Previously we had a walkman, MP3 players, iPods (we still have them) but the primary device we carry with us all the time is our smartphone, and we are fortunate enough to have it functioning as our primary media device. Further, the smartphone being Android powered, there are several developers that create apps to lure you and to better your experience.
Well, there are a lot of music player apps available for Android, but not all of them are worth trying. Some of them lack an attractive user interface while some others lack equalizer support while the rest simply cannot play all formats. So we decided to try many of them and short list the best music players for Android! For obvious reasons we couldn’t try all of them, but rest assured the ones we mention here are the “best.”
Poweramp
I could go on talking about Poweramp the entire day. I’m using Poweramp for the last six months, and it’s the last music player I’ve tried and it’s the best music player for Android that money can buy. I don’t regret spending $0.99 on Poweramp. It’s probably the best investment I could make to make my phone a better music device. You can try the fully featured trial of Poweramp for 15 days after which you can decide if you want to purchase it or not.
Poweramp is the most heavy-duty music player out there and features like equalizer; automatic album cover art downloader, the most versatile lyrics engine, large number of presets, ability to change the album art of a song, make it perfect for everyday use. Each night I listen to songs, but I’m not worried of my battery draining by the time I wake up because Poweramp automatically turns the music off after a pre-defined interval of time. Is your phone not loud? With Poweramp, you can increase the overall loudness of sound without compromising on sound quality. However, it’s not recommended that you do this because it may indirectly reduce the life of your speakers and your ears too 😉
With Poweramp, you can either use the presets, create your own or modify the frequencies of the existing presets and save them as your own. You can change bass, treble, limit sound, shift to mono mode, add effects to music and more. Poweramp does lack an attractive interface like other apps, but the control it gives you over music makes it sit on the top. You can however download and try Poweramp Skins to improve your experience. Poweramp also offers a large number of customizable widgets.
Download: Poweramp (Free Trial) for 15 days after which you may require to purchase it to continue using it.
Google Play Music
It’s the default music player available on all Android devices free of cost. While Google Play Music lacks features like Poweramp, it does have a very neat user interface. It offers you your cloud library to host your music online. So wherever you go, your music comes along. Whichever device you use, your music is there. And it’s not only limited to Android. Google Play Music even functions on iOS now. You may however need to take some of your music offline if you don’t always have access to the internet, but that’s not something you should worry about. As you listen to songs, Play Music can automatically download your music to you device in the background. And let me tell you, it’s fast!
That’s what makes Google Play Music worth a mention. It allows you to listen to internet radio. It does lack a few features like lyrics and automatic album art downloader, but the cloud storage thing compensates for it. Moreover, it’s free!
Download: Google Play Music (Free)
DoubleTwist
If you’ve ever used an iPhone or iPod, you should consider trying DoubleTwist music player for Android. It’s not the best music player out there, but it is worth a mention.
It not only allows you to sync music between your Android and iDevice but also functions as an excellent music player. The interface is cool better than Poweramp. DoubleTwist is capable of playing a variety of formats that include some rare formats too. Besides that, it can look for high-quality album artwork. Though the basic media player is free to download, you may however need to make a few in-app purchases to experience the full power of DoubleTwist music player. In short DoubleTwist functions as a music player but when needed doubles up as a media player.
Download: DoubleTwist Player (Free)
n7player Music Player
n7player can be rightly called as the free version of Poweramp music player. It offers most of the features offered by Poweramp for free. It even has a decent UI. It makes listening to music fun. It displays the artists names’ in a word cloud which makes it easy to find and listen to your favorite artist. The player is capable of playing music directly from folders and playlists you might already have in your device.
