How to Change Apple Music Playback Speed [Works for Songs/Podcasts/Audiobooks]

By Noah Brown

Updated on December 30, 2024

Nowadays, music streaming services make it easy to access millions of music tracks whenever and wherever you want. While listening to audio content on Apple Music, including songs, podcasts, and audiobooks, many users are seeking the ability to change Apple Music playback speed. Whether you want to speed up a podcast, slow down a favorite track, or find a workaround to change the playback speed for songs, there are various ways to accomplish this. If you cannot find the option to speed up or slow down Apple Music content, you are in the right place. Just follow us to see how to change the playback speed of music, podcasts, and audiobooks on Apple Music. Regardless of what device you are using, you can easily find the comprehensive tutorial and detailed steps in the following parts. Let’s get right to it.


Part 1. Can You Change Playback Speed on Apple Music?

Apple Music itself does offer a playback speed adjustment feature, but you need to notice that it is only available for podcasts and audiobooks on the Apple Music app or web player. If you are primarily interested in podcasts and audiobooks and want to enjoy them with more flexibility, the speed control option makes it easy to speed up or slow down from the app.

However, unlike other music streaming services in the market, Apple Music currently does not support adjusting the speed of songs in the traditional sense. Thus, you will need to use alternative methods to achieve this effect. Luckily, there are some available speed changer apps that you can find on the App Store and install on your iPhone or Mac to change playback speed on Apple Music. In addition, you can choose to download your favorite Apple Music songs as local files so that they can be edited according to your needs. No matter what speed you want, you can reach it easily on audio editors or other media players that support changing speed.

In the following sections, we will break down how to adjust the playback speed for both types of audio content and provide some extra tips for users looking for a more customizable experience.

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Part 2. How to Speed up Apple Music [Podcasts& Audiobooks]

Although Apple Music doesn’t allow users to speed up or slow down songs, all Apple users can change the playback speed while streaming audiobooks in Apple Books or listening to podcasts in Apple Podcasts. In this part, we’ll show you how to change the playback speed on Apple Podcasts and Apple Books.

How to Speed up Reading in Apple Books

audiobooks playback

Step 1. Navigate to select an audiobook in the Apple Books app on your iPhone.

Step 2. Tap your selected audiobook to start playing and enter the New Playing page.

Step 3. Locate “1×” at the bottom right corner and tap it to change the playback speed.

How to Change Playback Speed on Apple Podcasts

Step 1. Open Apple Podcasts on your iPhone and tap Browse to select a podcast.

Step 2. After selecting one to play, tap the playing title to view the Now Playing page.

Step 3. Change the playback speed to 1.25×, 1.5×, or other by tapping the 1× icon.


Part 3. How to Change Playback Speed on Apple Music Unlimitedly [Tracks]

For keeping a standard streaming audio quality, the playback speed is 1× as the default in the Apple Music app. And Apple Music doesn’t have a feature for users to adjust the playback of music and podcast. Therefore, if you want to slow down or speed up songs on Apple Music, you need to make use of a speed changer. However, Apple Music songs are restricted by digital rights management, which prevents you from using Apple Music songs with any platform.

Best Tool to Convert Apple Music Tracks Locally: Tunelf Apple Music Converter

In this case, you’re supposed to download and convert Apple Music with a third-party tool, then you can change the playback speed of Apple Music by using a speed changer. Tunelf Apple Music Converter is a professional audio converter that can deal with a number of audio files, including Apple Music, iTunes audio, and Audible audiobooks. With this one-click solution, you can save Apple Music to some popular audio formats like MP3 without a problem.

In addition to using a speed changer, you can directly adjust the speed of Apple Music songs with Tunelf Apple Music Converter. Designed with a built-in editing feature, Tunelf software allows you to customize the speed of audio files before conversion. Here you can choose to adjust the speed when preparing the conversion of Apple Music. Or you can use a speed changer to slow down or speed up Apple Music songs and podcasts.

tunelf audio converter

Key Features of Tunelf Audio Converter

  • Convert Apple Music to MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, and other audio formats
  • Remove DRM from Apple Music, iTunes audios, and Audible audiobooks
  • Preserve the converted audio with lossless audio quality and ID3 tags
  • Support the conversion of audio format at a 30× faster speed in batch

Step 1 Import Apple Music to Tunelf Software

To begin with, launch Tunelf Apple Music Converter on your computer, then iTunes or Apple Music will work at once. After entering the interface, you can see the Add File icon on the main screen of Tunelf software. Then click the Add Files button to add Apple Music songs you want to speed up. Or you can click the Load iTunes Library icon to browse your music library for adding music.

add audio files to converter

Step 2 Configure the Output Audio Format

Here you can set the output audio format and other parameters for your Apple Music songs. We suggest that you choose MP3 audio format as it is supported by most devices and programs. Just click the Format button at the left bottom to adjust the audio parameters. Also, you can change the bit rate, sample rate, codec, and channel.

select output format

Step 3 Change Apple Music Playback Speed

As mentioned above, Tunelf software offers a feature for changing the speed. If you want to directly change the speed of Apple Music, then you can choose to click the Effect icon at the rear of each track. In the editing window, you can personalize the playback speed of Apple Music songs. Remember to click the OK button to save the settings.

