# Android Phone Users: What music player do you use and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2019, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656 "2019-03-28T11:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/21 "2019-04-06T03:35:39Z")
I use X-plore but only for file management. It’s kind of weird, there are two folders open at all time, and moving files isn’t with cut/paste like other programs. I think I’ll stick with it, I haven’t found anything better since ES Browser became adware. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/22 "2019-04-06T17:13:52Z")
X-plore packs in a lot of features for an App. There’s a web server to move files to a pc. Reminds me of FTP sites that we used 20 years ago. It treats rar and zip files just like folders. Opens pdfs. I recently started using a thumb drive with my phone. That requires the Microsoft ExFat/NTFS App to mount the usb drive. Then x-plore uses the Paragon File System Link to access the drive & files. Works real well. My internal flash storage was getting full, so I’ve been transferring video files to my thumb drive. I went ahead and made a full donation to unlock everything. Cake & Coffee, I think it was $20? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/23 "2019-04-06T17:39:33Z")
I downloaded X-Plore, but it seems to only play music files in alphabetical order. I like to play albums in their original track order and Musicolet is a good app for tagging music files. Does anyone know if you can make a playlist with X-Plore? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/24 "2019-04-06T18:04:08Z")
The track numbers keep my cd rips playing in the right order. Even windows will play files in alphabetical order without track numbers. Have you tried long pressing on the Folder and selecting play from the menu? I learned something. Didn’t know about the default playlist. From the help file Playlist As mentioned, playlist is created automatically from file’s folder. Playlist is shown by clicking on album art image in the music player screen. The playlist allows to skip directly to desired track, it shows order of tracks, and allows to remove track from playlist or even delete the track’s file. Track sorting Tracks in playlist are sorted (and played) either in same order as files are listed in X-plore’s browser, or they are shuffled which results in random playback of tracks. The selection may be changed from player’s menu. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/25 "2019-04-06T18:11:08Z")
I’ll email the developer and ask if he could load a m3u file from a pc. That’s the most common playlist file that many people already have in their music folders ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/26 "2019-04-06T20:22:48Z")
I’ll stick with Musicolet. It has tagging features that don’t require the purchase of “beers” to use. It’s very configurable and completely free to use. ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/27 "2019-04-06T22:11:57Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Don’t just about all the players have these functions? VLC has all codecs integrated. The user never has to diagnose, find and install weird codecs, which is admittedly less amazing in 2019 than in 2009. If your processor can handle it, VLC will play it. Yes, there’s a lot of overlap with other players. I was verbose in comparing functionality to itunes, which is all about metadata. VLC is free, with a long development history. No spyware, no ads, no amateurish android crap. Yes, it is just another media player. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/28 "2019-04-06T22:16:07Z")
I use [Pulsar](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rhmsoft.pulsar&hl=en_US) because it’s free, does not have ads, and seems fine. I used to use Google Play Music, because I could upload all of my music to Google, and then easily cache it on my phone. I stopped because Google Play Music would occasionally freak out and consume all of my battery, even when it wasn’t playing anything. It’s been a year or so since I had it installed, so hopefully they’ve fixed whatever bug was causing the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/29 "2019-04-07T02:39:02Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Black Player, because it’s free, easy to use and highly rated. It appears on almost all “Best free Android music player” lists. I use it, too. I bought the pay version when it dropped to 99 cents. It does everything I need and is great. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/30 "2019-04-07T07:13:41Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I was mostly using Google Play Music, but since I subscribed to a YouTube Premium account I usually just go to YouTube and play whatever I want. I have no idea if it was a special offer or a timing thing but I get YouTube Premium as part of my Google Play Music subscription. They just notified me one day that I now had it included and I do. It has been a long while now so not a trial deal. It may be worth looking into. They cost me $9.95 AUD a month. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/31 "2019-04-07T13:45:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ll email the developer and ask if he could load a m3u file from a pc. That’s the most common playlist file that many people already have in their music folders One problem with m3u’s that just point to mp3 files is the entries include the whole directory path, for example _on the PC_. To mpve that playlist to a portable device, in addition to moving the song, the directory components need to be adjusted to the new location. This requires Skill and Knowledge on the part of the programmer who writes the code doing the transfer. I.e., it doesn’t happen nearly as often as it should. