With the current size that the Google Play Store has grown to in sheer number of apps available, it’s more than just a tough call to pick a definitive best in any category. Still, there are always contenders that outshine all others. This especially holds true for those app genres that are more sought after, and that have a higher user base. One classic example is music players, which, although by definition, should serve only one purpose, but have so much more to offer that one could easily get puzzled as to what would suit their needs best.
A few days back, I went on a crusade to hunt down the best music player alternatives that Google Play Store carries for Android devices. Without declaring a decisive winner (which is almost impossible, to be honest), the following is the list of the top contenders that might suffice for all your music playback and library management needs, while getting extra info/lyrics on your favorite artists, tracks and albums. Enjoy!
Poweramp
There would hardly ever be a list of top music players for Android without the mention of this beast. Of all the music players that I tested, Poweramp reproduces the best audio quality, thanks to the great rendering engine as well as massive equalizer, bass booster, reverb and effect settings. All of this is packaged in a decent looking interface that only adds to the class of the player.
Pros
Massive file format support
Versatile equalizer with lots of presets and control over bass, treble, reverb etc.
Lyric display with support for musiXmatch
Cover art animation
Support for themes and skins
ID3 tag editing for tracks
Last.FM scrobbling
Cons
Free version is just a two-week trial, after which you have to buy the player
Huge number of features can become confusing for basic user
Poweramp for Android
Winamp
Nullsoft’s Winamp was a huge success for Windows before it found home on the Google Play Store as well, and since then, the player has gradually improved. It offers some great features like SHOUTcast online radio boasting over 45,000 stations, support for Android’s native voice commands and more. It’s also somewhat resource intensive and can prove to be challenging for older devices.
Pros
Offers queuing of tracks similar to its Windows variant
SHOUTcast online radio service
Wi-Fi-based sync with desktop library
Attractive and catchy Now Playing interface with info overlay
Lock screen player
Cons
Unintuitive music management controls
Setting up playlists requires adding one song at a time
Large memory footprint of 30MB for background playback
Winamp for Android
Mixzing
This one has a very versatile feature offering set in a simplistic (read: not minimalist) interface. The app comes in a bright red color with music sorting/playback possible by Artist, Folder, Video and more. There’s an online radio offering as well that you can use, should you run out of choices in your local collection. Mixzing is also one of those few Android music players that offer music video playback. Also to be lauded is the app’s equalizer, which easily rivals Poweramp in sheer functionality.
Mixzing also takes pride in pulling information from the web regarding the playing track, including lyrics, artist info, YouTube videos and Wikipedia information, to name a few.
Pros
Song info with playback
Excellent and functional equalizer
Recommendations for similar songs from your local music library
ID3 tag editing
Extensive customization of interface
Sleep timer
Cons
Very intrusive in-app advertisement that can ruin the whole experience
Huge memory footprint of approximately 40 MB in background operation
A rather overly simplistic interface
Lack of a help section (it was recently removed from the app)
Mixzing for Android
n7player
The most distinguishing feature of n7player is the way it is designed to be extremely beautiful and well-laid-out in both portrait and landscape modes. Of course, that’s not the deciding criteria for a music player, which is most likely to run in the background for you most of the time, but this app doesn’t leave you wishing for more in the looks department. If offers a unique tag cloud approach to artists that you have in your local music library, with the possibility of pinch-to-zoom to pull in album art thumbnails for them. Complementing the beautiful design are its home and lock screen widgets, tag editing, online lyrics search etc.
The major downside of n7player is that for free, you only get a trial version that gets annoying due to its nagging reminders of purchasing the full version. We really don’t appreciate that a lot – really!
Pros
Excellent interface design with well-thought elements
Suitable for both portrait and landscape mode of operations
Artist/Genre tag clouds with multitouch controls
Home screen and Lock screen widgets
Tag editor
Online lyrics lookup
Cons
Free version is a nagging trial
Intrusive in-app advertising
Equalizer not very useful
n7player for Android
Cloudskipper
Cloudskipper is one that leaves us with mixed feelings. It’s pretty decent, no doubt, but it’s not being actively developed anymore, which is a huge turn off for quite a few users. On the other hand, the interface is rather neat, and comes with all the usual sorting and playback options. There’s an equalizer as well, although its working is something of a hit or miss. Sealing the deal are lock screen player controls, with the option to even set Cloudskipper itself as your lock screen!
