spotifree 0x0000000100001c1e Spotifree + 7198
8 Spotifree 0x0000000100003055 Spotifree + 12373
9 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff93ac185f -[NSSet makeObjectsPerformSelector:] + 223
10 AppKit 0x00007fff95c485cd -[NSIBObjectData nibInstantiateWithOwner:options:topLevelObjects:] + 1216
11 AppKit 0x00007fff95758605 loadNib + 384
12 AppKit 0x00007fff95cc95ab +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) _loadNibFile:nameTable:options:withZone:ownerBundle:] + 313
13 AppKit 0x00007fff95757cd5 -[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibNamed:owner:topLevelObjects:] + 201
14 AppKit 0x00007fff95757aa1 +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibNamed:owner:] + 344
15 AppKit 0x00007fff95753549 NSApplicationMain + 605
16 Spotifree 0x0000000100001824 Spotifree + 6180
17 ??? 0x0000000000000001 0x0 + 1
)
libc++abi.dylib: terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
Abort trap: 6

Not working after latest spotify update

i'm on version 0.9.0.128.g3134f863

spotifree no longer working

frowny face

Spotify gets relaunched on quit

Hi,

While using Spotifree and after playing one song (you can just go directly to the end of the song) when I quit Spotify (+Q) it gets immediately relaunched and hidden.

It is quite annoying since I have to quit Spotify two times in a row after each use.

Thanks