10.6: Quick Look and Finder audio previews in Icon view

Oct 01, '09 07:30:04AM

Contributed by: Graphite

Snow Leopard adds the ability to play audio files directly from a Finder window in Icon view (including your Desktop); 10.5 can play audio files in the Preview column when in Column view mode. Hover your cursor over the icon in Icon view, and a play/pause button will appear. As long as you do not change the selection in the Finder, the audio will continue to play even if you switch applications.

In Icon View, this integrates cleanly with Quick Look. You can press the Space Bar to open Quick Look on a playing audio file, and Quick Look will take over with no skips or jumps in the sound. Switching applications with Quick Look open still halts the audio, but another press of the Space Bar to hide Quick Look before going back to work will let you keep working to the music.

Unfortunately, Quick Look does not work as smoothly in Column View. Both the Preview column's player and Quick Look track their place in the file separately. Quick Look pauses the Preview column's player when it is opened and starts the audio from the beginning, but does not unpause in the same way when it is closed.

[robg adds: In 10.5, when previewing audio in column view, opening a Quick Look window would actually play the audio file twice, with no sync at all between the two.]

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