01net.com –
The native media control keys found on Mac keyboards normally only work with Apple applications. However, there is a solution to use them to drive your music on third-party players like Deezer or Spotify.
By default, Apple configures the multimedia keys on the keyboard of its machines to only control the playback of content played by home applications such as Music. These three control keys (F7, F8 and F9), which allow you to control playback and change tracks, are therefore of no use to you if you do not use the Apple player or use it very little.
Bad luck, then, if you subscribe to another music streaming service like Deezer or Spotify. Unless you use a third-party utility that will allow you to override this Apple limitation. Demonstration.
1. Download BeardedSpice
Start by downloading the BeardedSpice utility. Open source and free, this application which takes place in the macOS menu bar tries to automatically detect which application or which tab is playing multimedia content in order to associate the physical keys of the macOS keyboard to allow the user to control playback as they would with Music.
Download BeardedSpice for macOS (Free)
Once the program is downloaded to your Mac, transfer it directly to the macOS Applications directory and launch it.
2. Change the settings
BeardedSpice takes place directly in the system menu bar. Click on it and enter the program Preferences.
Within the General tab, make sure the Launch at login option is checked. Then select from the list of web applications, the services for which you want the program to work.
Once you have chosen your settings, close the BeardedSpice preferences window.
3. Control Deezer or Spotify using the keyboard
Open your music player and manually start playback. If everything goes as planned, you should be able to take control of playback, skip to the next track or return to the previous one using the physical keys on the keyboard, dedicated to controlling multimedia content.