Comparison

Attics vs Play Dead

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Attics

Access and stream thousands of live concert recordings from popular bands like the Grateful Dead, Billy Strings, and more. Easily find shows, enjoy gapless playback, and download your favorites for offline listening.

Highlights
  • Stream live concert recordings
  • Download shows for offline listening
  • Easy show navigation
  • Gapless playback
  • Share favorite shows
  • Access 30+ bands and 20k+ shows
Features
Read full description

Attics is a fast, simple, and reliable app that lets you stream and download thousands of live Grateful Dead, Billy Strings, Dead & Company, JRAD, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and many more concert recordings hosted on the Internet Archive's Live Music Archive. Features: - Easy to navigate: get right to the show you're looking for - 30+ bands, 20k+ shows, more being added regularly - Gapless playback - Share your favorite shows with your friends - Download and listen to your favorite shows offline

About

Play Dead

Access a vast library of officially remastered live Grateful Dead concert recordings. Discover previously unreleased shows every week, including rare CD-only releases now available in high-resolution audio. Listen across your devices with seamless playback.

Highlights
  • Official Grateful Dead live recordings
  • Hi-res remastered audio
  • Exclusive 'Dead Drops' weekly
  • CD-only releases now streaming
  • Vault organized by year
  • Cross-device listening
  • Apple CarPlay support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Play Dead is the official Grateful Dead streaming app, offering unprecedented hi-res access to the Grateful Dead Vault of live recordings. For the first time, the band’s live legacy is brought together in a single official streaming service, with newly transferred and mastered recordings from the original sources. Previously unreleased shows - called Dead Drops - will be available every Tuesday, augmenting the catalog of official live Grateful Dead releases, many of which have never been available on any streaming service. The Vault Unlocked Exclusive Hi-Res Recordings Access new high resolution transfers, mastered for the first time and available exclusively on Play Dead. Dead Drops Every Tuesday Previously unreleased recordings added, every Tuesday, curated by Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux, mastered for the first time by David Glasser. CD-Only Releases, Now Streaming Shows previously available only on CD from box sets and Dave’s Picks are now streaming for the first time -only on Play Dead- in higher-than-CD-quality. The Vault by Year Live recordings are presented in order of performance date for the first time in the band’s history. Play Dead brings together three decades of live recordings into a single, evolving app designed for both longtime Dead Heads and those who just got on the bus. Listen Anywhere Listen and resume listening across devices, including Apple CarPlay. Subscription Subscriptions available starting at $9.99/month or $99.99/year. Official Access to the Grateful Dead Vault Created for Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino Entertainment, longtime stewards of the Grateful Dead catalog. Built by nugs, the leading platform for live music. For nugs Subscribers Play Dead is also available as an add-on to nugs. PlayDead Payment and Auto-Renewal Terms: Play Dead offers auto-renewing monthly and annual subscriptions to stream music from the Play Dead catalog. Two subscription types are available, monthly (30 days) and annual (365 days). All subscriptions auto-renew. A Play Dead monthly subscription is $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year for new users. Plans auto-renew at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year after the first year. Payment will be charged to the iTunes Account at the time of your purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Accounts will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the users Account Settings after purchase. Terms of Use at http://nugs.net/terms.aspx Privacy Policy at http://nugs.net/privacy.aspx

Screenshots

Attics4 screens
Play Dead4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Attics at 4.9 against Play Dead's 4.3. Attics also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (98% vs 64%). Play Dead's advantage is update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 3 months) and chart position (#145 vs unranked). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Play Dead sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Attics asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Attics holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Attics has 520 ratings behind it against 93, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 98% of Attics's written reviews are positive against 64% of Play Dead's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Attics ships an update every 3 months, Play Dead every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Attics versus Play Dead: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAtticsPlay Dead
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (520 ratings) — better4.3 (93 ratings)
Positive reviews97.8% of reviews — better64.3% of reviews
Number of ratings520 — better93
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#145 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB88 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperZachary Woodnugs.net enterprises, LLC

Customer experience

Attics

All ratings465 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral1.1%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews90 reviews
Positive97.8%
Neutral1.1%
Negative1.1%

Play Dead

All ratings92 ratings
Positive80.4%
Neutral8.7%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive64.3%
Neutral14.3%
Negative21.4%

Bugs and requests

Attics

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Network errors causing connectivity issues
  • Inconsistent behavior between downloaded and streaming shows

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to create playlists or queue songs
  • Implement offline listening/download option
  • Add more artists beyond Grateful Dead
  • Improve sorting/filtering options

Play Dead

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Attics

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Play Dead

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Yearly$99.991 Year

Questions

Is Attics free?
Attics is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Play Dead free?
Play Dead is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Attics or Play Dead?
Attics is rated higher. Attics averages 4.9 out of 5 from 520 ratings, while Play Dead averages 4.3 from 93 ratings.
Do Attics or Play Dead have ads?
Neither Attics nor Play Dead shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Attics or Play Dead?
Attics ships an update every 3 months, and Play Dead every 4 weeks. Most recently, Attics was updated on October 29, 2026 and Play Dead on October 30, 2026.

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