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Google killed Play Music in October 2020, a service many people loved for one feature in detail: its online music file locker with uploaded songs that seamlessly integrated with Play Music'south streaming catalog. You could also simply add titles you lot own and listen to them without always 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.

Real online digital lockers

The first category is a collection of services that replicate Play Music's feature set up almost 1:i — you can upload your files to these platforms and listen to them via the respective apps, simply as though you lot would stream music regularly. Still, these services have slightly different approaches than Play Music, and so here'due south what you need to watch out for.

YouTube Music

If you don't listen the YouTube Music interface, it'due south the most straightforward solution you could hope for. Y'all don't need to create a new account, you tin can just keep using your Google login. For a express time, you could fifty-fifty directly move your files from Play Music to the newer platform. Once yous've uploaded your files to YouTube Music, you'll detect that there are some significant differences when it comes to library management and calculation new songs, though.

YouTube Music strictly separates uploaded music from music bachelor on the streaming platform. When yous search for your uploaded songs, you e'er accept to switch from the YT Music tab to the Uploadssection, a separation that also divides the library when you lot manually scroll through your songs. When you sort your library by artist and desire to see someone's albums, y'all're out of luck: Y'all tin can simply see an overview of all songs when you go this route.

You also lose the dedicated desktop uploading tool that Play Music had. When you want to add new files to YouTube Music, you have to elevate and drop information technology on the service's website or rely on an unofficial third-party service.

YouTube Music is a month if you want to access the streaming service portion of the service without ads, but the online locker is free and doesn't have ads if yous only want access to your own files.

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

Apple tree Music

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

To access your music on an Android device, you'll take to pay $10 a calendar month for Apple tree Music, merely the digital locker portion of the service called iTunes Match is too available standalone for $25 a year if yous only use Apple tree products.

iBroadcast

iBroadcast may non have the prettiest interface, only if you only want access to your uploaded songs wherever you are, information technology might be the all-time solution. The complimentary service lets you shop an unlimited amount of files, comes with Android and iOS apps on top of the web app, supports Chromecast, and has some intelligent Spotify-like playlists. The privately funded Seattle company behind it promises that information technology doesn't sell your information (we'll have to take its word on that) and is currently working on a $iii.99/month premium service with actress 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 with the correct metadata, yous can adjust it afterward the fact — a Play Music feature YouTube Music never got. At that place's likewise Chromecast support.

You can sign up for the service hither.

Media Leap

Media Leap is a recently launched Canadian service that allows you lot to upload upward to 1TB of your own songs on its servers for free. It so lets you lot stream that music to up to v devices via a spider web interface and mobile apps, and you can download songs to your telephone for offline listening. In contrast to the other services presented hither, Media Leap still feels pretty rough around the edges when it comes to the interface, but streaming itself worked without issues for me. Be enlightened that a lot of features you usually take for granted are only slated for later on, as a spokesperson told us. The squad is working on a proper queue, Chromecast support, an equalizer, boosted file formats such as m4a and aac (merely mp3, ogg, and flac are supported right now), i-click anthology and artist downloads, mass metadata editing, indistinguishable song checking, and a low-cal mode.

When you sign up, the service volition ask you to add your home accost and phone number, but you don't have to fill out these details — you just demand to enter your name, electronic mail, and password and go along setup. If y'all need more than 1TB of storage, you tin sign up for a $5 monthly programme — that's when y'all practice need to enter more than of your personal data. In the future, the company will "most probable" add ads for complimentary users, so you might have to pay the subscription fee in the long term if you lot want to avoid that.

Deezer

Deezer isn't our go-to solution as it only lets y'all upload a maximum of 2,000 MP3 files. That limit means it'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'south library. They only show upward in an extra department in the desktop app, hidden away under Favorites in the sidebar -> More -> My MP3s(which is also where you upload files). In the Android app, y'all'll only find your uploaded titles under Favoritesin the bottom bar ->Playlists -> My MP3s.Deezer can be ready as the default audio provider on Google Domicile 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 demand to pay for the /month premium subscription to access the online locker, which will as well give yous access to millions of songs without advert interruptions.

