Is there an app where you can sync music?
Music syncing refers to the process of keeping music libraries and playlists consistent across multiple devices. With music syncing, any changes made to a music library on one device, such as adding or deleting songs, will be automatically reflected on synced devices as well.
Music syncing is desirable for several reasons. First, it provides convenience by eliminating the need to manually manage separate music libraries on different devices. Songs and playlists only need to be added/edited in one place. Second, syncing enables seamless listening experiences across devices. You can start listening to a playlist on your phone and pick up where you left off on your tablet. Finally, syncing serves as a backup of music libraries. If something happens to the music files on one device, they remain safely stored on the synced devices.
Popular Syncing Services
Apple Music and iCloud make it easy to sync your music library across devices. With Apple Music’s Sync Library feature, you can stream your entire music collection on any device signed into your Apple ID. This allows you to access your library from an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Windows computers.
To enable Sync Library, open the Music app on a Mac, go to Settings > General and check the “Sync Library” option. This will upload your library to iCloud and make it available on your other devices. Any new music added anywhere will automatically sync across everything linked to your Apple ID.
One limitation is that Sync Library only works with content purchased through Apple Music or iTunes. Anything from other sources can only be manually transferred by connecting the device to your Mac and syncing in the Finder app like iTunes used to do.
Spotify
Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services that allows users to sync music between devices. According to WikiHow, Spotify has a feature called Spotify Connect that lets you control playback on multiple devices. To use it, simply play a song on one device like your phone, then tap the Connect icon and select the device you want the music to stream to, like a smart speaker. Spotify will then sync the playback so the music switches seamlessly between your devices.
In addition, Spotify lets you sync playlists between devices so your custom playlists are available no matter what device you use. You can make collaborative playlists to share with friends too, allowing everyone to contribute songs according to Trusted Reviews. Spotify also saves your listening history and preferences to your account, so it can sync things like your Daily Mixes and Discover Weekly to any device where you’re logged into your Spotify account.
Google Play Music
Google Play Music was Google’s flagship music service that allowed users to upload up to 50,000 songs from their personal collection to the cloud for free. It offered both a web player and mobile apps to stream music on any device. One of its key features was the ability to sync music between devices.
With Google Play Music, users could sync their uploaded music and playlists across multiple platforms. This meant any tracks, albums, or playlists added on one device would automatically sync to any other device logged into the same Google account. For example, playlists created on an Android device would appear on an iPhone after syncing.
Google Play Music leveraged advanced matching algorithms to avoid uploading duplicate copies of songs already in Google’s catalog. It would scan a user’s local files and match them to high quality versions already on Google’s servers. This helped save storage space and bandwidth.
Another useful syncing feature was the ability to store up to 100,000 songs online from Google’s library of over 50 million tracks. This gave users access to their personal collection and Google’s catalog from any device. Any playlists, likes, or listening activity was synced across devices in real time.
While Google Play Music has now been discontinued, many of its syncing capabilities live on in YouTube Music, Google’s current flagship streaming service. Overall, Google Play Music set the standard for syncing music across devices and platforms.
Amazon Music
Amazon Music offers the ability to sync music across devices so customers can access their music libraries on multiple devices. The streaming service allows customers to sync and download their purchased music tracks and albums, Prime Music songs, and Music Unlimited songs for offline listening on a compatible mobile device or desktop app. This means that if you download songs onto your phone through Amazon Music, those same songs will also show up in your Amazon Music library on other devices when you sync them.
To enable syncing on Amazon Music, you need to go to Your Amazon Music Settings and ensure the “Sync My Music” option is turned on under preferences. This will allow your music library, playlists, and listening activity to stay up to date across devices. Do note that there are some limitations – for example, you can only have Amazon Music downloaded on a maximum of 10 devices. Refer to Amazon’s help article for more specifics on how music syncing works.
Third-Party Syncing Apps
Besides the major music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, there are also third-party apps dedicated to syncing music across devices and platforms. According to this article, some top options include:
AmpMe – This app lets you sync music playback with friends in real-time across multiple smartphones and tablets. You can make collaborative playlists and it works across both iOS and Android.
SoundSeeder – Another music syncing app that allows you to sync songs across iOS and Android devices on the same WiFi network. You can create playlists that stay in sync, and it has music visualizers and audio effects.
Third-party syncing apps like these let you coordinate music playback even when using different services or downloads on different devices. They provide alternatives for syncing that transcend platform-specific services.
Syncing Locally Stored Music
Syncing music that is stored locally on your device and not from a streaming service can be challenging across multiple devices. Spotify does have a “Local Files” feature that allows you to add local music files stored on your computer to the Spotify app so you can listen to them alongside streaming tracks. However, there are some limitations.
According to the Spotify community forums, local files can only be played on the specific devices they are stored on. So if you add local files from your desktop computer to Spotify, you won’t be able to play those tracks on your phone or other devices. The local files sync to the Spotify app on that computer but do not transfer anywhere else.
There are some workarounds like using a cloud storage service to store your local files and accessing them from different devices. But getting seamless syncing and playback of local music across all your devices is not something Spotify currently supports.
Syncing Playlists
One of the most useful features of Apple Music is the ability to sync playlists across devices signed into the same Apple ID. This allows users to create playlists on one device, like an iPhone, and have that playlist be available on all other devices, like an iPad or Mac computer.
According to Apple’s support documentation, to enable playlist syncing you simply need to turn on Sync Library. To do this on an iOS device open the Settings app, tap Music, and toggle on Sync Library. On a Mac open the Music app, go to Music > Settings > General and check the Sync Library box.
Once enabled, any playlists created or edited on one device will automatically sync across all devices signed in to the same Apple ID within a short period of time, usually just a minute or two. This makes it very convenient to manage playlists from any device. Additionally, synced playlists include both Apple Music songs as well as personally uploaded songs.
The ability for Apple Music subscribers to seamlessly sync playlists between iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and more adds significant value to the service for organization and access of your music library from multiple devices.
Syncing Listening History
Syncing your listening history and recommendations across devices is an important feature for many music streaming services. However, syncing capabilities vary across platforms.
Apple Music’s sync features have room for improvement when it comes to listening history. As noted on the Apple forums, song plays may sync between iPhone and Mac, but the play history does not always carry over to all devices.
Spotify also struggles with syncing listening history. According to users on Spotify’s community forums, the recently played history is currently only saved locally on each device. To view your full listening history across devices, you need to use a third-party app.
In general, listening history sync tends to work better within each platform’s native ecosystem of devices. But support across operating systems is limited. Using a third-party syncing app can help consolidate data across different services and devices. Check their privacy policies closely before sharing your listening data.
Conclusion
There are many ways to sync your music library and playlist data across devices and platforms. Popular streaming services like Spotify, Google Play Music, and Amazon Music have built-in syncing capabilities that allow you to access your music and playlists seamlessly. Third-party apps like SongShift, STAMP, and TuneMyMusic can transfer playlists between different services, while apps like iSyncr and Syncios can sync locally stored music libraries.
In summary, you have several options depending on your specific needs – whether streaming from the major music platforms, transferring playlists between services, or syncing music stored locally on your device. The best approach is likely using a combination of the built-in syncing from your streaming platform of choice along with a dedicated third-party app to fill any gaps in capability.
For most seamless access across devices and listening platforms, Spotify Premium is recommended due to its support across mobile, desktop, web, and even some vehicles and smart speakers. For those with large local libraries, iSyncr provides comprehensive syncing and backup capabilities.
