Why people end up downloading songs

Changing the key of a song has traditionally meant having the audio as a file, so many people rip it from a video site and drag it into an editor. That makes a copy you did not have before, and it may not be allowed by the site you took it from.

No copy needed

PitchShed works on the sound while it plays. The audio is changed on its way from the page to your speakers and then it is gone: it is not saved, not recorded and not sent anywhere. You are listening to the same stream you would have listened to anyway, only in another key.

Which songs it can reach

It reaches anything that plays as ordinary web video or audio in a tab, such as a YouTube video of the studio recording. Services that protect their audio with DRM, for example Spotify, do not let any extension at the sound, so PitchShed does not work on them.

Keeping the result

There is no file to keep, which is the point. What PitchShed keeps for you is the setting: it remembers the key you chose for each song, on your device, so you set it once and it is there when you open the song again.

Playing along without the file

Because nothing is downloaded, you can use the song straight from the page where you found it: start the video, click the icon, change the key and play along. When practice is over, close the tab. Nothing is left on your computer except the key you chose for that song, which is kept so that it is ready next time.

The small print

One side effect: with the key changed, the sound runs about a tenth of a second behind the picture. If you only listen, there is no picture to be out of step with.