It’s only been two days since we unveiled Intermission, but we’ve already got a 1.0.1 ready. It’s got several important bug fixes, including a fix for a rare problem where audio playback might fail. Additionally, multiple small issues with sound effects (the bleeps and bloops made when you receive an email, get an instant message, or anything else) have been fixed.¹

Perhaps the most important fix, however, is one for our visually impaired users. The initial release of Intermission lived up to its claim of buffering any audio, including that from Mac OS X’s built-in screen reading tool, VoiceOver. That’s a bit overzealous, however, and it had a tremendously confusing effect. In retrospect, it’s obvious that VoiceOver audio should be excluded from Intermission’s buffer. We worked quickly to improve things, and VoiceOver users can rest easy now, as Intermission 1.0.1 excludes VoiceOver audio from its buffer.

Get The Latest

Existing Intermission users should definitely update immediately. Just open Intermission’s Preferences window, then click the “Check for Update” button to get the latest. You can also download it directly, of course.

If you haven’t checked out Intermission yet, you should! You can read all about our new tool to pause and rewind live audio on your Mac on our previous post, then head over to the Intermission page. Grab the free trial and take it for a test drive.

Bonus #2: Timeshift Microphone Audio With LineIn

In our initial post, we mentioned a bonus Intermission use case — recording audio from the past with Audio Hijack Pro. We also requested feedback on interesting use cases for Intermission, and have already heard ideas we never considered. One of the most interesting thus far is bringing in microphone audio for timeshifting. This can be used for all sorts of different things, from giving lectures a “What did he just say?” button, to recording a Skype chat long after its started.

However, Intermission doesn’t automatically buffer microphone audio. Fortunately, several of our intelligent users realized they could use a second Rogue Amoeba application to get that audio into Intermission’s buffer. Using our free LineIn app, you can bring audio in from a microphone and pass it through to Intermission.

LineIn in action, passing microphone audio out to headphones

To avoid creating a feedback loop, be sure to use a pair of headphones for audio output. Then, by simply activating LineIn and having it pass microphone audio through as above, microphone audio will be included in the buffer and it’ll be possible to pause and rewind it. Whether you want to grab an archive of a Skype conversation even after it’s over or just desire a real-world replay button, using LineIn with Intermission will enable you to get that audio back.

We’ll be considering removing the need for LineIn, by adding an option to include microphone audio in Intermission’s buffer. Stay tuned for more Intermission updates, and please keep the feedback coming. We’re thrilled to hear of new and interesting use cases for Intermission.

Footnotes:

1. Worth mentioning, Intermission intentionally passes those sound effects through to your speakers even when audio is paused, rather than buffering them. That means you won’t miss anything important just because your audio is paused, nor will you be confused later when listening to buffered audio.

   Unfortunately, due to a bug in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) itself, this functionality requires Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or higher. And fear not, Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) users – support is coming soon, once we’ve done more extensive testing. ↩

Here at Rogue Amoeba, we’re always hard at work bringing new features and bug fixes alike to your favorite applications. It’s not too often, however, that we get a chance to unveil a brand-new product. In fact, it’s been almost two years since our last true 1.0 release.

So, it’s with no small amount of excitement that we’re releasing a brand-new app today. It’s called Intermission, and it’s going to change the way people listen to audio on their Macs. This is Intermission:

It’s certainly not flashy, is it? However, the simplicity of Intermission’s menu bar interface belies its amazing power. You see, with Intermission, you can stop time, and rewind it too! That’s because Intermission is a tool to let you pause and rewind live audio right on your Mac.

To start, Intermission provides a pause button for all audio playback on your Mac. That means any audio, even streaming content, can be paused while taking a call, answering the door, or using the restroom. Interruptions no longer have to mean missing anything. When you get back, just resume playback, right where you left off.

Intermission also makes it possible to jump back and replay missed audio. The ability to rewind live sports, talk radio, teleconferences and more simply can’t be beat. And after you’ve heard what you missed, one click of “Jump to Live” brings you back to the present again.

Intermission is fantastic for use with streaming music services. It stores up to three hours of content, which means you can pause streaming audio on services like Pandora, iTunes Radio, or Spotify to build a buffer, then skip right past the songs, ads, and anything else you don’t want to hear!

Get It Now

Why not try out Intermission now? Head over to the Intermission page to learn more, and to download the free trial. All you’ll need is Mac OS X 10.7 or higher to get started.

Of course, when you’re ready to purchase the full version of Intermission, you can buy it instantly through our online store at the special introductory price of just $15.

Update (September 8th, 2013): We’ve had a few questions about Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks). Mavericks isn’t out just yet, but when it is, we’ll be there of course. Right now, however, the current version prevents itself from running on 10.9. It has not been fully tested on 10.9 yet, so we’re playing it safe. We’ll have news on updates for Mavericks soon, right here on this blog. You can also check our Status page for in-depth information. For now, we definitely recommend sticking with Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion).

Tell Us About It

While we obviously have some great use cases in mind already, we’re excited to hear about all the ways users will take advantage of the power Intermission provides. After you’ve tried it out, please send us any questions or feedback you have. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Bonus: Recording From the Past as Well

While working on Intermission, we realized something very cool: it can even be used to record audio from the past! By pairing up Intermission with our audio recorder Audio Hijack Pro, you can record important conversations or audio streams, minutes or even hours later. Just rewind the audio in Intermission, then hit Record in Audio Hijack, and you’ll be able to archive anything you’ve just heard. Intermission’s manual provides full details on recording from the past.