Comparison

8player vs Music Contest

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

Head to head
About

8player

This versatile media player allows you to stream, download, and enjoy videos, music, and photos from various sources. It offers a clean interface, offline playback, and supports a wide range of file formats across iOS and Apple TV devices.

Highlights
  • Stream from cloud and network services
  • Download for offline playback
  • Supports DLNA/UPnP, SMB, FTP
  • Wide range of video, audio, and image format support
  • Create and manage music playlists
  • Cast to DLNA and Chromecast devices
Features
Read full description

Enjoy your media, your way. 8player is an all-in-one video, music and photo player for iPhone and iPad. Stream, download and enjoy your favorite media anytime, anywhere. Available on the App Store since 2010, 8player combines powerful playback, flexible connectivity and a clean, intuitive design. WHY 8PLAYER? • Beautiful and intuitive interface • Smooth streaming from cloud storage, NAS devices and network servers • Available on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV • Your media stays private. 8player does not collect your data PLAY FROM ALL YOUR SOURCES • DLNA/UPnP media servers • SMB network shares • FTP and SFTP servers • Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive • Local files on your device PACKED WITH FEATURES • Download files for offline playback • Play on TVs and other devices using DLNA, Chromecast and AirPlay • Create and manage music playlists • Use subtitles and switch between multiple audio tracks • Adjust playback speed • Continue watching with Picture in Picture • Use intuitive gesture controls • Access compatible DLNA/UPnP servers remotely over mobile networks or through a VPN Remote access setup guide: https://08software.com/8player-remote-access SUPPORTED FORMATS • Video: mp4, mkv, avi, mov, ts, webm and more • Audio: mp3, flac, aac, alac, wav and more • Images: heic, jpeg, png, gif, tiff and more Your media. Your device. Your control. Standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Music Contest

Read full description

**Disclaimers**:  - This app can only access music in your Apple Music Library and it doesn't provide any other source of music. - Access to Media & Apple Music must be granted for this app - otherwise you will not be able to play any music - For full experience you need to grant access to both: Microphone and Speech Recognition - Access can be granted during the initial run or later in system Settings - The language detection and voice recognition algorithms are based on the Apple's native engines and, as all AI algorithms, are not 100% bullet proof. We can't guarantee that all spoken words will be recognised and matched to the actually played song correctly. **Music Contest** is the app that lets you enjoy music in a fun and competitive way. Whether you want to test your music knowledge, challenge your friends, or discover new songs, Music Contest has it all. With Music Contest, you can: - Use playlists or randomly selected tracks from Apple Music - Up to 1000 randomly selected songs are played during the single session - Filter out the explicit songs from the session - Play solo or with up to four players in a game of music trivia - Guess the song title or artist using Voice Recognition - Learn the song title and artist with Speech Synthesis - Use a powerful matching system based on AI alogorithms - Configure the play time to 10, 25 seconds or the full song - Configure the guessing time for 20 or 50 seconds - Configure autostart option - Tracks can be played in the same order as on your playlist or randomly - Earn points for faster and correct guesses or lose points for wrong answers - Enjoy a simple, modern, and easy to use UI/UX - Use voice recognition and speech synthesis engines that accommodate to the detected language of the song title and artist name - All languages supported by Apple in the voice recognition and speech synthesis mechanisms are provided in the app as is - Use the Coach Mode to get ready for the next trivia game. You can see all the details about the song, record, and artist and their cover art. You can also listen to how the song title and artist name are pronounced in the language they are detected in and try the voice recognition feature. This mode helps you choose the best playlist for the game. **Music Contest** is the app that lets you enjoy music in a fun and competitive way. Download it now and start playing!

Screenshots

8player4 screens
Music Contest3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: 8player at Free against Music Contest's $3.99. 8player also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). Music Contest's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On 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

8player is free to download; Music Contest costs $3.99 up front. 8player sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per year. Music Contest asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

8player ships an update fortnightly, Music Contest every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
8player versus Music Contest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter8playerMusic Contest
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating2.8 (177 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews43.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings177 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.616.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB1 MB
Age rating4+12+
Developer8soft LtdNarcyz Adamus

Bugs and requests

8player

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • SMB connectivity issues after recent updates
  • Subtitles not displaying correctly for some video files
  • Playback freezes or stops when minimizing the app
  • Inconsistent behavior when playing next/previous tracks

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add gapless playback for music
  • Implement a more robust file sorting/browsing system
  • Integrate Chromecast support
  • Introduce an equalizer for audio customization
  • Add password/security protection options

Music Contest

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

8player

Subscriptions1
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$9.991 Year
None

Music Contest

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 8player free?
8player is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Music Contest free?
Music Contest costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do 8player or Music Contest have ads?
Neither 8player nor Music Contest shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 8player or Music Contest?
8player ships an update fortnightly, and Music Contest every 6 weeks. Most recently, 8player was updated on November 12, 2026 and Music Contest on November 8, 2026.

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