Showboard review
A free Mac player that organizes live recordings and searches local files and music services.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Showboard is a native macOS music player for people who collect and play live concert recordings. It brings local files together with nugs.net, TIDAL, Qobuz, Archive.org, and Phish.in, so listeners can search across those sources from one app. Its concert-specific organization—grouping recordings of the same show and labeling sources such as SBD, AUD, and Matrix—makes it more tailored to live-show libraries than a general-purpose player. It is a desktop download for macOS 14 or later.
Playback and library features are unusually centered on concert listening. Showboard supports FLAC, DSD, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, WavPack, MP3, AAC, and OGG, with CoreAudio exclusive mode and automatic sample-rate switching for bit-perfect playback. It can scan local folders, including mounted network shares, and supports AirPlay and BluOS output. Set breaks and taper notes add context to recordings, while the concert diary provides ratings and notes with iCloud sync across Macs. Buyers should note that the published feature set is for music playback; video playback is not documented.
The Free plan costs nothing one time and includes all features, with no subscription, account, or license key. That simple pricing suits solo listeners and small collections without a paid-tier decision. The trade-off is its narrow platform and purpose: it is only for macOS and is specifically shaped around music and live-show collections. Mac listeners who want one place for concert recordings and their accompanying notes are the clearest fit. Those seeking a broader desktop platform or a general-purpose video player should look elsewhere.
Showboard pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Searches local music and six named services in one place
- Groups shows and displays source labels, set breaks, and taper notes
- Free playback includes broad format support and bit-perfect output
- Where it doesn't
- Available for macOS only, requiring macOS 14 or later
- Focused on music and live concerts, not documented video playback
- Concert diary sync is limited to iCloud across Macs
Showboard fact sheet, pricing and score →
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