It supports bass boost and 5/10 band equalizer depending on the version of Android you are using. It flawlessly plays mp3, mp4, AAC, ogg, 3gp and other popular extensions. Using DLNA/UPNP, it can also stream your music to your TV or your computer or Mac. There are eight audio presets built-in, and you are free to create your own. It even allows you to control mono/stereo sound output; balance left and right sound, download album art either manually or automatically like no other free app. Unlike other free music players, it even allows you to add a track to be played next and then the app follows the regular queue after playing your selected audio clip. It eliminates the gap between two consecutive songs and enables gapless playback.
It comes with an optional lyrics plugin like Poweramp, tag editor, sleep timer, last.fm support and more. Some features like the tag editor, folder browser get locked after the ten day trial period while the rest continue to work. After the trial period, you can either purchase the n7player license key from Google Play Store or upgrade to premium version via an in-app purchase.
So, n7player deserves a place in this list of best music players. If you are not looking to spend money on a music player n7player is the best choice, however if you don’t mind paying a dollar Poweramp sounds like a better option.
Download: n7player Music Player (Free)
musiXmatch Music Player Lyrics
musiXmatch Music Player is the add-on that is used by both Poweramp and n7player to show lyrics of your favorite songs. What makes me mention musiXmatch Music Player here? Well, unlike Poweramp and n7player, this app not only shows lyrics but also synchronizes them with the song being played. It offers a cover art fixer that automatically downloads album art for your songs. It comes with a built-in equalizer. It can scrob last.fm as well.
You can search for lyrics by typing a few words, entering the artist name or by simply inputting the song title. It can efficiently work with other music player apps. It even shows a notification in the notifications panel if the lyrics to the song you are playing is available with it no matter which music player app you are using. It supports the default Android music player, Spotify, Poweramp, Google Play Music, n7player, DAAP media player, Winamp, WIMP, Zimly, Samsung stock music player, HTC music player and more.
You should definitely give musiXmatch Music Player a try. It has a clean yet attractive interface, supports lyrics like no other music player and is good at whatever it does. The free version comes with ads, however with an in-app purchase, you can get rid of them and even get few additional features.
Download: musiXmatch Music Player Lyrics (Free)
MAVEN Music Player
Well, it’s one of the few audio players offering 3D virtual surround sound even if you are using external speakers. It offers five modes which are XOME-i, Live, Mex, Equalizer and EVS. The free version is capable of playing a wide range of formats, gives you complete volume and brightness control, sort your music, offers multiple widgets, reads phone state to stop and resume music during phone calls, sleep timer and more. In addition, to all these features, the pro version of Maven music player allows you to control the playback speed, view synchronized lyrics, edit tags, control notifications and more. The interface is old-school, but that’s not really a thing to worry about because the sound quality compensates for it.
Download: MAVEN Music Player (Free)
Shuttle Music Player
Not the most modern music player around, but it’s not that bad. With over half million people using it, it has to be good if not the best. It is powerful, yet doesn’t consume a lot of space on your device. It allows you to batch add songs to your playlists, swipe to remove, provides support for drag and drop, allows you to enqueue songs. It also comes with a sleep timer. You can set a time after which the music player will automatically turn off. Apart from that, it comes with several widgets allowing you to control your music from the home screen without launching the app. It even allows you to control your music from notifications panel. Not all mobile phones support this feature, the ones with honeycomb do. It downloads missing album and artist artwork automatically, plays songs without gaps in between, supports gestures, supports lyrics search and more.
It’s a versatile music player. It has a fresh user interface, and if you are okay with a not so heavy duty music player, Shuttle Music Player is a good choice.
Download: Shuttle Music Player (Free)
Best Music Player?
Well after having listed seven music players above and tested a lot more than that, it wasn’t easy to decide the best music player. However after a lot of testing Poweramp seems to be the best paid music player. It offers you more features than any other music player and costs just a dollar. It’s a steal for that price. It turns your normal phone to a fully functional media player for just a dollar.
However if you’re not the kind of person to spend a dollar on a premium app, you should give n7player a try. It looks promising and is undoubtedly the best music player available for free. It offers most of the features you get in Poweramp. There are some features missing which you can get with an in-app purchase.
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