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/32 "2019-04-07T13:54:26Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > Rocket Player. I sprung for the paid version, but there’s a free version as well. I tried a bunch of players but stuck with Rocket Player for it’s dynamic, rules-based playlists (there may be others with this feature, I haven’t looked lately). For example, I have a playlist that contains songs that haven’t been played in the past 90 days. When a song gets played, it automatically drops off the playlist until 90 days later, so I’m always getting songs I haven’t listened to for awhile. > > There are also lots of little things about the interface and the way it organizes things that I like, too. No one thing I can point to and say “This!”, but more the way the aggregate works together as a whole. I also use Rocket Player. I started using it because there was some easy way to import play lists from iTunes on my Mac to my Android phone. It’s pretty old, there may be better options now. But it still works fine for me. I don’t care for Play Music because it alway wants to look at the cloud. I am often off-line, and I don’t store a lot in the cloud (except backups in DropBox, which isn’t where Play looks) so I found it annoying. ALSO, I have a lot of music I’ve recorded that was made by friends. When Play was working, if I searched my phone for my friend (typically because I wanted either their address or their phone number) the first hit was always the Google Play record of their music. That was so annoying that I disabled Play. But that probably doesn’t apply to many people. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/33 "2019-04-07T15:20:04Z")
> [@Thylacine](#): > > I have no idea if it was a special offer or a timing thing but I get YouTube Premium as part of my Google Play Music subscription. They just notified me one day that I now had it included and I do. It has been a long while now so not a trial deal. It may be worth looking into. They cost me $9.95 AUD a month. Google owns YouTube, so it may be a package deal they offer to all subscribers. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/34 "2019-04-07T15:47:19Z")
> [@road\_lobo](#): > > … > In addition, I like 1by1. If you have music organized into folders, 1by1 will just play everything in a directory in alphanumeric order (unless you switch it to random). With 1by1 you don’t have to make playlists or make sure every mp3 has meticulous and consistent metadata. Not sure if 1by1 is in the Play store, you may need to sideload it. There is a windows version as well. > > [http://mpesch3.de1.cc/1by1.html](http://mpesch3.de1.cc/1by1.html) I could not find 1by1 in the Play Store. I’ve been using a similar app, called Folder Player. You put your music in nested folders on your device, and select a folder from within the app. It plays everything in the folder and its sub-folders, either alphabetically or randomly. Very neat. No need for cockamamie “playlists.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/35 "2019-04-07T17:04:34Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I could not find 1by1 in the Play Store. I’ve been using a similar app, called Folder Player. You put your music in nested folders on your device, and select a folder from within the app. It plays everything in the folder and its sub-folders, either alphabetically or randomly. Very neat. No need for cockamamie “playlists.” Unless you like to listen to tracks in their original album order, as I do. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/36 "2019-04-07T19:58:30Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I use [Pulsar](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rhmsoft.pulsar&hl=en_US) because it’s free, does not have ads, and seems fine. I used to use Google Play Music, because I could upload all of my music to Google, and then easily cache it on my phone. I stopped because Google Play Music would occasionally freak out and consume all of my battery, even when it wasn’t playing anything. It’s been a year or so since I had it installed, so hopefully they’ve fixed whatever bug was causing the problem. I use Pulsar also to listen to albums in track order. However shuffle only works for an album, as far as I can tell. I had another app which shuffled everything (great to segue from Bach to Captain Beefheart) but it doe not move with my other stuff on my new phone. Does Black Player let you do that? I also want an app where a pause lasts between sessions. I usually want to start from where I left off, especially for long classical tracks. Do the apps allow that also? I don’t care much about arranging the music. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/37 "2019-04-08T04:44:32Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Unless you like to listen to tracks in their original album order, as I do. No, I can still do that. When I rip songs from CD, I have it list the track number at the start of the file name. So that “alphabetic” means original album order. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/38 "2019-04-08T20:10:57Z")
I also use a folder-based player called [Music Folder Player](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.zorillasoft.musicfolderplayer&hl=en_US). I don’t like the UI that much but the functionality of playing my actual folders/files is what I want and I haven’t found anything better. My MP3 files are named like: \Led Zeppelin\Houses of the Holy\Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy - 01 - The Song Remains the Same.mp3 \Led Zeppelin\Houses of the Holy\Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy - 02 - The Rain Song.mp3 and so on, so the original album playing order is preserved when Music Folder Player plays the songs in a folder. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/39 "2019-04-19T21:39:19Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I also use Rocket Player. I started using it because there was some easy way to import play lists from iTunes on my Mac to my Android phone. Since my Mac ( OS-X 10.12.6 ) never recognized my Galaxy Note 4, I haven’t even tried to plug the Note 8 directly into the Mac. Figured it wouldn’t see it either- perhaps I am wrong here. Anyway, I’m moving 46 Gigs of music onto a 128 Gig MicroSD and will go for Rocket Player for now. I think it’d be unwise to have more than one media player on the machine at one time ( aside from the native player that came with the Android OS ). My thanks to all for the input- can’t wait to load up my tunes and set aside the ole iPod Touch !! " Bach to Beefheart ". Heh heh. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656/40 "2019-04-19T21:46:48Z")
I never found a good alternative to iTunes for managing music on my PC. So I still use that, and use iSyncr to sync my phone to my iTunes library. And use the Rocket Player mainly because it’s from the same developer and seems to work well together. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-phone-users-what-music-player-do-you-use-and-why/831656.md?page=3)