Related
As of Jan 3,2011...
If anyone can give information / review about how different apps save downloaded art, it would be very helpful. It seems that art can be embedded in ID3 tags, or it can have put in a folder. But different programs save in different folders or into an "album art" file...which may not be compatible with different programs. Also, how does iTunes, Winamp, and Windows Media handle this? (Ive used each for my music collection, and so may have different types of cover art formats in my collection)
12/28/2010 I didn't mean to start making this into a bigger post. But let me first say what I'm looking at/for:
Features I'm paying attention to:
headset control
Lock Screen and homepage widget
General UI ( and in particular, ease of getting from a "playlist" back to the "Now playing" quickly
Features which are sort of cool to me:
lyric display
Folder / File Organization
Album art (it would help me if someone could tell me about the different types and options here. ID3 mode? Files?
(and a distant fourth in importance) Video player
Equalizer (I don
't care about this but everyone else seems to be)
Features are just can't get myself to care about:
Scrobbing (whatever the hell that is)
Social stuff
Any damn fraking thing that statistically analyzes my preference in order to help me decide what I like. I don't want to robotize my music.
So this is what I have looked at so far:
Samsung Default:
Great Status bar and lock screen controls. headset controls. Has equalizer. NO Folder Select (it scans all music on the phone and so will get unintended stuff into the library). Nothing special other than this, but it a good app. HOWEVER, I'm now using Darky's ROM which does not have the Samsung Lock Screen. The Samsung player's lockscreen widget is tied to the Samsung lockscreen. Also does not have homescreen widget, but this is more than made up for by the very good notification bar integration.
Meridian:
Plays video and music. Headset controls but no lock screen. Good gesture control. Edit ID Tags
Cubed:
Video and Music. NIce Lockscreen widget. Headset controls. Art download in ID3 mode. However I still don't terribly like the interface, but it works. Has a directory filter , so can play just a folder and keep out unwanted songs (like game songs). Downloads art in ID3...method. Don't know if that's good or bad. There really is no "Now Playing" screen. It just shows it super-imposed on the song library. Which is not pretty but its actually functional. For me, Cubed is a good free app.
MixZing:
Plays music and video. Options up the yingyang, including lots of social crap. I'm not going to detail here because lockscreen version is a paid app, and I'm focusing on not paying (it does have trial period though). Good UI. Can do folder view, and has good folder management options. Can switch between folder list and now playing very quickly. Has headset controls. Has Equalizer. Auto-download album art. The free version is staying on my phone because it plays video. Lots of damn social crap.
Winamp:
Just plays Music. Interface easy, but maybe a little dull (maybe there are skinning options?). Has headset controls and lockscreen. Ability to look up info and search on the artist. Ability to syn with Winamp desktop, so a good choice if you use that. Some social crap. No Equalizer
DoubleTwist:
Looks a little like Winamp, but also plays video. Has Lockscreen wideget and headset controls. With $5 purchase can sync with Itunes. No equalizer.
UI is mostly good, if not exciting. Does not do folder view(!). Not that many options. If I wanted to use one player for both music and video, and have the lockscreen widget and handset controls, this definitly works. It also has art download, but that's not so important to me. I also use iTunes Agent to file-sync anyway.
Miui:
Bare basic player. No equalizer. No lockscreen widget. No headset controls. What this does have is a) art download , and most exciting b) lyric read-along. I intend to use this app just for my KTV practice, so it will stay on my phone
(but I recently discovered Lyrics App, which allows me to see Lyrics of everything).
PowerAmp:
This has everything. But the free version is 15 day trialware, and I don't want to go through it all here. One thing I remember about this is that it allows fine customization of its widget appearence.
TinyPlayer:
As the name implies, a small player with minimum bells and wistles. My device is an SGS which generally has an OK time with demanding applications, so this is not for me. But for those who want a simple bare-minimum player, this works.
......
Others have mentioned apps which I need to pay for to try, such as Lithium Player... apps which have a social network focus (Tunewiki), and apps that I need to flash (CW Mod). I'm sorry I cannot add these to this list now.
