Read update
  • Added more services

Google killed Play Music in October 2020, a service many people loved for one feature in item: its online music file locker with uploaded songs that seamlessly integrated with Play Music's streaming catalog. You could also just add titles y'all own and listen to them without ever having to pay a dime. Luckily, at that place are a few alternatives that replicate some of Play Music's capabilities, including its successor YouTube Music.

Existent online digital lockers

The first category is a collection of services that replicate Play Music's feature set almost 1:1 — you can upload your files to these platforms and heed to them via the respective apps, just as though you would stream music regularly. However, these services take slightly different approaches than Play Music, then here'due south what yous need to spotter out for.

YouTube Music

If you don't heed the YouTube Music interface, it's the most straightforward solution you could hope for. You don't need to create a new business relationship, you can just proceed using your Google login. For a express fourth dimension, you could even straight move your files from Play Music to the newer platform. Once you've uploaded your files to YouTube Music, you'll detect that there are some pregnant differences when it comes to library management and calculation new songs, though.

YouTube Music strictly separates uploaded music from music available on the streaming platform. When you search for your uploaded songs, you always take to switch from the YT Music tab to the Uploadssection, a separation that also divides the library when you manually scroll through your songs. When you sort your library by artist and want to meet someone'due south albums, you're out of luck: You lot tin only see an overview of all songs when you go this route.

You as well lose the dedicated desktop uploading tool that Play Music had. When you want to add together new files to YouTube Music, you lot have to drag and drib it on the service'southward website or rely on an unofficial third-party service.

YouTube Music is a month if you want to admission the streaming service portion of the service without ads, only the online locker is free and doesn't accept ads if y'all merely want access to your own files.

Nosotros explored the differences between Play Music and YouTube Music uploads in great detail in this article.

Apple Music

If you can't stand up YouTube Music at all, y'all might want to requite Apple Music a try. It allows you to upload 100,000 songs just similar YouTube Music using iTunes on your computer. And much like Google's new service, your uploaded library is separated from the music available on the service itself when y'all search, and then that's a limitation yous'll have to live with.

To access your music on an Android device, you'll take to pay $10 a calendar month for Apple Music, only the digital locker portion of the service called iTunes Friction match is also available standalone for $25 a yr if you only utilize Apple products.

iBroadcast

iBroadcast may not take the prettiest interface, but if yous only want access to your uploaded songs wherever you are, it might be the best solution. The costless service lets y'all store an unlimited corporeality of files, comes with Android and iOS apps on top of the web app, supports Chromecast, and has some intelligent Spotify-similar playlists. The privately funded Seattle company backside it promises that it doesn't sell your data (we'll take to take its word on that) and is currently working on a $3.99/calendar month premium service with extra features to stay adrift in the long term.

iBroadcast even has desktopand Android apps that monitor your folders for new music. If your files don't come up with the correct metadata, you can adjust information technology after the fact — a Play Music feature YouTube Music never got. There'due south also Chromecast support.

You lot tin sign up for the service here.

Media Leap

Media Jump is a recently launched Canadian service that allows you to upload up to 1TB of your ain songs on its servers for free. It then lets you stream that music to up to five devices via a spider web interface and mobile apps, and you tin can download songs to your phone for offline listening. In contrast to the other services presented here, Media Leap yet feels pretty rough around the edges when it comes to the interface, merely streaming itself worked without issues for me. Exist aware that a lot of features you unremarkably take for granted are only slated for later, as a spokesperson told u.s.. The squad is working on a proper queue, Chromecast support, an equalizer, additional file formats such as m4a and aac (only mp3, ogg, and flac are supported correct now), one-click album and artist downloads, mass metadata editing, duplicate song checking, and a light mode.

When you sign upwards, the service will ask you to add your home address and phone number, simply you don't have to fill out these details — you but demand to enter your name, electronic mail, and password and proceed setup. If you demand more than 1TB of storage, you tin sign upwards for a $v monthly plan — that's when you do need to enter more than of your personal data. In the future, the company will "most likely" add together ads for gratuitous users, then you might take to pay the subscription fee in the long term if you lot desire to avert that.

Deezer

Deezer isn't our become-to solution as it only lets yous upload a maximum of 2,000 MP3 files. That limit ways information technology'due south only suitable for people who want to augment the service's catalog with a select few titles. Like in YouTube Music, your own files are subconscious away and aren't seamlessly integrated with Deezer's library. They only prove up in an actress department in the desktop app, hidden away nether Favorites in the sidebar -> More -> My MP3s(which is also where y'all upload files). In the Android app, you'll but observe your uploaded titles under Favoritesin the bottom bar ->Playlists -> My MP3s.Deezer can be prepare as the default audio provider on Google Home and Nest devices, the only service in this list to back up information technology other than YouTube Music — which is our main reason for including it in this roundup.

