Comparison

MediaDrift vs retro_player.mp3

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

Head to head
About

MediaDrift

Features
Read full description

- Track your top artists with beautiful, data-driven charts and generate stunning Yearly Recap Posters to share your musical journey. - Total Personalization: Craft your vibe with customizable vinyl players and personalized backgrounds for every track. - Interactive Lyrics: Add and sync time-stamped lyrics to any song in your collection. - Creative Freedom: Remix your tracks, trim audio with precision, and edit metadata to keep your library flawless. - Pro Tools for Everyone: Effortlessly extract audio from videos and convert between high-quality formats like MP3, FLAC, WAV and more!

About

retro_player.mp3

This app plays your existing music library with a retro, 1980s-inspired dot-matrix display. Enjoy features like automatic crossfading between tracks and unique pixelated cover art. It's designed for offline use with no streaming or ads.

Highlights
  • Dot-matrix LED display with six styles
  • Auto VJ transitions
  • Automatic crossfading with silence trimming
  • Generated pixelated cover art
  • Y2K-style file name display
  • Import from Files app
  • Offline playback
Features
Read full description

retro_player.mp3 plays the music you already own, the way a player from 1983 would have if it had been designed in Germany and shipped in 2003. DOT-MATRIX DISPLAY Your music drives a square LED panel, unlit dots and all. Six display styles: Bars with red peak caps, Mirror, Scope, Pulse, Warp and Rain. Pick yours in Settings or tap the display, and the dots fly over to the new one. Turn on Auto VJ and now and then the panel moves on by itself, with a transition: a swirl, a burst, a dissolve or a CRT wipe. AUTOMIX Turn it on and every track crossfades into the next. retro_player trims the silence at the end of one song and the start of the next, so the mix lands on the music. Choose 4, 8 or 12 seconds. PIXEL COVER ART Every track gets its own generated LED cover: invaders, synthwave suns, rings, skylines. It's on the lock screen and in Control Center. NAMES LIKE IT'S 2003 Show titles clean, as the raw file name, or in full Y2K style: xX~sOnG_nAmE~Xx.mp3. YOUR FILES, YOUR LISTS Import MP3, M4A, WAV and AIFF from the Files app, or drop them into Files › On My iPhone › retro_player. Make lists, reorder them, play them. MADE FOR IPHONE DUO Open it and the player sits on one side with your lists on the other, the fold between them. Half-fold it and the display stands on the top half, with your library below. RETRO_PLAYER PRO The free version plays the first 3 tracks in your library. retro_player Pro is a one-time in-app purchase that unlocks every track, for good. No subscription. Had the app before version 1.2? You keep full access. NOTHING ELSE No account. No streaming. No ads. No tracking. Works offline. Black, white and one red. Less, but better.

Screenshots

MediaDrift4 screens
retro_player.mp34 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MediaDrift at none against retro_player.mp3's 1. MediaDrift also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads 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. retro_player.mp3 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MediaDrift asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
MediaDrift versus retro_player.mp3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMediaDriftretro_player.mp3
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequency—Every 6 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size186 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKASUI TONGFalse Peak

In-app purchases

None

MediaDrift

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

retro_player.mp3

One-time1
  • Retro Player Pro$9.99

Questions

Is MediaDrift free?
MediaDrift is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is retro_player.mp3 free?
retro_player.mp3 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MediaDrift or retro_player.mp3 have ads?
Neither MediaDrift nor retro_player.mp3 shows ads.

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