12/27/2010
I'm in China and sometimes the market is problematic (although I could just fix that with a VPN). When I can download again, I intend to note the features of :
btunes
Astro Player
TuneWiki
Also, I will re-download all the above (I just wiped-flash Darky's awesome ROM for my SGS) and go back over the others and note down features I missed.
Here is a pic of the homescreen widgets.
Widgets (from top to bottom):
Meridian
Cubed
MixZing
Winamp
Doubletwist
I'll never understand why people say they don't understand "cubed" interface. What's confusing about it? It's the same thing as scrolling through albums with a little animation. The new update gives you control over the directory files, so it's not like it's different then any other player. Do people really get that shocked when they see something that looks different but operates the exact same?
Just scroll up or down, man. You'll see the albums or artist (depending on how you choose) in ABC order. You want to skip to a different letter, scroll side to side. That's literally the entire learning curve. Don't like the cube? Change the view mode to Morph Flow. Don't like looking at albums? Change the view mode to boring, it just gives you a list.
The only thing I can possibly imagine people being slow to realize is that to change the place of a song, you click on the dotted light thing at the bottom. To change from artist to album to song you drag the dotted bar in the bottom-middle to the right or left.
This all took me less then 2 minutes to figure out.
poweramp = iTunes . I'm off it. same **** different skin. Cubed can scan all the bands in your library and tell you A) when their upcoming release is and B) the next time their playing a show within 50 miles of you (you can adjust the distance). Now THAT'S practical application.
I appreciate you putting this list together. It is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.
Hands down the best player is TINY PLAYER. It actually does REAL folder play like you're using windows explorer on your home computer.
Another great feature is the live font size option which lets me read long file names. Even Poweramp doesn't have that crucial feature. What good is it if I can't read what song it is. Especially true for Classical music with long file names.
PS - It is the ugliest ui ever tho lol. But I really don't care.
PS2 - Poweramp doesn't have everything. It lacks sleep timer and font size changing to read long file names. And no true folder play. Both of which are available in tiny player. and it is tiny at 64kb
I figured I would throw a few notes in the discussion about music players since music is a big part of my Android experience. I use two apps, one for playing music located on my phone, and another app for streaming from my home PC.
1) Mixing:
the main reason I bought this app was because of the lock screen abilities. Not only does it give you gesture commands from the lock screen, but it also has a setting that will make the lock screen come active for a few seconds each time a new song starts, showing the album art and song information. I like this a lot since it allows me to see what has just started playing, and mainly because it gives me a few seconds to skip the song if I do not like it ... instead of having to hit the power button first to activate the screen, like all the other music apps do ... it's one less step to distract you when driving. It is a small, nitch feature, but it is worth the money of the full version app for me. I have yet to find another music app that does this.
2) Audiogalaxy:
Hands down, this is the best app to use if you want to stream music from your home computer. This is great for people like me that have huge music libraries that will not fit on an SD card. All you have to do is download the app for your phone, install a small program on your PC, and sign up on their website. It is free, and it simply works with no hastles. I have tried many other apps that I could not get to work ... they all required me to **** around with ports and IP addresses, and I could not get any of them to work. Audiogalaxy was so easy my mom could do it. No screwing around with ports or IP's, just install, setup which folders you want to scan, and then wait for it to build your library. Great app!!
Hopefully Mixzing adds streaming ability into its code so I can just use one music app. Until then I will continue to use these two apps together. Together they make for an awesome music experience on the Android phone.
hi, nice list for reference.
just a quick note from me, i'm using miui and the lockscreen and heatset controls works on cm6 which has those tweaks modded on.
irish22022 said:
I'll never understand why people say they don't understand "cubed" interface. What's confusing about it? ...
Just scroll up or down, man. You'll see the albums or artist (depending on how you choose) in ABC order. ...
...Cubed can scan all the bands in your library and tell you A) when their upcoming release is and B) the next time their playing a show within 50 miles of you (you can adjust the distance). Now THAT'S practical application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I should say I like "folder view". Or just Song List. I have a lot of songs from independents, songs un-attributed in the tags, songs from Chinese artists, etc. So I don't want to go to an Album or Artist, but rather to a folder. I'm sorry...I did not know the correct terminology.