Cloud-hosted digital lockers

Some people might non be comfortable with uploading their music to an unknown online location and might but want a better experience when they heed to music added to their existing deject services like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, or their ain server. That's where the post-obit services come in.

Astiga

Astiga is a web service that offers a convenient interface for listening to music you've saved to your deject storage. It'll automatically organize your titles into a streaming service-similar fashion one time you've synced your library.

The basic functionality is gratis, but if you oft add together music to your cloud library, you might desire to pay for the $4/month or $24/yr premium subscription. It allows you to sync automatically or as often every bit y'all want to instead of simply once all three days. Astiga is officially bachelor on Android and the spider web, but there are third-political party and experimental apps for other platforms. You can read more about information technology and sign upwards here.

CloudBeats

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

In dissimilarity to the other options listed hither, CloudBeats is just available on Android and iOS. You'll need to employ another player on your desktop to mind to your songs at that place, so you might run into roadblocks when you lot want to sync playlists.

CloudPlayer

CloudPlayer's arroyo is almost identical to CloudBeats'. The Android app connects to your OneDrive, Dropbox, and/or Google Drive storage and organizes recognized audio files in a library. Yous can comb through the library past album, artist, playlists, genres, songs, or playlists. Yous besides become access to online radios. If yous don't like the default low-cal theme, you tin can change it, and there are quite a few more than options in settings if you don't like some design decisions or the default playback behavior.

A $7.99 in-app purchase gives you lot more than features like a ten-band equalizer, loudness normalization, gapless playback, Chromecast and AirPlay back up, and an ad-free radio experience. There's no iOS app — the CloudPlayer Android app is the but way to go.

Muzecast

Muzecast is another solution when you desire to admission your ain files in the cloud, and it's very much similar to the others listed here. You can stream content from your computer, Dropbox, or OneDrive. The player supports the usual DRM-free file types. Lossless streaming of up to 24/192 KHz is available, songs are cached on your Android device, it has a built-in equalizer, and playlists can be synchronized across Android phones and even other apps that support M3U and WPL. Muzecast is also available on Android Auto, Wear OS, and Android Television set. Information technology works with Chromecast.

I personally dislike the design, but some people might bask its out-of-the-box retro look. In that location's a free, advertising-supported version of Muzecast and a $7.99 advertisement-costless variant. The Android TV app costs $4.77.

Cocky-hosted digital lockers

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

Plex

You've probably already heard of the home entertainment manager Plex that organizes media stored on your computer or server — deject services aren't supported (anymore). It wants to exist a i-stop solution for all of your media files like music, films, TV shows, pictures, and and then on. It offers beautiful clients for nearly all of your devices.

Plex recently launched a standalone music player called Plexamp. It'south among the prettier solutions with a design that takes cues from Soundcloud and Spotify, written in responsive and modern React Native code. You demand to pay a month to use it, but you can besides exam the regular free Plex app before committing.

Jellyfin

Jellyfin is a completely costless and open up-source alternative to Plex, built on the at present proprietary Emby media server. Its Android app isn't equally pretty as Plexamp, only it absolutely doesn't have to hide its face, either. You tin can install the host software on your computer or a server, and once you've got everything indexed, you're ready to become. Jellyfin lets you download offline copies of your media when you're out and most, there's Chromecast support, an Android TV app, and, nearly recently, an Android Machine interface.

Jellyfin doesn't have native support for cloud storage services, but there are solutions if you really want to. To become started, you need to install the server application and the Android app.

Personally, I don't think whatever of these services nails music storage too as Play Music did — Google'southward service just had the best integration between your uploaded files and the streaming catalog. The solutions listed here are either only really expert as streaming services or as storage solutions for music you already own. Unfortunately, there's no turning back now that Play Music is discontinued, so you'll have to settle for ane of these. Of grade, you can also manually movement your music to your telephone and utilise a player like Phonograph.

UPDATE: 2021/01/09 viii:59am PST By MANUEL VONAU

Added more than services

Added Media Jump.

Thanks: DonPorazzo, ikeofkc, Oleg Vorkunov

Nearly The Author

Manuel Vonau (1639 Manufactures Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he's non writing articles for Android Police, he's probably out and well-nigh equally a videographer.

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