Comparison

Distrosub vs Tape Deck

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

Head to head
About

Distrosub

Features
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Distrosub is a new way to support artists directly, built for fans who believe every stream counts. With Distrosub, you can subscribe to artists for micro-amounts, ensuring they get paid fairly while you enjoy their music. Your small contributions add up, helping artists keep creating without relying on ads or big streaming platforms. Features: - Micro-Subscriptions: Choose your own amount per artist each month. - Wallet System: Auto top-up and use your balance to subscribe instantly. - Direct Artist Payouts: Artists receive 80% of every subscription through secure Stripe payments. Discover New Music: Find artists you love and explore new sounds from around the world. Support at Scale: Back dozens of artists without breaking the bank. Whether you’re supporting local talent or discovering global acts, Distrosub makes it simple to turn your listening into real support. Every artist matters. Every cent counts.

About

Tape Deck

Features
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Tape Deck plays your own music as a cassette. Choose an album and it goes into the deck as a tape. The reels turn at the speeds a real cassette's would, one pack growing as the other shrinks. The counter runs, the leader passes before the music starts and a side comes to its end. SIMPLE OR ADVANCED • Simple to start with: plain keys, one side and only the settings that matter • Advanced when you want it: every setting, both sets of keys and the holds, kept as you left them THE DECK • Play, rewind, fast forward, stop and eject, each with the sound of the mechanism • Two sets of keys. A portable recorder's has a Pause that holds the tape. A modern player's has skip keys that wind the tape while you hold them • Sides and auto-reverse: fit an album to one side or cut it to a C60 or a C90 and turn it over • Gapless playback from track to track • Over a hundred tapes, from plain shells to classic ones. Pick one, flick the label for the next, let each album have its own or take one from the pile at random • A clear shell, a cutaway and an exploded view of its parts, drawn to the standard's sizes • A handwritten label for each album, with its cover, in one of thirteen period label styles • Tape hiss, wow as the motor starts and stops, three tape types, noise reduction and a tape condition from fresh to chewed • LED meters in the transport, if you want them • Each tape keeps its place. Put an album back in and it plays on from where it came out YOUR LIBRARY • An opening screen that lists every source, what each needs and how it stands. Tap one to set it up there • A demo tape to play until you have music of your own • The music on your iPhone or iPad, synced from a Mac, played as tapes • Copy album folders into iCloud Drive › Tape Deck › Music and they reach all your devices. Or copy them into the app's own folder through the Files app • Or play a folder where it sits (a NAS is fine) • Or connect to a music server of your own: the free Tape Deck Server, a Plex Media Server, a Jellyfin server or a Subsonic server such as Navidrome. Albums stay on the device as you play them • Albums, artists and tracks, a Recent tab, search and favourites that follow you through iCloud • Mixtapes: make one by hand or from what you've played in the last hour • Audiobooks and podcasts from your own Audiobookshelf server, by chapter, with a reading speed and your place kept on that server. They play while they download APPLE MUSIC • Got an Apple Music subscription? Your Apple Music library plays as tapes too: albums, artists, songs and playlists, with a search that reaches the whole catalogue • The sound is Apple Music's own, so the tape's hiss, wear and wow step aside. The reels, the counter, the keys and the eject carry on EVERYWHERE YOU LISTEN • Turn it sideways for a bedside deck: the cassette full screen, keys on the shell, the screen kept on while it plays • Handoff: carry the tape on to your iPad or Mac from the same second • Send this tape as a link or from Tape Deck in Messages beside eight animated cassette stickers • A Home Screen widget of the deck with its reels turning, plus Previous, Play or Stop and Next. It goes on the Lock Screen and in StandBy too • Apple Watch: the tape in your iPhone's deck on your wrist, the Digital Crown for the volume, your recent albums on a shelf and a complication • CarPlay: Recent, Albums, Artists and Books on the car's screen • Siri and Shortcuts: "Carry on the tape in Tape Deck", "Play what's new in Tape Deck", "Stop Tape Deck" • Lock screen and Control Centre controls, plus AirPlay • Named for VoiceOver throughout. Reduce Motion is followed AND A SPECTRUM LOADER In Advanced, with the tape stopped, hold stop and eject for three seconds and the deck becomes a tape loader for a real ZX Spectrum. Run a lead from the headphone socket to its EAR socket, type LOAD "" and play a game's .tap file from the Files app. Tape Deck has no account, no adverts and no tracking. It plays what's yours.

Screenshots

Distrosub4 screens
Tape Deck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Tape Deck at every 2 days against Distrosub's fortnightly. Distrosub's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Distrosub ships an update fortnightly, Tape Deck every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 6 level
Distrosub versus Tape Deck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDistrosubTape Deck
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB19 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperDistrosubAndrew Bateman

In-app purchases

None

Distrosub

No in-app purchases

None

Tape Deck

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Distrosub free?
Distrosub is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tape Deck free?
Tape Deck is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Distrosub or Tape Deck have ads?
Neither Distrosub nor Tape Deck shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Distrosub or Tape Deck?
Distrosub ships an update fortnightly, and Tape Deck every 2 days. Most recently, Distrosub was updated on November 8, 2026 and Tape Deck on November 10, 2026.

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