Metro is the only music app I need in my life. Supports lyrics and folders too.
this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
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Use Retro Music instead. Metro is a ripoff and doesn't credit the original
Thanks for letting me know, I had no idea.
I was able to easily switch between the two in no time (the setting export/import between the apps covered some of the work).
I forgot how bloated the bottom menu bar is with view options (For You, Songs, Artists, Albums, etc). That can easily be tweaked in the settings to show what you prefer (just folders, just artists, etc.).
Still have to find an app who can sort albums by year properly (without mess with tags also).
I noticed recently that Gramophone has a Dates tab, a list of years in increasing order that groups Songs together. So not albums exactly, but pretty cool nonetheless, it grabs a random cover for each year.
Thx for let me know, I'll check that feature. Latest Auxio release seems to sort well album years, sadly the UI is pretty boring.
InnerTune
Thank you, guys !
What is folder play?
A music player which "just plays whatever is in a directory". Very handy for people having a media folder with artist folders and album subfolders. For the type of people, like myself, who focus more on tidy and disciplined storage of files instead of managing ID3 metadata etc
Wait don't most players have such a feature?
It seems like a no-brainer but actually no.
Quick test would be for example if there are:
- at the beginning of the music library a lot of "no artist name" "no album name" entries, so the foldername isn't used at all.
- a lot of artist with their own entry with just one album and one song because the actual albumartist collaborated on one song with them and the mp3 resides in the same folder but they got split in the library.
- if the player doesn't show music which isn't part of Playlist.
So my conclusion is their are even 3 types and corresponding mangement:
- Folder based requires file management
- Meta data based requires tag management
- Playlist based requires Playlist management
Often players make combinations also I guess.
Symphony github link It has nice UI, very polished and have folder view and lyrics support But there's a major catch, unlike other players, you will need to keep the app open in background
Gramophone github link Also have a nice ui, but not very polished. Absolutely usable. Have folder view and lyrics support
"nice" ui..... its Material, how do you guys Like it? whats "nice" about Material???? (serious question, pls answer.)
As an Android developer and as an user, I would prefer a standard and tested set of rules rather than reinventing everything. I know everyone have different taste, but I would trust an expert (someone who designed and defined Material rules) rather than my own judgement. Don't have an eye of a designer
Phonograph Plus
I use Vanilla Music. It does folder play particularly in a way I want, where it adds the songs randomly into a queue, which shows me how many songs are left, lets me manually move them around, etc.
It also seems to have a lyrics search plugin, but I don't know if that means lyrics support in the way you want.
I've been using VLC for folder based play of audio files. The UI is not ideal but it works well and the other apps I've tried didn't work out for various reasons. Unfortunately the Android Auto version of the UI doesn't have access to the folder browsing feature.
No idea if VLC has lyrics support for audio-only files.
Unfortunately not on F-Droid, but you can get it through AuroraStore, Musicolet.