When the 14-day free trial ends, Audiout doesn’t lock you out. It keeps running and plays on one speaker at a time, and three features wait until you buy. Nothing you set up is deleted.
The day before, the Mixer warns you: “Last day of your trial. From tomorrow Audiout plays on one speaker at a time.”
What still works
The Mixer, Main Audio and every fader, the equalizers, the Speakers tab and your volume keys all work as before. Per-app routes stay free too, so Spotify can still go to the kitchen speaker while Main Audio plays somewhere else.
What is off until you buy
- More than one speaker at a time in Main Audio. This Mac counts as one. If Audiout was set to reconnect two or more speakers at launch, it starts on This Mac instead.
- Scenes. The Main Audio menu reads “Buy Audiout to use scenes.” Your saved scenes are kept for when you have a key.
- Aligning a Bluetooth speaker. “Align by ear…” shows the trial note instead of the alignment window.
The note in the Mixer
The Mixer shows “Your trial has ended. Audiout plays on one speaker at a time until you buy.”, with two buttons: “I have a key” and “Buy Audiout”.
The same limits apply when a key is refunded, revoked or not recognized. The note then names the reason, for example “This key was refunded, so Audiout plays on one speaker at a time.” Your license key: enter, change, recover explains each message.
Moving to another speaker with “Play here”
Switch on a second speaker and Audiout doesn’t add it. Instead the note explains the limit, and that speaker’s row shows a “Play here” button for about five seconds. Click it and playback moves to that speaker in one step, replacing the one that was playing. If Main Audio was set to a scene, it switches back to Selected Speakers.
Buying, or entering a key you already have
- “Buy Audiout”, in the Mixer note or in Settings › License, opens the purchase page in your browser. Your key appears on screen after checkout and arrives by email.
- “I have a key” opens the “Enter your license key” sheet. Paste the key and click Register. You can also open the same sheet from Settings › License with “Change…” (or “Enter license…” if no key is stored).
Once the key is accepted, every speaker, scenes and alignment come back straight away. The first time you open the panel after buying, a one-time card says “Thank you for buying Audiout.” After that, Audiout asks you once whether to keep sharing anonymous usage statistics. Usage statistics and what Audiout sends lists what that covers.
The license window from your first launch doesn’t come back after a trial. To have a lost key emailed to you, use the resend page. More on the trial and the window is in Entering your license key on first open, and every article is at the support overview.