Comparison

AO vs Music Diary

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

Head to head
About

AO

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AO-ringo Player is a music player designed specifically for continuously playing albums from your Apple Music library. [Key Features] ・Continuous Album Playback: When the last track of an album ends, the app automatically transitions to the next album and continues playing. ・Seamless Transitions: Preloading minimizes wait time when switching between albums. ・Offline Mode: Automatically detects tracks saved on your device and keeps playing without interruption even without a network connection. ・Library Integration: Works directly with your Apple Music library and playlists. ・Favorites: Add artists and playlists to your favorites and quickly access them sorted by play count. ・Custom Themes: Choose from Auto (follows OS settings), fixed Light/Dark, or custom color themes from the appearance settings (※ options other than Auto require an in-app purchase).

About

Music Diary

Features
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Every song you love deserves more than a heart button. PlaylistNote is a music diary where you write your listening life down by hand — the playlists you dream up, the track a friend played you in the car, the album that carried you through March — and keep it forever, in your own words. Streaming apps track what you played. PlaylistNote keeps what it meant. There is no login, no linked account, no internet connection at all — just a beautiful notebook built for music, in four tabs: your library, your listen-later queue, your journal, and your stats. WHAT YOU GET • Playlists built by hand — name one "Rainy Sunday cooking", give it a vibe and a cover, and fill it song by song • Every song carries your words: artist, album, genre, a 1–5 star rating, an energy level, and the note only you understand • A Listen Later queue that remembers where each tip came from — friend rec, radio, a live show, a viral clip — so "what was that song?" never happens again • A listening journal with moods and star ratings: open it in a year and reread exactly how that track felt the first time • Stats that map your taste: top genres, most-added artists, playlists by vibe, and how generous your ratings really are • One-tap export of any playlist, your whole library, or your journal as clean text or CSV — your data walks out with you anytime PERFECT FOR • Concert-goers who want tonight's setlist and the feeling of the encore written down before it fades • Vinyl and CD listeners logging real listening sessions, not streaming plays • Anyone whose notes app is a graveyard of half-remembered song titles • Music lovers who journal — and want their diary to have a tracklist WHY NOT JUST A STREAMING APP OR A NOTES APP? A year-end stats reel tells you a number. A notes app loses songs in the scroll. PlaylistNote is built for the shape of music memory: songs belong to playlists, moods attach to dates, sources attach to discoveries — and it all adds up to charts of who you are as a listener. No streaming account required, ever. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Everything you write stays on your iPhone. No account, no cloud, no tracking, no network access of any kind. Your music diary is yours alone — and the export button proves it. FULL ACCESS PlaylistNote Pro unlocks the whole studio: unlimited playlists, an unlimited Listen Later queue, an unlimited listening journal, every stats chart, and text + CSV export. Choose the weekly plan, the yearly plan, or pay once with lifetime — subscriptions auto-renew until cancelled. Start tonight: log the last song that gave you chills. Terms of Use: https://leanstudio.asia/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://leanstudio.asia/privacy-policy Support: support@leanstudio.asia

Screenshots

AO4 screens
Music Diary4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Music Diary at none against AO's 3. AO's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months). 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. AO sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Music Diary asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AO ships an update weekly, Music Diary every 4 months. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
AO versus Music Diary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAOMusic Diary
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFujishima TomokazuLEAN ASIA CO., LTD

In-app purchases

3 purchases

AO

One-time3
  • Coffee Support$0.99
  • Premium Coffee Support$1.99
  • Coffee & Cake Support$3.99
None

Music Diary

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is AO free?
AO is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Music Diary free?
Music Diary is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do AO or Music Diary have ads?
Neither AO nor Music Diary shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AO or Music Diary?
AO ships an update weekly, and Music Diary every 4 months. Most recently, AO was updated on October 25, 2026 and Music Diary on October 25, 2026.

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