Tech

Cog - Free and Open-Source Local Only Music Player

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  Cog Music Player

Cog is a free and open-source music player that can read and display metadata from dozens of formats, including AAC, MP3, ALAC, FLAC, Ogg, and WMA. It features playlists, ratings and a mini player. No data from the app is sent to the Internet. Your listening habits don't become data for some privacy sucking mega-corporation.

In the spirit of detaching from big tech as much as possible, I looked for a full-featured music player for my collection of songs and albums in various formats. I needed something robust enough to handle over 30K files without choking. Since the songs in my music folder all have the correct metadata already, I didn't need the ability to edit it. The initial import took some time, but it is a process that doesn't have to be repeated.

Cog reads files where they exist on your disk. It's perfectly able to use music files already in your iTunes library, if you have one, or it can read from other locations, including external drives.

Cog is a versatile audio player with global hotkeys, and desktop notifications. You can shuffle both albums and tracks, repeat single songs, albums, or even whole playlists. It can play music from the internet, including livestreams and hosted files. It even supports Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) using FFmpeg. It can also get live metadata updates from continuous streaming servers, like Shoutcast, Icecast, Ogg Vorbis comments, and timed ID3v2 packets, if the streamer uses them. Furthermore, it can even show you a cue sheet, which is like a list of songs in the order they’ll play. It can also show you album artwork for each song, both inside the cue sheet and outside. It can store album artwork in different formats, like JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, HEIC, or AVIF. It also has a graphic equalizer and a spectrum visualization in the toolbar or a separate window. And if you have a sound device that supports spatial audio, it can use that too. It also has multiple MIDI synthesizers, including the system synthesizer (which works with SoundFonts or the system GS bank) or BASSMIDI (which needs SoundFonts). It supports a number of audio formats, including some that you might not have heard of before, including obscure game and console formats

Cog is available on the developer's websiteand in the Mac App Store. If you are running an older version of macOS, you can download versions that work with them too.

Thanks to @dhry@mastodon.social for the tip on this app.

✉️ Reply by email

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March 05, 2025 at 01:38PM

  Cog Music Player

Cog is a free and open-source music player that can read and display metadata from dozens of formats, including AAC, MP3, ALAC, FLAC, Ogg, and WMA. It features playlists, ratings and a mini player. No data from the app is sent to the Internet. Your listening habits don't become data for some privacy sucking mega-corporation.

In the spirit of detaching from big tech as much as possible, I looked for a full-featured music player for my collection of songs and albums in various formats. I needed something robust enough to handle over 30K files without choking. Since the songs in my music folder all have the correct metadata already, I didn't need the ability to edit it. The initial import took some time, but it is a process that doesn't have to be repeated.

Cog reads files where they exist on your disk. It's perfectly able to use music files already in your iTunes library, if you have one, or it can read from other locations, including external drives.

Cog is a versatile audio player with global hotkeys, and desktop notifications. You can shuffle both albums and tracks, repeat single songs, albums, or even whole playlists. It can play music from the internet, including livestreams and hosted files. It even supports Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) using FFmpeg. It can also get live metadata updates from continuous streaming servers, like Shoutcast, Icecast, Ogg Vorbis comments, and timed ID3v2 packets, if the streamer uses them. Furthermore, it can even show you a cue sheet, which is like a list of songs in the order they’ll play. It can also show you album artwork for each song, both inside the cue sheet and outside. It can store album artwork in different formats, like JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, HEIC, or AVIF. It also has a graphic equalizer and a spectrum visualization in the toolbar or a separate window. And if you have a sound device that supports spatial audio, it can use that too. It also has multiple MIDI synthesizers, including the system synthesizer (which works with SoundFonts or the system GS bank) or BASSMIDI (which needs SoundFonts). It supports a number of audio formats, including some that you might not have heard of before, including obscure game and console formats

Cog is available on the developer's websiteand in the Mac App Store. If you are running an older version of macOS, you can download versions that work with them too.

Thanks to @dhry@mastodon.social for the tip on this app.

✉️ Reply by email

How do I remove followers on Mastodon without blocking them?

