Melon Music vs CD
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Melon Music
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Melon Music rethinks what should a local music player should be. It is designed to be a minimalist, refined and singular experience free from bloat and distractions. An elegant canvas for your personal curated library, add external folders and files directly without copying, enable or disable folders to quickly change up your collection. It focuses only on what's playing, and what's upcoming, all accessible with a minimum number of gestures. Sort and manage your library, create playlists on the fly all with significantly less input than other applications. ReplayGain Melon Edition is a custom loudness equalization algorithm that preserves the dynamics of quiet songs and the energy of loud songs. It saves you from manual volume adjustments while preserving artistic intent. The app also applies gain in a way that sacrifices significantly less dynamic range compared to standard approach. Melon Music has many Japanese-specific sorting features, it supports sort tags commonly used for Japanese music. For files that don't have sort tags, it features a built-in lookup table which you can fill in effortlessly leveraging on-device and third party AI*. For example an artist only needs to be sorted once to work with all existing and future songs. Unlock customization options through an in-app purchase, which features custom accent color and background images, with beautiful gradient options to assist with readability. Paid users can also apply ReplayGain Melon Edition tags to their files to be used elsewhere. Features: -Simply tap any song to play, or if one is already playing, it will be played next, safe from interruptions. -The persistent playlist can be easily saved, shuffled or cleared. -Timer to stop after set number of songs. -Quick shuffle randomly picks a few albums to play. -Regret button when changing songs during play. -Adaptive Replay Gain equalizes volume with less loss of dynamic range than regular approaches. -ReplayGain Melon Edition provides better volume consistency than standard algorithms. -iPad exclusive multi-panel interface rather than enlarged iPhone interface. -Surface most common Chinese characters to scroll index for easy access. -Sort Kana as Romaji or by 50 Kana order. -Sort Chinese characters by Pinyin order. -Exported Japanese kanji reading guide can be filled in by any frontier AI models in one simple inquiry. -It is possible to sort Chinese and Japanese correctly at the same time by utilizing sort tags for Japanese, and pinyin for the rest. *Apple Intelligence requires iOS 26 and compatible device, model performance depends on iOS version and device. The user is required to query a third-party AI provider on their own, Melon Music does not communicate with any remote devices or services.
CD
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Your music collection deserves a player of its own. CD-VC Player turns your local audio files into a collection of virtual discs. Pick an album from the shelf, open the lid and press Play. Enjoy the character of a classic CD player with the convenience of a modern app. A COLLECTION WORTH COMING BACK TO Add music folders, browse album artwork and search by album, artist or track. CD-VC Player plays your own local files. No music catalog is included. MAKE THE SOUND YOUR OWN Adjust the 10-band equalizer or choose a preset. Use Direct mode to bypass sound processing. DETAILS THAT SET THE MOOD A rotating disc, illuminated displays and audio visualizers bring a little ceremony to everyday listening. Choose English or Russian directly in Settings. ON IPHONE AND MAC Keep listening in the background on iPhone. On Mac, open your library beside the player or switch to the compact mini-player. YOUR AUDIO FILES Supports MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4A, AAC and AIFF. Playback support depends on the file codec. Download files from cloud folders to your device before playing. DRM-protected music is not supported. TRY 15 DAYS FREE Activate the free β15-day Trialβ through the App Store. All player features are available for 15 days from activation. After the trial ends, a one-time in-app purchase is required to continue using it. One purchase unlocks the full version on iPhone and Mac with the same Apple Account. No subscription is required. The current price is shown before you buy. Thank you for supporting CD-VC Player.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: CD at every 4 days against Melon Music's every 5 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Melon Music sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and CD sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Melon Music ships an update every 5 weeks, CD every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Melon Music | CD |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 4 days β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac β better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 17.0 β better |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chen Gong | Vladimir Zhuravlev |
In-app purchases
Melon Music
- Unlock Customization2 variants$2.99
CD
- 15-day TrialFree
- Full Version β iPhone and Mac$17.99









