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(Continued from page 8) When I started the Musicolet app and worked
on my S10 phone. So far, the app still works just fi- ture I liked immediately. The app provides the option
ne.
The fact that Google disabled the Play Music app
on my Tab S5e tablet was quite an unhappy sur-
prise. Even with the music indexing quirks in Play
Music, which I wrote about a couple of years back,
the Play Music app was reliable and reasonably
easy to use.
I surveyed the fate of the Play Music app on my oth-
er Android devices. On the S10 phone, running An-
droid 11, the app can still play my music collection
stored on the phone. On the S5 phone, running An-
droid 6, the app can still play my music collection
stored on the phone. On my Galaxy Tab A, the app
acted like the app on the Tab S5e, displaying the no
longer available screen.
I expect that the end is near for the Play Music app
on my current S10 phone and my old S5 phone.
THERE ARE MANY OTHER MUSIC PLAYER
APPS
Of course, I went to the Google Play Store and
looked for music player apps. That category is a
huge, bewildering forest. The Play Store app recom-
mended some alternative searches, including "music
player no ads", so I tried that. Ads are another un-
welcome use of cellular network data.
For each app, I looked at the review rating average,
the number of reviews, and the total number of
downloads. I also made sure that each was capable
of playing music stored on the phone, not in the
cloud.
Musicolet has been downloaded 5 million times and
has a 4.7 rating average in almost 120,000 reviews.
That is a very strong rating average. So I download-
ed that app on my Tab 5e.
June 2021
through its setup steps, I learned that it has one fea-
to specify one or more particular folders on the
phone or tablet in which to find sound files. I chose
the folder on my micro-SD card where I parked my
1,600+ songs (1,637, according to Musicolet). The
advantage is that, unlike Play Music, the app will ig-
nore my voice memos that are stored in a different
folder. Play Music app automatically threw in all my
voice memos, which are far less entertaining than
my music.
Musicolet also offers a feature to play songs in ran-
dom order, sometimes called Shuffle Play, just like
the Play Music app. I use that constantly so that my
music sounds like an FM progressive music station
in the 1970s. I have other music on my phone as
well, from the 1950s through the 2000s.
Another ad-free music player app with just about the
same attractive stats is Pulsar Music Player. This
one claims to support use on car sound systems via
Android Auto.
Most sound systems in recent cars already provide
Bluetooth capability. If you only want to access
phone or tablet music, and you do not have the An-
droid Auto feature in your car, you can play music
from your phone on the car stereo via Bluetooth. An-
droid Auto offers other advantages.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I hope other app publishers do not follow this disap-
pointing Google precedent. When support is ceased,
let the user base continue to enjoy the capabilities of
the app, at least until an Android OS update breaks
the app.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Krout has been writing
about creative uses of personal computers since the
early 1980s. He worked for decades as a C and C++
developer for contractors of several federal govern-
ment agencies. After more than a decade as a docu-
mentation writer for one such agency, he quit in April
2020 and now writes whatever he wants to. He re-
sides in Arlington VA with his son, many computers
and cameras, and too many cats.
John Krout, Writer/Presenter, Potomac Area Technology
and Computer Society
www.patacs.org, krout75@ yahoo.com
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