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Google killed Play Music in October 2020, a service many people loved for 1 feature in item: its online music file locker with uploaded songs that seamlessly integrated with Play Music's streaming itemize. You could likewise just add titles you ain and listen to them without ever having to pay a dime. Luckily, there are a few alternatives that replicate some of Play Music's capabilities, including its successor YouTube Music.

Real online digital lockers

The get-go category is a drove of services that replicate Play Music's characteristic prepare almost i:1 — you lot can upload your files to these platforms and listen to them via the respective apps, just as though you would stream music regularly. Withal, these services have slightly different approaches than Play Music, so here's what you need to watch out for.

YouTube Music

If you don't listen the YouTube Music interface, information technology's the most straightforward solution y'all could promise for. You lot don't need to create a new business relationship, y'all tin only keep using your Google login. For a limited time, you could even straight movement your files from Play Music to the newer platform. Once you've uploaded your files to YouTube Music, yous'll find that there are some pregnant differences when it comes to library management and adding 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 have to switch from the YT Music tab to the Uploadssection, a separation that also divides the library when you manually curl through your songs. When you sort your library by artist and desire to run into someone's albums, you're out of luck: You can only encounter an overview of all songs when y'all go this route.

Yous also lose the dedicated desktop uploading tool that Play Music had. When you want to add new files to YouTube Music, you take to drag and drop it on the service'southward website or rely on an unofficial third-party service.

YouTube Music is a month if yous desire to access the streaming service portion of the service without ads, but the online locker is complimentary and doesn't have ads if y'all simply want access to your own files.

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

Apple Music

If yous tin't stand YouTube Music at all, you might want to requite Apple tree Music a endeavor. Information technology allows you to upload 100,000 songs but like 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 you search, so that'south a limitation y'all'll have to live with.

To access your music on an Android device, you'll have to pay $10 a month for Apple Music, but the digital locker portion of the service called iTunes Lucifer is also available standalone for $25 a twelvemonth if you lot simply use Apple products.

iBroadcast

iBroadcast may not have the prettiest interface, but if yous only want access to your uploaded songs wherever you are, it might exist the all-time solution. The free service lets yous store an unlimited amount of files, comes with Android and iOS apps on summit of the web app, supports Chromecast, and has some intelligent Spotify-similar playlists. The privately funded Seattle company behind information technology promises that it doesn't sell your data (we'll have to take its discussion on that) and is currently working on a $3.99/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 with the right metadata, you can adjust it after the fact — a Play Music feature YouTube Music never got. There's also Chromecast back up.

You can sign up for the service here.

Media Leap

Media Jump is a recently launched Canadian service that allows you to upload upwards to 1TB of your own songs on its servers for gratis. It and then lets you stream that music to up to five devices via a web interface and mobile apps, and you tin download songs to your phone for offline listening. In dissimilarity to the other services presented here, Media Leap still feels pretty crude effectually 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 but slated for later, equally a spokesperson told united states. The team 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 right now), ane-click album and artist downloads, mass metadata editing, indistinguishable song checking, and a light style.

When you sign up, the service will ask you to add your dwelling address and phone number, merely you don't have to make full out these details — you lot just need to enter your name, email, and password and go on setup. If you need more than than 1TB of storage, yous can sign upward for a $v monthly plan — that's when you lot do need to enter more of your personal information. In the time to come, the visitor volition "nigh likely" add ads for complimentary users, and so y'all might take to pay the subscription fee in the long term if you want to avoid that.

Deezer

Deezer isn't our become-to solution as it but lets you upload a maximum of 2,000 MP3 files. That limit means it's just suitable for people who desire to augment the service'southward catalog with a select few titles. Like in YouTube Music, your ain files are hidden abroad and aren't seamlessly integrated with Deezer's library. They merely show up in an extra section in the desktop app, subconscious away under Favorites in the sidebar -> More -> My MP3s(which is also where yous upload files). In the Android app, y'all'll but notice your uploaded titles nether Favoritesin the bottom bar ->Playlists -> My MP3s.Deezer can be set as the default audio provider on Google Home and Nest devices, the but service in this listing to support information technology other than YouTube Music — which is our principal reason for including information technology in this roundup.

