Android Auto Music App

[Zaph]

This may be of interest to people who keep a lot of MP3 files stored on their phone.

For the longest time I've been using the the built in Samsung music player in my Galaxy phone as the default music app to play mp3 music on my phone. Until recently - the latest update, which I had no say in, suddenly started displaying blatant advertising inside the music app. Just what everyone wants to see in their $1000+ phone. So I deleted it off the phone and looked for options.

Most free options were garbage that were also loaded with advertisements. Until I found Musicolet. This is a free high power music player that doesn't even connect to the internet. No telemetry, no advertisements, nothing. A emphasis on privacy and it works well.

I've been using it as my default music player since. It works well with phone connection to Sync, showing all the normal info, album photo, and allowing all the normal functions. Very configurable, with randomization, repeat and all that.

But when connected through Android Auto, it's pretty clear they had that in mind when designing the app. It shows up as a supported app, has even more functions, it will display controls and some music functions while in map mode, and you have almost the full powerful functionality of the whole app while in Android Auto mode. You can browse folders, artists, genres and so on.

So I recommend checking it out, especially if you are sick of Samsung pushing advertisements in your face.

Sponsored

 

[Big Blue]

Been using it for a while. I agree integrates with Android Auto very well!

 

[Dr. Zaius]

I've been using Poweramp for a few years and it works really well.

It's a paid app though because like you, all the free ones I found sucked (Black Player wasn't too bad).

I'll check into the one you posted as just because I have purchased one it doesn't mean it's the best.

 

[Pinepig]

I've been using rocket player for a few years, it works pretty good with AA but I'll give that one a try, you never know. thanks man.

 

[Zaph]

It's a paid app though because like you, all the free ones I found sucked (Black Player wasn't too bad).

I heard Black Player mentioned a few times here and there as being pretty good. I tried Musicolet first because of it's complete lack of ads and the fact that it doesn't even connect to the internet. I mean it's almost unheard of - an app that doesn't connect to the internet. That pretty much makes it the most secure, privacy conscious app there possibly could be.

That's not to say I'm against paying for apps either. I'm happy to pay if I can get what I want and it does it well.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

One of the things I like about PowerAmp is the ability to download and embed album art on demand. I don't know why but it really spikes my OCD if a song is playing and the album art is not there.

I still have Black Player and use it for audiobooks. For whatever reason I like to keep my audiobooks separate from music (nothing passes a long drive better than a good audiobook).

I have installed Musicolet but haven't tried it yet.

I'm going to point it to the same library and see if it picks up the album art properly.

If it does and the player works well, I'll make it my main player and only fire up PowerAmp to get album art.

Edit: Fired it up in the truck this morning.

The Musicolet Android Auto interface is identical to the PowerAmp AA interface. I could find no differences whatsoever. I guess Google has a guideline they have to follow.

One very neat trick (actually 2) that I hoped would work, and it did, was that I have created a separate folder called Playlists that I store all my playlists in. I have the same folder shared to Musicolet and to PowerAmp.

The neat trick is that if I update a playlist in PowerAmp it is also updated in Musicolet since they are sharing the same M3U8 file.

The other neat trick is that since both are sharing the same Music library, if I use PowerAmp to retrieve album art, it will now appear in Musicolet since PowerAmp is editing the file directly.

As far as using the apps on the phone, I still prefer PowerAmp.

Once again, PowerAmp is a paid app and is just more polished and feature rich. But Musicolet is definitely one of the best free players I have used.

Highly recommended.

 

[VAMike]

The Musicolet Android Auto interface is identical to the PowerAmp AA interface. I could find no differences whatsoever. I guess Google has a guideline they have to follow.

yes, there's a standard android auto interface for music apps, largely dictated by either DOT or Google Legal to make it simple enough for a dashboard.

 

[Zaph]

I'm tempted to give Poweramp a try, heck it's only five bucks for the full version. For how much I'm in to music and how much I rely on my phone, that's like a drop in the bucket

 

[Dr. Zaius]

I'm tempted to give Poweramp a try, heck it's only five bucks for the full version. For how much I'm in to music and how much I rely on my phone, that's like a drop in the bucket

With the free trial you get 15 days of full functionality.

Plenty of time to try it out and see if it meets your needs.

 

[WhiteLightning19]

Another option that works good is YouTube Music it will play pretty much all local music files on your device.

 

[Zaph]

Lately I've started using Spotify and I've found that it's an Android Auto enabled app. A very nice one too. The functionality is super deep, it's far from just being a music player. I've been liking the custom playlists made for you, with a mix of your favorites and a lot of other music that they think you might like. But you can just go straight to other randomized playlists of so many types of music depending on your mood.

And I do like the music they pick for me based on my favorites. I'm discovering new music. Quality is high. Bit rate on the free version is 160 kbps. Compare that to satelite which is an ear piercing 64 kbps on most channels.

Anyway, I liked it so much I bought premium to get rid of the ads and support the artists... but when you pay, they bump the bitrate up to 320kbps. It's the highest quality sound you can get short of straight uncompressed music files.

So... new Spotify fan here. Tried Pandora years back and hated it. This is much better.

Sponsored