As for internet-related content, you may have seen I call that stuff "social crap". I have no idea what scrobbing is. The artists don't come to China. And even if I was in the US, I really could not care to share my music tastes with others... let everyone find their own muse.
nghj said:
hi, nice list for reference.
just a quick note from me, i'm using miui and the lockscreen and heatset controls works on cm6 which has those tweaks modded on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh. Sounds cool. I don't want to have to flash something just to get that function though. But having lyrics is fun.
AlexNC75 said:
I figured I would throw a few notes in the discussion about music players since music is a big part of my Android experience. I use two apps, one for playing music located on my phone, and another app for streaming from my home PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just focusing on Apps that I can use outside. But thanks for those comments. Does AudioGalaxy allow non-streaming, regular functionality? FYI some of the other players above (I think Meridian) also have streaming, but I didn't review this because its not something I look for. I need to update for this feature I guess.
I will now download tinyplayer and add this to the review. I also hope to download (from somewhere) the stock Android player.
Right now probably Doubletwist will be my main player, only because its a music and video player that has lockscreen widget and headset controls. OR I will try to reinstall the Galaxy SGS player (which is uninstalled after flashing Darky's ROM). Funny thing is Doubletwist's main sell-point is iPhone integration, and I don't care enough about that to purchase it.
If I was going to spend money (which I may just do), then Mixing is the best of what I have reviewed so far. I don't know if its worth $5 for now.
I personally use 2 music players
1 standard CyanogenMod player
2 Lithium player
I normally do this because I will have music on lithium, and podcast download through methods other than my podcast player in t he CM music player.
since nobody mentioned lithium and it's a pay app I would mention a few things..
Pro: Looks great, UI is great and has nice things like volume built in, multi-colors/customizations and the #1 reason I bought it is it grabs album art for with a few clicks!
Cons: The ui for FF/RW skips to big of a segment in a 2 hour, or 2 hour podcast (not a big deal, it's a music player not a podcast player) and one semi-major issue for me is the program NEVER shows up in tasks (holding home), or previously used programs (etc). For some reason android doesn't recognize it as a program and the CM lockscreen music controls don't work for it.
To me the pro's outweigh the cons so I purchased it even if just for the album grabber.
I still really like bTunes.
I know it's abandonware, but it's only $1.49.
Looks like the iPod player (may be a good thing or a bad thing), it's very simple to use, it has a nice widget and even though it hasn't been updated in some time, it works great on froyo and never crashes on my phone. I don't think it has an equalizer.
TuneWiki is my fave, actually one of my fave Android apps.
Music Player Pro is still the best for me, I wish PowerAmp gets some of MPP features to use only one.
Thanks for the comments about the apps you tested
Tinyplayer for me on the Inc. Half the players can't find the built in memory. Most of the others can't restrict themselves to a folder so a bunch of sound files that aren't music and belong to games.
dvdivx said:
Tinyplayer for me on the Inc. Half the players can't find the built in memory. Most of the others can't restrict themselves to a folder so a bunch of sound files that aren't music and belong to games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking at Mort Player now and it also does folder selection but has a lot more options, (headset control for one)
I'm still using the basic player ...
I've tried some of the more robust apps, but damn if they don't chew up a bunch of runtime memory, causing lag. I'd like an equalizer, but I don't want all the extra garbage that comes with an app, when I don't need it.
Have gone through various music players but Power Amp is the best it's worth paying for in the market.
Rockbox is absolutely the best choice. Equalizer, actual playlist support, themes, lockscreen controls, and plays every codec at the highest quality you throw at it. Just missing widgets, but it's a little buggy at the moment and it's still early in development.
i think u forgot TTPOD
A nice feature is if it is compatible with Last.FM scrobble apps
Nice summary atm i use Winamp becausr it has a esay ui and i love the shoutcast Radio Feature but maybe i switch to Double Twist because of the wifi sync i dont know yet...