Y'all need to pay for the /month premium subscription to access the online locker, which will besides requite yous access to millions of songs without ad interruptions.

Cloud-hosted digital lockers

Some people might not be comfortable with uploading their music to an unknown online location and might merely want a better 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 following 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-like style in one case you've synced your library.

The basic functionality is free, but if you often add music to your cloud library, you might want to pay for the $4/month or $24/twelvemonth premium subscription. It allows yous to sync automatically or every bit oft as yous want to instead of only once all three days. Astiga is officially available on Android and the spider web, but in that location are third-party and experimental apps for other platforms. You can read more about it and sign up here.

CloudBeats

Similar 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 basic functionality is free, but if you lot desire to download files to your telephone through the app or transport music to a Chromecast target, you need to pay a one-time fee of $6.99.

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

CloudPlayer

CloudPlayer'south approach 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. Y'all can comb through the library by anthology, artist, playlists, genres, songs, or playlists. Y'all as well get admission to online radios. If you don't similar the default light theme, yous can modify it, and there are quite a few more options in settings if yous don't similar some design decisions or the default playback behavior.

A $7.99 in-app purchase gives yous more than features like a 10-band blaster, loudness normalization, gapless playback, Chromecast and AirPlay support, and an ad-gratuitous radio experience. In that location'due south no iOS app — the CloudPlayer Android app is the only way to get.

Muzecast

Muzecast is some other solution when you want to access your ain files in the deject, and information technology's very much similar to the others listed here. You tin stream content from your reckoner, Dropbox, or OneDrive. The player supports the usual DRM-costless file types. Lossless streaming of up to 24/192 KHz is available, songs are cached on your Android device, information technology has a built-in equalizer, and playlists can be synchronized beyond Android phones and fifty-fifty other apps that support M3U and WPL. Muzecast is too available on Android Motorcar, Wear OS, and Android Television. It works with Chromecast.

I personally dislike the blueprint, but some people might bask its out-of-the-box retro wait. There's a free, ad-supported version of Muzecast and a $7.99 ad-free variant. The Android Goggle box 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 — cloud services aren't supported (anymore). Information technology wants to exist a one-stop solution for all of your media files like music, films, TV shows, pictures, and and then on. It offers beautiful clients for almost all of your devices.

Plex recently launched a standalone music player called Plexamp. Information technology's among the prettier solutions with a pattern that takes cues from Soundcloud and Spotify, written in responsive and modernistic React Native lawmaking. You need to pay a month to utilize it, simply you can also exam the regular gratis Plex app before committing.

Jellyfin

Jellyfin is a completely free and open-source alternative to Plex, congenital on the now proprietary Emby media server. Its Android app isn't as pretty equally Plexamp, but it admittedly doesn't have to hibernate its face, either. You can install the host software on your computer or a server, and once you've got everything indexed, you lot're ready to go. Jellyfin lets you download offline copies of your media when you're out and almost, there's Chromecast support, an Android Television receiver app, and, nigh recently, an Android Automobile interface.

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

Personally, I don't retrieve any of these services nails music storage as well as Play Music did — Google's service simply had the best integration betwixt your uploaded files and the streaming catalog. The solutions listed here are either only really good as streaming services or equally storage solutions for music you already own. Unfortunately, in that location's no turning back now that Play Music is discontinued, then you'll accept to settle for 1 of these. Of course, you can likewise manually move your music to your phone and use a histrion like Phonograph.

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

Added more services

Added Media Bound.

Cheers: DonPorazzo, ikeofkc, Oleg Vorkunov

About The Author

Manuel Vonau (1639 Articles Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he's not writing manufactures for Android Constabulary, he'due south probably out and about as a videographer.

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