Pros
Neat interface with pleasant design elements
Decent equalizer (when it works)
Social sharing of the currently playing track
Online album art and info lookup
Low memory consumption in background operation (around 12MB)
Lock screen widget and player controls
Cons
Not being actively developed anymore
Lags on older devices (due to equalizer)
Equalizer functionality is fiddly
Cloudskipper for Android
Meridian Player Transcend
Before anything else, just the name of this music player is a mouthful. It is one of those apps that you use just for the sheer number of features that they offer, and decide to tolerate their ugly interface for that reason. I’ll be honest; the interface is hardly acceptable, but Meridian is one of those few players that allow you to play audio and music videos from within the same interface. You can rate songs and build playlists based on these ratings automatically, and can even pull existing playlists from certain other music players as well. In my testing, for instance, Meridian imported playlists from Mixzing, Cloudskipper and Sony’s Walkman music player. Furthermore, Meridian’s ID3 tag editor is most powerful that we’ve seen so far on Android, as it lets you edit album art as well, based on images in your device’s storage.
Pros
Offers features that are rarely found in a free package
Most comprehensive tag editor with album art editing support
Supports the standard 5-star rating system
Playback of videos alongside audio within same interface
Quick playlists
Cons
Unpleasant interface at best
Intrusive in-app advertisement
Useless equalizer
Largest memory footprint (60MB in background operation)
Meridian Player Transcend for Android
musiXmatch
To classify musiXmatch as a music player would be injustice, as the app is so much more than that. It primarily started off as a lyrics discovery service and then incorporated music playback along the way. Its main strength, however, remains in lyrics. musiXmatch doesn’t offer a lot when it comes to playback options, but makes up for it in pulling the right music information from online sources to complement your music library. Nothing gets stored locally, so you’ll need internet connectivity all the time in order to view that information. A slight turn off for me was the fact that most of the modules (like fixing album art, for instance) require you to make in-app purchases, making musiXmatch more of a freemium app.
Pros
Powerful app with largest lyrics search engine
Lyrics sync with song playback and display accordingly
Beautiful interface & design
MusicID service to identify playing songs
Lots of information available from online sources regarding artist, album, track etc.
Several purchasable modules to improve experience
Can pull lyrics for songs playing in other apps as well
Decent memory footprint at 20MB
Cons
Interface navigation could have been better
Almost everything other than simple playback requires purchase
Limited feature set
Requires constant data connection to display the song info & lyrics
musiXmatch for Android
beat
Unlike the rather uninspiring name that this one carries, beat packs quite a punch in a small space. It’s the freshest candidate to embrace Google Play Store, and is undergoing continuous development to improve further. Key highlights include the ability to play both local music as well as from Google Drive and Dropbox. There is an upcoming Webradio as well, but as of now, it’s only a placeholder on the main interface. To complete the package, you get intuitive floating controls, in addition to everything else that you’d expect from a quality music player. You may want to check out our full review of beat for Android for more details.
Pros
Streaming support from the cloud via Dropbox and Google Drive
In-app ads can be turned off free of cost!
Floating controls for music playback
Tag cloud support for stored music
Capable equalizer
Open-source libraries used
Cons
Less polished compared to other seasoned apps
Poor equalizer presets
Webradio still to be developed
Tracks usage data (although you can opt out)
beat for Android
This pretty much concludes our list of best Android Music Players for now. We’ll be updating this article with more contenders in the days to come, as and when they surface. I know I have left out some apps that people would definitely miss, like RealPlayer, Cubed, Double Twist Player & Holo Music Player just to name a few, so let them be honorable mentions in this roundup. The objective was to identify the best music players that you can load on your device without much detriment, and hence, this list is based on my personal experience. Should you agree or disagree, leave us a comment and let your voice be heard.
Read 8 Best Music Players For Android by Aatif Khan on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter