Using an old Android phone as a music player

hnburnsy•about 4 hours ago

>"for the debloating i used xda forums. they have a lot of forum posts about what is safe to remove from any device but as always be careful. don't try to remove gpu drivers or something"

Suggestion: Use the Universal Android Debloater

https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-an...

pxoe•about 1 hour ago

Kinda bizarre to see much ado over what's ultimately just installing a music app. The concept of an edge to edge screen with a notch being an "old android phone" is also very bizarre. (that's before even getting into specs and the fact that this was a flagship phone so this is not "slumming it up" by any means, cause it's not a situation dealing with a truly old or weak phone either. like, there's genuinely no hardship there to overcome, besides shitty rom situation)

It's like a preview of some future generations idea of "old tech" and "accomplishing something". Ooh installing some apks. Using two phones, groundbreaking. (with such revelations as, using another phone with a 3500 mAh battery would save battery on some other phone likely with its own 4-5k mAh battery. great stuff.) And there could be a neat and useful writeup about using any and all kinds of phones as 'just a music player' or some other kind of focused device (some older phones may still have pretty good cameras), but this is just barely even instructive at all

fhdkweig•about 4 hours ago

The author is using PowerAmp.

I am using AIMP. I was specifically looking for apps with downloadable APKs for sideloading. I can't use the Play Store because I don't have a google account. Looks like PowerAmp also has an APK.

yjftsjthsd-h•about 4 hours ago

I'd also very strongly recommend F-Droid. TBH I can't really speak to the quality of music apps on it - I just use VLC - but it doesn't require an account and it has lots of good apps.

reorder9695•about 3 hours ago

I use Auxio from F-Droid. It's quite simple (which to me is a benefit) and my only real complaint is how similar shuffle on and off look on Android Auto. It handles non ASCII titles correctly where some others didn't (from what I remember due to weirdness with the Android media store) and it picks up new media/edited quickly and reliably which can be a sore spot with others. I don't know how Android's media store is apparently so incompetent that most music apps don't work correctly using it.

tmgldn•about 2 hours ago

can also vouch for Auxio - happy user of 5 years

UncleSlacky•about 1 hour ago

I use the F-Droid apps Transistor to listen to streaming radio and Antennapod for podcasts on an old phone:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.y20k.transistor/

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.danoeh.antennapod/

arcanemachiner•about 2 hours ago

Use Aurora Store to download apps from Play Store without an account (very trustworthy app IMO, has been around and working for years):

https://auroraoss.com/aurora-store

Denatonium•about 2 hours ago

Looks like they also allow you to buy with a credit card on their website, and they say Google Services aren't required if you buy that way. Very cool!

sdorf•about 3 hours ago

Sidebar, PowerAmp is the app I miss most moving from Android to iOS. Nothing on iOS comes close, Doppler is the closest I've found and it's just OK.

hollandheese•about 1 hour ago

It’s still nowhere near as good as Poweramp but I’ve found Jewelcase to be better than Doppler.

ravoori•about 3 hours ago

I have an old LG V-60 lying around which with its quad DAC is the perfect phone for this

xerox13ster•about 1 hour ago

Wake me up when you start using a Lumia 820 in lockedown mode as a music player.

reaperducer•about 2 hours ago

I've been using an iPhone 5 as a standalone portable music player and an iPhone 3G (not 3GS) as an office music player daily since they came out.

Even the latest versions of macOS support them perfectly, down to the icons.

ck2•about 2 hours ago

I just use VLC but I just play long sets not individual tracks

Now if Winamp was available for Android so I could use the Enhancer plugin...

https://winampplugins.co.uk/enhancer/enhancer.html

I've never found a sound processor that can make music sound so amazing somehow

TiredOfLife•about 3 hours ago

I couldn't find a good player for linux, so am using Symfonium on my old android phone with music on raspberry pi with navidrome

totallygeeky•about 4 hours ago

PowerAmp is an incredible app, used it and loved it before. I have a self-hosted streaming setup, so I've personally found Symfonium (1) to be my go-to. I'm glad things worked out for the author with this setup, and honestly the headphone jack is a sight for sore eyes.

(1) https://www.symfonium.app/

D0ugJudy•about 4 hours ago

Now I'm wondering if I can load plexamp on my ancient Nexus 5a...

Using an old Android phone as a music player

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