You need to pay for the /month premium subscription to access the online locker, which will also give you lot access to millions of songs without ad interruptions.

Deject-hosted digital lockers

Some people might not be comfortable with uploading their music to an unknown online location and might just want a ameliorate experience when they listen to music added to their existing cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, or their own server. That's where the post-obit services come in.

Astiga

Astiga is a spider web service that offers a user-friendly interface for listening to music you've saved to your cloud storage. It'll automatically organize your titles into a streaming service-like fashion once you've synced your library.

The bones functionality is gratis, but if yous ofttimes add music to your cloud library, you lot might desire to pay for the $iv/month or $24/year premium subscription. It allows you to sync automatically or as oftentimes as you want to instead of simply one time all iii days. Astiga is officially available on Android and the web, but there are 3rd-party and experimental apps for other platforms. You can read more well-nigh it and sign up here.

CloudBeats

Like Astiga, CloudBeats is an app that connects to a cloud storage service or your ain server and lets yous stream your music files to your telephone. The bones functionality is gratuitous, merely if yous want to download files to your phone through the app or transport music to a Chromecast target, you need to pay a one-time fee of $vi.99.

In dissimilarity to the other options listed here, CloudBeats is but available on Android and iOS. You'll demand to use some other player on your desktop to listen to your songs there, so you might run into roadblocks when you desire to sync playlists.

CloudPlayer

CloudPlayer'southward arroyo is almost identical to CloudBeats'. The Android app connects to your OneDrive, Dropbox, and/or Google Drive storage and organizes recognized sound files in a library. You can comb through the library past album, creative person, playlists, genres, songs, or playlists. You likewise get access to online radios. If you lot don't similar the default light theme, you can change information technology, and there are quite a few more options in settings if you don't like some pattern decisions or the default playback beliefs.

A $7.99 in-app purchase gives you lot more features like a 10-ring equalizer, loudness normalization, gapless playback, Chromecast and AirPlay back up, and an advertizing-costless radio experience. There'due south no iOS app — the CloudPlayer Android app is the but mode to go.

Muzecast

Muzecast is another solution when you want to access your own files in the cloud, and it's very much similar to the others listed here. You tin can stream content from your reckoner, Dropbox, or OneDrive. The player supports the usual DRM-free file types. Lossless streaming of upwardly to 24/192 KHz is available, songs are cached on your Android device, information technology has a built-in blaster, and playlists can be synchronized across Android phones and fifty-fifty other apps that support M3U and WPL. Muzecast is also available on Android Machine, Wear Os, and Android TV. It works with Chromecast.

I personally dislike the design, only some people might savour its out-of-the-box retro look. At that place's a free, ad-supported version of Muzecast and a $vii.99 ad-free variant. The Android Boob tube app costs $4.77.

Self-hosted digital lockers

Here are a few solutions that only piece of work with servers or computers situated in your abode or your webspace.

Plex

Y'all've probably already heard of the home entertainment manager Plex that organizes media stored on your estimator or server — cloud services aren't supported (anymore). It wants to be a one-terminate solution for all of your media files like music, films, Tv shows, pictures, and so on. It offers beautiful clients for about all of your devices.

Plex recently launched a standalone music histrion called Plexamp. It's amid the prettier solutions with a blueprint that takes cues from Soundcloud and Spotify, written in responsive and modern React Native lawmaking. Yous demand to pay a calendar month to use it, but yous can also test the regular free Plex app before committing.

Jellyfin

Jellyfin is a completely gratuitous and open up-source alternative to Plex, built on the now proprietary Emby media server. Its Android app isn't equally pretty as Plexamp, simply it absolutely doesn't accept to hibernate its face, either. You lot can install the host software on your calculator or a server, and one time y'all've got everything indexed, you're set to go. Jellyfin lets you download offline copies of your media when you're out and near, there's Chromecast support, an Android TV app, and, most recently, an Android Car interface.

Jellyfin doesn't take native support for deject storage services, simply at that place are solutions if you actually want to. To get started, you demand to install the server application and the Android app.

Personally, I don't think any of these services nails music storage also as Play Music did — Google's service simply had the best integration between your uploaded files and the streaming catalog. The solutions listed here are either simply really good as streaming services or as storage solutions for music you already own. Unfortunately, there'southward no turning dorsum now that Play Music is discontinued, so you'll have to settle for one of these. Of course, you can likewise manually move your music to your telephone and use a histrion like Phonograph.

UPDATE: 2021/01/09 8:59am PST BY MANUEL VONAU

Added more services

Added Media Leap.

Thanks: DonPorazzo, ikeofkc, Oleg Vorkunov

About The Author

Manuel Vonau (1636 Articles Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he'south non writing manufactures for Android Police, he'southward probably out and nearly as a videographer.

More than From Manuel Vonau