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Mastodon has a “Following and followers” management section you can use to remove followers without having to block them:

Sign in on your server’s website or web app

Click on Preferences

Click on Follows and followers (if you’re on a phone click ☰ and then Follows and followers)

In the Relationship section click on Followers

Select the followers you want to remove

Click on Remove selected followers

Does this block selected accounts?

No, it does not block them, it just removes them from your followers. If you block a follower, that removes their follow anyway and you don’t need to use follower management.

What about the other option that mentions domains?

If you click Remove followers from the selected domains, it will also remove all followers who are on the same servers as the followers you have selected. Be careful if you use this option, it may remove more followers than you expect.

What does Account Activity: Dormant mean?

It means the accounts listed haven’t posted in a while.

What does Account Status: Primary and Moved mean?

Primary accounts are normal accounts. Moved accounts are just redirecting to a different account elsewhere, and aren’t in use themselves.

Back to the front page

via Master List https://ift.tt/rdKYbMn

March 05, 2025 at 10:16AM

Mastodon has a “Following and followers” management section you can use to remove followers without having to block them:

Sign in on your server’s website or web app

Click on Preferences

Click on Follows and followers (if you’re on a phone click ☰ and then Follows and followers)

In the Relationship section click on Followers

Select the followers you want to remove

Click on Remove selected followers

Does this block selected accounts?

No, it does not block them, it just removes them from your followers. If you block a follower, that removes their follow anyway and you don’t need to use follower management.

What about the other option that mentions domains?

If you click Remove followers from the selected domains, it will also remove all followers who are on the same servers as the followers you have selected. Be careful if you use this option, it may remove more followers than you expect.

What does Account Activity: Dormant mean?

It means the accounts listed haven’t posted in a while.

What does Account Status: Primary and Moved mean?

Primary accounts are normal accounts. Moved accounts are just redirecting to a different account elsewhere, and aren’t in use themselves.

Back to the front page

Photo Sharing Websites

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I enjoy looking at my photos. I take some time every day to look back at this day in history on one of the websites where I am still storing my archive. I also have an Aura Frame and an Amazon Echo Show that display photos all day long. I never got into Instagram as a means of sharing photos socially, but I've experimented with a few other sites, some that put the emphasis on the social aspect and others that are more for "serious photographers" Whatever that means. These days, I am primarily posting a couple of photos a day on Micro.blog and Mastodon, I even have a gallery for my 100 Strangers Project.

Here are a few other places where I and others I know post photos.

Refrakt - A more meaningful home for photography

Glass — Photography Community - Glass is a paid, global community platform for photographers. With no ads or manipulative algorithms,Glass is your home for photography.

Flashes for Bluesky on the App Store - A Bluesky client just for photography. The devs suggest opening a second, photos only account. I'm trying it out

pxlmo - The Pixelfed server I use

Flickr | The best place to be a photographer online.

Best Photo Sharing Platform for Photographers | 500px

SmugMug: Protect, Share, Store, and Sell Your Photos

The World's Largest Free Photo Contest | Pixoto

Enjoyed it? Please upvote

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March 04, 2025 at 05:26PM

I enjoy looking at my photos. I take some time every day to look back at this day in history on one of the websites where I am still storing my archive. I also have an Aura Frame and an Amazon Echo Show that display photos all day long. I never got into Instagram as a means of sharing photos socially, but I've experimented with a few other sites, some that put the emphasis on the social aspect and others that are more for "serious photographers" Whatever that means. These days, I am primarily posting a couple of photos a day on Micro.blog and Mastodon, I even have a gallery for my 100 Strangers Project.

Here are a few other places where I and others I know post photos.

Refrakt - A more meaningful home for photography

Glass — Photography Community - Glass is a paid, global community platform for photographers. With no ads or manipulative algorithms,Glass is your home for photography.

Flashes for Bluesky on the App Store - A Bluesky client just for photography. The devs suggest opening a second, photos only account. I'm trying it out

pxlmo - The Pixelfed server I use

Flickr | The best place to be a photographer online.

Best Photo Sharing Platform for Photographers | 500px

SmugMug: Protect, Share, Store, and Sell Your Photos

The World's Largest Free Photo Contest | Pixoto

Enjoyed it? Please upvote