Part 1: Best 10 Free Music Apps for iPhone
#1: 8Tracks Playlist Radio
Billed as ‘the best place for people who care about music to make and discover refreshingly human playlists’, 8Tracks Playlist Radio is an app that allows you to choose your perfect songs, from a library of almost two million playlists.
Pros: Contains no audio ads.
Cons: Not the greatest sound quality.
Price: Free
#2: Band of the Day
The App of the Year 2011 Runner Up, this app delivers one new artist a day, to help you discover the best new music. You can enjoy commercial-free and uninterrupted tracks from both the current day’s band and an archive of previously-featured bands.
Pros: Helps you discover bands you’d never have found otherwise.
Cons: This one doesn’t work with AirPlay and could do with a wider range of genres.
Price: Free
#3: Daytrotter
Daytrotter allows you to discover new indie music, by listening to live sessions from the best up and coming artists. Touring bands spent two hours in session with Daytrotter at the Horseshack studios in Illinois, playing live and recording tracks that are released for free through the app.
Pros: A great way of discovering new music.
Cons: Doesn’t come with multi tasking functionality.
Price: Free
#4: Pitchfork Weekly
An essential guide to independent music, Pitchfork Weekly ensures you stay up to date with all the latest music news and tracks. Users can enjoy daily reviews and features, as well as tracks from up and coming bands.
Pros: Comes with some great podcasts.
Cons: Only available in portrait mode.
Price: Free
#5: Spotify Music
One of the most popular ways to listen to music on your mobile, search for any track or artist and listen to them for free. Discover readymade playlists that span all musical genres and build your own music collection from personalized recommendations.
Pros: A huge library, one of the biggest out there.
Cons: Track skips are limited unless you sign up for a premium account.
Price: Free
#6: SoundHound
Ever had a song stuck in your head but can’t remember the name? Feel the frustration no more, as SoundHound helps you discover the names of songs. Simply play the track, hum or sing and SoundHound will find the track details for you.
Pros: Comes with a great lyrics feature.
Cons: Only get five free IDs per month.
Price: Free
#7: Shazam
Wondering what the name of the song is from that advert you keep seeing? Wonder no more, as Shazam helps you identify music from the world around you. Just play a track and Shazam will pull up the song and artist details, as well as linking you to the YouTube video.
Pros: Has a huge library so can find almost anything out there.
Cons: Limited to five songs per month.
Price: Free
#8: SoundCloud
Blending music with social media, SoundCloud allows users to explore trending tracks and follow their friends to discover their favourite artists. A huge variety of genres are covered by the app, as well as podcasts, comedy and news.
Pros: Comes with great sound quality.
Cons: Doesn’t allow you to create playlists.
Price: Free
#9: TuneIn Radio
TuneIn Radio contains over 100,000 real radio stations and lets you choose between sports, news, music and chat stations, so you’ll always be able to find something for you. Favourite your top stations and podcasts and you’ll see their updates displayed live in your feed.
Pros: A huge selection of radio stations and podcasts.
Cons: Does come with audio ads.
Price: Free
#10: SongKick Concerts
Ever missed the announcement that your favourite band is going on tour and ended up unable to get tickets? Never miss out on a gig again with SongKick concerts! The app helps you track your favourite bands so you get new tour announcements the minute they’re released.
Pros: Very unique - one of the only apps of its kind.
Cons: Isn’t formatted for iPhone 5s.
Price: Free
Part 2: Top 10 Offline Music Apps for iPhone
#1: GarageBand
Description:Turn your iPhone into a recording studio with GarageBand, and create music wherever you go! Your iPhone can turn into tens of different musical instruments, allowing you to tap out drum kits and guitar beats and create tracks using only your phone. Add vocals into the mix by recording your voice and applying different sound effects.
Pros: You can share your projects between Apple devices with AirDrop.
Cons: Could do with an undo button.
Price: $2.99
#2: Rhapsody
Description: An internet radio station that contains more than 30 million songs and, best of all, no ads! You can even download your favourite tracks to listen to when you’re offline.
Pros: Better sound quality than iTunes.
Cons: No repeat track option.
Price: Free
#3: Hype Machine
Description: Spawned from the blog of the same name, Hype Machine helps you discover the most discussed tracks from around the world. The app tracks 800 of the world’s best music blogs and displays the most talked about tracks for users to listen to.
Pros: A simple, well-designed way to find the best new music.
Cons: Missing a ‘Favourite Songs’ option.
Price: Free
#4: FinalTube 2 Free
Description: Play YouTube music tracks and videos on your phone in an intelligent music player that even plays on lock screen mode. Enjoy your music in the background while you catch up on emails or texts and if you have that one particular song in your head you can listen to it over and over again with the ‘repeat-one’ feature.
Pros: Cached music means you can listen to it offline.
Cons: Known problems with creating playlists.
Price: Free
#5: Groove
Description: Groove pays attention to your listening habits and creates playlists based off of your most listened tracks, so it works with your existing music library to organise your music and help figure out your musical preferences.
Pros: Helps you rediscover your music library.
Cons: No way to save playlists to iTunes.
Price: Free
#6: Rdio Music
Description: Rdio is a social jukebox with 25 million tracks ready to play. There are endless stations to listen to, ranging from artist-specific stations to genre stations, so you’ll never run out of music to listen to - even if you’re offline!
Pros: Offers one of the best music listening experiences you can get on iOS.
Cons: Need to upgrade to a paid subscription to unlock all features.
Price: Free
#7: Slacker Radio
Description: Handcrafted radio stations to help you find the perfect music for your mood. Slacker’s algorithm is different from most, as they have a talented team of human DJs to create playlists and stations for users to enjoy.
Pros: Has a great interface and wide variety of music.
Cons: Does contain video ads.
Price: Free
#8: Deezer Music
Description: Enjoy free music on your mobile, tablet and computer, and even enjoy your favourite tracks offline. Deezer combines smart algorithms and human recommendations to help you discover new bands and rediscover old favourites.
Pros: Excellent range of tracks and very high sound quality.
Cons: Could do with an equaliser.
Price: Free
#9: Music TV
Description: Music TV describe themselves as ‘the only app in the iTunes Store that automatically scans your iPhone library and displays the corresponding YouTube music video’, so they’re certainly unique. In addition to the YouTube feature, you can also create custom playlists and enjoy background playing.
Pros: A great way to enhance your existing library.
Cons: Can take a while to load between songs.
Price: Free
#10: Beats Music
Description: With Beats users can enjoy unlimited access to over 20 million songs and download tracks to listen to them offline. If you’re not sure what you want to listen to then Beats has a team of in-house curators who can guide you to new music that you’re sure to enjoy.
Pros: Ad-free!
Cons: Does have a substantial battery drain problem.
Price: Free