Lollipop_Lawlipop said:
Rockbox is absolutely the best choice. Equalizer, actual playlist support, themes, lockscreen controls, and plays every codec at the highest quality you throw at it. Just missing widgets, but it's a little buggy at the moment and it's still early in development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will check it out. Widgets is a must-have for me, unless it also has a status bar control option (which is even better than widgets.
jonny68 said:
Have gone through various music players but Power Amp is the best it's worth paying for in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to agree, but I'm not sure how much money I want to spend on my phone. Part of me wants to get an iPhone and never have to fudge around with settings and roms again. Part of me hates the iPhone because I can't do with it what I want. So I'm trying not to invest more money in my phone unless I get something really really must-have. As the default player with the SGS is good (and now can use it with Darky's ROM), I'm good.
phoezies said:
i think u forgot TTPOD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will check it out and update.
Zalastax said:
A nice feature is if it is compatible with Last.FM scrobble apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in China and so have missed the social network craze. I think if I was in USA, I still would have missed it.
Poapfel said:
Nice summary atm i use Winamp becausr it has a esay ui and i love the shoutcast Radio Feature but maybe i switch to Double Twist because of the wifi sync i dont know yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Winamp's UI is easy, but Double Twist is very similar UI IMO.
Hey guys,basically I'm looking for a music player app that lets you control your music (previous, play/pause, next) from the notification bar. Are there any music apps out there that have this ability?
Thanks.
Sent from my FutureShocks HD2 MIUI using XDA App
Samsung Music Player. IDK how you'll get it though when you don't have a samsung device, since the notification bar music controller is part of the touchwiz UI.
I can't get Widgetsoid to show things in the pull-down menu..
Try CM7
The latest nightly builds of CM7 gives you the power to put widgets in the pull down bar to control your music. If you flash a cm7 rom and you go into cyanogenmod settings, you'll find them under 'widgets' there somewhere. So it would not matter what music player you have. It will control it for you. I hope this helps.
Thanks, but i'm not yet comfortable flashing my device. I'm too dependent on it that if something goes wrong, i'm f*****.
Plus my computer died one hour ago.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
BazookaAce said:
I can't get Widgetsoid to show things in the pull-down menu..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It didn't work on my Samsung SGS. Maybe if I start a music player first, it would work. But in that case, the default player is just better (for its controls, not in terms of overall features).
I really don't know why no one has tried to post the SGS default music player. It does not have all those features like PlayerPro, but having controls in the notification area (as well as a nice lock screen widget) really is great. If only it could be made to only play songs by folder...
better music player does this i also found on here if you search for the samsung music widget works pretty nice too!
Evening Guys,
I have been using iTunes on my PC and an app on my Android phone to control it. Now this is going to sound stupid but it functions amazingly but I don't like the look of the app on my phone. The developer doesn't seem likely to change the appearance and so I am on the hunt for something more Android.
Can anyone recommend a music player that has a good looking, functional Android remote control app??
Hello Guys any way we can get Samsung Music player to work on out onep 7 pro?? Im looking for a music player with full controls on lockscreen
grodri19721 said:
Hello Guys any way we can get Samsung Music player to work on out onep 7 pro?? Im looking for a music player with full controls on lockscreen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd love the same. It recently has been made compatible with Android auto so I keep going back to the Samsung note 10 plus instead of using the oneplus 7 pro which I really love. I hope someone can make it happen but won't hold my breath.
I use Pi Music Player and paid to remove their ads forever. Great music player and works when screen is locked. I can also use Oneplus screen gestures to skip, forward and pause track and the screen continues to stay black.
For those of us who want to run a more standard Android launcher (Nova, oem launchers, etc), what are you guys doing re: music player controls?
I've noticed that car launchers like Agama and Vivid have pretty cool music controls integrated in- whether it is my Bluetooth connection to a phone, Spotify, Amazon Music, YT Music, etc., it displays whatever track information it has (sometimes art too) and universal play/pause/next/prev buttons. I like that.
My Atoto S8 Ultra (uis7862 based unit) comes with a pretty standard launcher. There is a music widget that seems to control just the built in local music player, which I don't like and therefore don't use. It got me thinking, are there any universal widgets that can work the same way the Vivid/Agama/etc launchers handle it?
