Take Five

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Take Five work with other music players?

Yes, Take Five works with iTunes, Ecoute (2.0.8 or later), Pulsar (2.2.3 or later), Radium (2.7.9.5 or later), Rdio (1.11 or later), and Spotify (0.5.1 or later). Select which application to control in Take Five's Preferences panel.

What if I use a different audio application?

We provide an API that lets software developers add Take Five support to your favorite audio application. If your favorite application isn't listed in the Audio Application to Control preference, please email the developer of that app a link to this page along with a request to support Take Five.

Does Take Five work with podcasts, videos and other media?

Yes. It will pause and resume whatever is playing in your audio application.

Can I run Take Five without a Dock icon?

Yes, open Preferences by clicking on the gear icon in the main window. Then uncheck the “Show Dock Icon” setting and restart the application. After that, Take Five will only appear in the menu bar.

Can I pause my music without clicking on the pause button in the main window?

Yes, there are a few quick ways to pause the music:

1. First, you can click on the Dock icon to pause or resume the current song.
2. You can also click on the gear icon to open the Preferences window and set a hot key for the “Timer Start/Stop” setting. Then, whenever you press that hot key, the music playback will toggle.
3. Take Five also has a preference to start the timer when the ▶Ⅱ media key is pressed (this works only when using Take Five with iTunes).

Where are the playback controls to skip tracks?

The current version of Take Five only pauses or resumes music playback. If you need quick access to other playback controls, you can define a hot key in Preferences to show or hide your audio application and manage your media from that app directly.

Can I change the length of the default pause time?

Yes, the Preferences window allows you to set a pause as short as one minute and as long as 30 minutes. You can also drag the slider in the main Take Five window.

Can I pause with Take Five without starting the timer?

Yes, hold down the Option key while pressing Take Five's pause button to keep the timer from activating.

Are there any other preferences?

Yes, there are some advanced preferences you can change using a command line in a Terminal window.

I'm trying to reinstall the app from the Mac App Store, but it says it's already installed. What should I do?

If the Mac App Store sees a backup copy of an app anywhere on your system, it may think the app is still installed. Make sure you disconnect any backup drives you have connected to your computer, including any Time Machine backups. Then relaunch the Mac App Store and try again.