Step 4 Start to Convert Apple Music to MP3

Once setting up the output audio parameters, click the Convert button to start the conversion. The conversion speed is 30×, and you don’t need to wait for too long. When the conversion completes, you can get the converted Apple Music files on your computer by clicking the Converted icon. Then you can upload Apple Music files to a speed changer for speeding up or slowing down if you don’t edit the speed.

convert Apple Music

Part 4. How to Change Apple Music Playback Speed on iPhone/Desktop

The Tunelf Apple Music Converter offers the option of changing the speed of Apple Music tracks. But if it does not meet your requirements, you can consider uploading the downloaded music files to other media players or speed changer apps to adjust or play them at the speed you like. Here are the exact steps that you can take as references.

Option 1. Use Local Media Player [Windows& Mac]

Now, you already have the local files of all your favorite Apple Music songs. The easiest method to change their playback speed is to import them to the media player on your Windows or Mac computers.

• VLC Media Player

1. Open the VLC Media Player on your desktop and click Media > Open File at the top toolbar on its interface.

2. Then, you can find and play one converted Apple Music song you like.

3. Click Playback > Speed to choose the speed you want.

Windows Media Player

1. Launch Windows Media Player on your Windows computer, and click Organize at the top left.

2. Select Manage libraries > Music. Then, you can find the downloaded Apple Music songs and import them to your Windows Media Player by clicking Add.

3. Then, right-click the Now Playing bar and select Play > Play Speed. Now you can select the playback speed you want.

4. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Shift + G to increase the speed. Press Ctrl + Shift + S to slow it down.

GarageBand

1. Launch the GarageBand software on your Mac computer. Then, select File in the top menu bar.

2. Click Import GarageBand for iOS Song/Import Music Memos Files to import the downloaded Apple Music files. Alternatively, you can directly drag and drop them into GarageBand.

3. Once the music file is loaded, you can find it under the Track > Show Tempo Track section.

4. Click the tempo number at the top control bar. Increase the tempo value and you can speed up Apple Music. If you need to slow down the playback speed, simply decrease the tempo.

Option 2. Install and Use Third-party Speed Changers [iPhone& iPad]

No.1 Perfect Tempo

Perfect Tempo is a speed changer available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. This speed changer allows you to access the entire Apple Music catalog once connecting to your Apple Music subscription. With this app, you can speed up or slow down over 100 million songs on Apple Music in your Apple Music app or Files app. Beyond that, Perfect Tempo can play tracks from Cloud Drive, Dropbox, and other cloud services.

💰Price: $4.99

No.2 Speedic

Compatible with iPhone and iPad, Speedic allows you to change tempo from 0.01× to 10.0×. With the support of Speedic, Apple Music users can change the playback speed of songs. Speedic offers a large seekbar to control playback freely. You can download songs from Apple Music and play them with Speedic, then you can control the playback speed of Apple Music songs. In addition to speed control, Speedic supports customized repeat and sleep timers.

💰In-App Purchases: $1.99 per month; $6.99 per year.

No.3 Music Speed Changer

Music Speed Changer is a Chrome extension that supports changing the speed and pitch of streaming music and videos. It is compatible with the web players of Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora, Deezer, YouTube, and Vimeo. By installing this extension, you can change the speed of online videos and some streaming music sites from 25% to 250% of the original speed. Here you can use it to speed up songs while listening from Apple Music Web Player.

💰Price: Free


Part 5. More Tips about Apple Music Playback Speed

While adjusting the playback speed for Apple Music tracks may not be a built-in feature, there are still several helpful tips you can use to enhance your listening experience. This section will guide you through additional ways to optimize your Apple Music experience.

5.1 How Do I Change Playback Settings on Apple Music?

In the iTunes or Music app on your computer, you can use the playback settings to access multiple settings, like how to fade in and out, change music quality, and more. To enter the Apple Music playback settings, you need to do the below steps:

On PC: Click Edit > Preferences on the iTunes app.

On Mac: Click Music > Settings > Playback on the Music app.

5.2 How to Fast Forward/Backward Apple Music Songs?

If you want to fast forward or backward the song you are playing on Apple Music, you can utilize the slider or the arrow icon.

1. Play something you like on Apple Music and enter the Now Playing screen.

2. Press and hold the arrow icon at the left to fast backward the song. Long press the right arrow icon and you can fast forward the song.

3. Alternatively, you can swipe up and use the slider underneath the song title to move through a track.

5.3 How to Fix Songs Speeding up on Apple Music?

quote

“Music has suddenly started playing too fast on my iPhone. It did an update to ios16 and seems to have gone wrong. How do I slow it down back to normal?”

— User from the Apple Community

Many users complain about the song speeding issue on Apple Music. If you also find that the songs on your Apple Music app are playing too fast, here are some fixes that you can take as references.

1. If you connect Apple Music to other audio systems for playing, like a smart speaker, you should make sure that the speed settings of the device is normal.

2. Update the Apple Music app to the latest version.

3. Restart both your device and the Apple Music app.

4. Turn off the Crossfade feature.

5. Turn off the cellular data and change a WiFi connection to stream the Apple Music song again.


Conclusion

To change Apple Music playback speed, you need to convert Apple Music for use with a speed changer as Apple Music doesn’t have the feature. And you can’t download Apple Music songs locally unless with Tunelf Apple Music Converter. Tunelf software makes it possible to save Apple Music to your local folder and use them with a third-party speed changer. Or you can choose to directly change the playback speed of Apple Music in the Tunelf software. 


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