I found and tried the following so far:
Music Widgets for Car Devices
This seemed promising on paper. I can't get it to switch between sources however, it gets stuck on the last one used even if I clear all open apps. For example, if I had Spotify open, and the next time I drive I want to listen to Amazon Music, it still shows Spotify controls and track information. I have to go into settings for the widget and press OK, only then will it update.
Also, I think I had the Bluetooth track control the very first time I installed it (I was playing music over BT to test it), but ever since I used it with anything else (Spotify, Amazon, etc) it refuses to ever go back to BT control.
Material Music Widget
I like the aesthetics of this one, seems much nicer than the first one. BUT, the trial version only allows you to connect it to a single app player so I can't confirm if it does what I want correctly. I also can't seem to get it to recognize the BT player, I'd imagine if it wasn't designed to be a car player widget it wouldn't be aware of that as an option.
What else should I try? What do you guys use?
I use Poweramp without any widget. The interface allows you to swipe left, right, up and down on the album cover. Very easy and intuitive. I like keeping it open to see the album cover. I have navigation, Waze on the left 2/3 of the screen and Poweramp on the right 1/3. I think it's 2/3 and 1/3 or it could be 3/4 and 1/4...not sure. I usually use the steering wheel controls to switch to the next song and play/pause. I have another button to change source, but I usually don't. I usually listen to the music on my USB stick using Poweramp.
mastrv said:
I use Poweramp without any widget. The interface allows you to swipe left, right, up and down on the album cover. Very easy and intuitive. I like keeping it open to see the album cover. I have navigation, Waze on the left 2/3 of the screen and Poweramp on the right 1/3. I think it's 2/3 and 1/3 or it could be 3/4 and 1/4...not sure. I usually use the steering wheel controls to switch to the next song and play/pause. I have another button to change source, but I usually don't. I usually listen to the music on my USB stick using Poweramp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't help me though.
I have multiple drivers of my car between my wife and daughter, we use a mix of sources between Spotify, Amazon Music, AA/Bluetooth (because my daughter has her own spotify account she wants to use), etc.
It's annoying to have so many interfaces, I feel like there could/should be one set of "now playing" info on the display, with one universal set of controls for pause/play/next etc.
Agama and other launchers do this correctly, but their UI is too busy and too far from stock for me. I like the stock Android UI better, with the recognizable and colorful icons, but finding a widget like this seems harder than expected.
I am finding the folks at 4PDA made something called Music Proxy which sort of takes over the FYT standard audio player and uses that widget. However, Atoto's built in player widget is kind of ugly, huge, and doesn't even support album art (unlike other launchers that have this built in), I was hoping for a better option.
Suggesting a totally different app (Poweramp) isn't a solution for me personally, although I appreciate the reply.
Still searching for music widget that can go forward and rewind the tracks
Ubiquity ?
surfer63 said:
Ubiquity ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that work on our modern Android OS?
dishe2 said:
Does that work on our modern Android OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea. I know they used it on the FYT Android 6 Sofia's. I never used it. I had to dig down deep in my memory and then search Google Play Store to find it back.
I guess you simply have to try.
surfer63 said:
No idea. I know they used it on the FYT Android 6 Sofia's. I never used it. I had to dig down deep in my memory and then search Google Play Store to find it back.
I guess you simply have to try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanted to as soon you wrote it, but it says not compatible with my version of Android.
I could try forcing it via side load but I feel like it might just not work since it says designed for KitKat.
Its a shame because we know it's possible for a widget to do what we are asking but no one has done it.
Meanwhile, thanks to suggestions elsewhere here, I found the music widget updater for Teyes and the music proxy app from 4pda that goes along with it.
It's VERY CLOSE to what I want. It turns the standard FYT music player into a "now playing" universal widget, supports pretty much any media including Bluetooth, and gives play/pause/prev/next controls to whatever is currently playing.
The only problem is that the Atoto oem widget is ugly and still doesn't support album art the way the ones I found above do.
It also doesn't go forward or back in the track like the other suggestion, but I know that isn't compatible with Bluetooth streaming anyway (avrcp support is weak, even in the Bluetooth player screen).
