Sick of Apple Music? The Sherp’s got your fix!
There has been a lot of vocal dissatisfaction when it comes to Apple Music, for their somewhat complicated interface and stifling restrictions.
Here is a list of replacement apps that promise to do the job better.
1. Spotify
Credit: iTunes
Spotify is available for iOS, Android, Windows, Windows Phone, Mac, Playstation and theΒ Web,Β and provides ad-free, on demand streaming of music for the small price ofΒ $9.99 per month, $4.99 for students, and 50 percent off each additional account when you upgrade to a Family plan. They even throw in a three-month trial period! With a catalog size of about 30 million songs, Spotify is a great app with which to explore and discover new music and is better equipped to moving that music onto and off of your device.
Β Β Β 2. Slacker Radio
Credit: Google Play
Available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Kindle Fire, Xbox and theΒ Web, Slacker radio has a vast array of internet radio stations from which to pick. ForΒ $3.99 a month, you can enjoy the app without ads and get unlimited skips. $9.99 a month will get you offline playback and allows the creation of a station around a specific artist. However, with a catalog size of 13 million songs, the library is somewhat limited.
3. Google Play Music
Credit: Tech Crunch
Currently available on iOS, Android, and theΒ Web, Google Play Music offers on-demand streaming and Internet radio. Google Play Music allows you to integrate your local tracks into your catalog so you can listen wherever you are, offline. It is also a Google product, and so can pair with YouTube, (specifically YouTube Music Key) to avail a vast selection of music videos. For the cost ofΒ $9.99 per month (following a 60-day trial period), you can have access to a catalog of 30 million songs.
4. Pandora
Credit: MakeUseOf
Supported by iOS, Windows Phone, Android, Kindle Fire, Nook, Blackberry, Pebble Watch and theΒ Web, Pandora offers internet radio only. Once a song is selected, Pandora picks songs to play based on the artist, genre, and other features. For$4.99 per month (or $54.89 per year for Pandora One) you get access to a catalog of 2 million songs and get to skip ads and songs.
Β 5. Amazon Prime Music
Credit: Engadget
Available for iOS, Android, Fire tablets and phones, Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Echo, Windows, Mac and the Web, Amazon Prime Music is available to anyone with an existing Amazon Prime account. It offers thousands of ad-fee, curated playlists, and offline listening. For the sameΒ $99 a year subscription to Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime Music’s catalog of over a million tracks will be available to you.
6. EcouteΒ
Credit: App Factor
Ecoute is available for iOS and macOS and is an alternative music player that filters your entire iTunes library, including your iCloud Music Library content. It supports play counts and last-played dates, which will synchronize automatically. It has a user-friendly interface and allows you to add tracks to Up Next and reorder them with ease. It also supports 3D touch options from the Home screen and allows you to play all, shuffle and search through your entire music library.
7. Stezza
Credit: Appcrawlr
Available on iTunes, Stezza is a great alternative to Apple Music that has a user-friendly interface that requires minimal attention on your part. The app is designed to be quick, easy, accessible, and convenient for one-handed use, with large buttons and a bold interface. The main control buttons are also within one-handed reach. It sources directly from your iTunes library and iCloud Music.Β
8. Cesium
Credit: Phone Arena
Cesium combines a clear, easy user interface with loads of power-user features. The app combines a clear, easy to use interface for navigating through your music library with a selection of power-user features. The tab bar is customisable for quick access to your favorite artists, albums, songs, genres, playlists, composers, and audiobooks. Its simple navigation allows forΒ quick action and lets you sort your albums by year, title, and artist. It also allows you to group playlists together so that you can view your playlists as groups of albums, artists, composers, or genres, and navigate them like a mini-library.
Note: In order for these services to function successfully you must not delete your phone’s default music player app.