pearLyrics for Mac

pearLyrics is a simple app that automatically retrieves song lyrics as they play in iTunes. It can also search for lyrics without playing the song through its manual search bar, and it will even populate the lyrics inside your iTunes Library.

As with many apps of this kind, pearLyrics' success rate in retrieving lyrics is a bit hit and miss. Popular songs are sometimes retrieved, but other major songs and tracks simply won't. However, you can pre-fetch lyrics for whole iTunes playlists, so you have them ready when you need them. Note that there is also a desktop widget version available.

The problem with pearLyrics is that Apple has likely restricted its access to iTunes, preventing it from retrieving songs or ID3 tag data like it could before the latest update. This restriction is likely due to pressure from record companies who see the retrieval of song lyrics as a violation of copyright.

pearLyrics is a brave attempt at providing a simple iTunes lyrics retrieval tool, but the success rate is quite low.