I wish I had more experience with app development so I could try making it myself.
Do you have link?
WidgetUpdater for Teyes (Demo) - Apps on Google Play
Display title, artist and cover of the track in Teyes widgets
play.google.com
FYI, thanks to a post in another thread, @surfer63 pointed out that Ubiquity widget DOES work if you just sideload the apk, despite the Play Store saying incompatible. I installed mine from here and it seems to work:
https://m.apkpure.com/ubiquity-music-widget/com.jackthakar.musicwidget
The problem is, it STILL doesn't do what I wanted apparently: Give universal controls for all audio playing, including Bluetooth.
It's pretty much the same as the apps listed in the first post - as in, a good universal widget for apps (Spotify, Amazon Music, Youtube, etc). But it still does not recognize Bluetooth audio streaming. For that source of audio, you need to use the Bluetooth app on the radio to see and control what's playing. This is what I'm trying to avoid having to do.
The launchers like Vivid, Agama, etc, can all seem to integrate this into one player control. Even the WidgetUpdater for Teyes app linked above this post seems to get it, but relies on a very poorly designed stock launcher widget that doesn't look right on Atoto's launcher (text is aligned oddly). It's totally possible to get this working, but I wonder what I'm doing wrong.
Is it possible that Ubiquity works with other FYT units and their Bluetooth controls? I know my Atoto has a funny Bluetooth system compared to other FYT radios.
UPDATE:
Vivid Launcher. If you've tried it before and found it buggy, try it again now. It does it perfectly.
A long time ago and it was terrible re: compatibility with FYT (it was made for a different radio type). Tried to do too much customization and fell short, being buggy and freezing a lot.
I just tried it again because I remember their music widget was pretty spot on, and I have to say it seems like they really fixed it up to be more compatible, and the audio controls are now EVERYTHING I WANTED IT TO BE!
It will even automatically switch to Bluetooth audio as a source if you start playing something off your phone, pausing the head unit's playback elsewhere. Before this, if I was playing Spotify locally, I couldn't hear voice notes on my phone unless I switch over to the BT app. With the new Vivid launcher, it will automatically pause Spotify and switch to BT as a source when it detects something is playing there. I can then hit play on spotify again and continue.
And no matter what audio source is active, their music screen acts as a universal widget with controls and titles and even album art if there is any. I'm just so excited to have found this I had to share.
dishe2 said:
UPDATE:
Vivid Launcher. If you've tried it before and found it buggy, try it again now. It does it perfectly.
A long time ago and it was terrible re: compatibility with FYT (it was made for a different radio type). Tried to do too much customization and fell short, being buggy and freezing a lot.
I just tried it again because I remember their music widget was pretty spot on, and I have to say it seems like they really fixed it up to be more compatible, and the audio controls are now EVERYTHING I WANTED IT TO BE!
It will even automatically switch to Bluetooth audio as a source if you start playing something off your phone, pausing the head unit's playback elsewhere. Before this, if I was playing Spotify locally, I couldn't hear voice notes on my phone unless I switch over to the BT app. With the new Vivid launcher, it will automatically pause Spotify and switch to BT as a source when it detects something is playing there. I can then hit play on spotify again and continue.
And no matter what audio source is active, their music screen acts as a universal widget with controls and titles and even album art if there is any. I'm just so excited to have found this I had to share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of phone do you have and what version of Vivid launcher?
I have special version working well with NavRadio+ and when I use my phone that player sometimes changes into BT playing even if there's no music, but for example sound of typing.
I have a Oneplus 10 Pro, and I dunno - whatever version of Vivid is on the play store about 3 days ago!
I just installed the Vivid launcher on my wife's A6 pf (8581a) and none of the bluetooth or phone functions exist, so I guess they turn on / off features when it recognizes certain hardware?
I noticed that mine lags a couple of seconds before switching to bluetooth, so a notification like turning on my phone or getting a message doesn't switch, but anything that plays for 2+ seconds did. So a voice note would cut off the first couple of seconds, but at least I can replay if I need to and still don't need to change the headunit over.
Maybe your kb has too much constant noise so it clicks over?