Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#1

Post by mattlondon » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 9:37 AM UTC

What are good alternatives to Google Play Music?

While YouTube Music is more or less ok as a replacement, I don't like the dark-patterns they're using to try and lure/confuse you into a subscription for YouTube rather than just listening to your music like you used to be able to.

What good alternatives exist that:

- let me upload my own music collection

- stream from a browser & a native android app

- ideally do not have a subscription

- Optional: legitimate music purchases

I don't mind self-hosting if it comes to that?

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#2

Post by iamacyborg » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 10:09 AM UTC

Plex sounds like it could be a solid alternative if you can self-host a media server (on a NAS or similar).

You can stream from your web browser, a mobile app or whatever and it supports Chromecast so you can stream to other devices if you want to.

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#3

Post by unhammer » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 10:59 AM UTC

https://github.com/sentriz/gonic is a very lightweight implementation of Subsonic (so you can use any Subsonic client with it, ie. there are native and browser apps). I use it with DSub on Android.

There's still https://bandcamp.com/ for buying music, but there are many artists I can no longer buy mp3's from now that Google Play Music is gone :-/

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#4

Post by preya2k » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 11:02 AM UTC

Depending on your hardware, your NAS software might be a good replacement. Pretty much all of them offer decent music apps. (e.g. Synology DS Audio).

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#5

Post by sequence7 » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 11:07 AM UTC

iamacyborg wrote: post #2

Plex sounds like it could be a solid alternative if you can self-host a media server (on a NAS or similar). You can stream from your web browser, a mobile app or whatever and it supports Chromecast so you can stream to other devices if you want to.

They also have a dedicated Music app called Plexamp which has clients for Android, iOS, Mac, Linux & Windows

https://plexamp.com/

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#6

Post by cobbzilla » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 11:16 AM UTC

preya2k wrote: post #4

Depending on your hardware, your NAS software might be a good replacement. Pretty much all of them offer decent music apps. (e.g. Synology DS Audio).

+1 for Synology DS Audio. I've been using it for the last 2+ years and it works great.

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#7

Post by izacus » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 11:19 AM UTC

Things that fit this and I've tried out lately:

- Synology DS Audio (comes with Synology NASes)

- Plex Media Server

- Emby Media Server

They all have decent mobile apps, can stream music directly from your own server. Plex/Emby probably have a bit better apps with Android Auto support and whatnot.

No purchases unfortunately.

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#8

Post by 9KDDrUeh2ZQ » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 11:35 AM UTC

https://www.ibroadcast.com is a real dark horse. Fills the same role that Google Play music did for me - uploaded library with streaming and cached offline playback.

Upload your own collection, they've fairly powerful web and android apps. Various upload clients

Currently free - they promise a free plan going forward.

Been around for years, I don't use it as I've been waiting for them to deliver some concrete plan for monetisation before committing to the upload, but I've been following the project.

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#9

Post by mindracer » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 11:36 AM UTC

sequence7 wrote: post #5

iamacyborg wrote: post #2

Plex sounds like it could be a solid alternative if you can self-host a media server (on a NAS or similar). You can stream from your web browser, a mobile app or whatever and it supports Chromecast so you can stream to other devices if you want to.

They also have a dedicated Music app called Plexamp which has clients for Android, iOS, Mac, Linux & Windows https://plexamp.com/

plexamp is so much better than their standard media app

Re: Ask HN: Google Play Music Alternative?

#10

Post by b15h0p » Mon, Dec 14, 2020, 11:37 AM UTC

AFAIK Itunes Match is still around if you do not want a regular streaming service. But Apple Music also includes the same functionality.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204146

You can upload your own stuff but it is subscription based, of course. Playing should work through the Apple Music app for Android.