Spotify forces you either to pay, listen to ads or to find unofficial, potentially dangerous versions to use it.
Introducing: ViMusic Downloads: https://github.com/vfsfitvnm/ViMusic
- Free and open source
- No ads/trackers
- Song lyrics
- Music from both YouTube Music and YouTube
- Weights 2MB or so
- Beautiful UI and amazing UX
Cons: no high kbps streaming support
DO NOT TRY TO DOWNLOAD THE APP FROM ANY SOURCE OTHER THAN THE ONES LISTED IN THEIR GITHUB PAGE. They are malware.
Not to argue against any of the points against Spotify, but YT Music (and it’s parent, Google) are much worse; leaving only Apple Music with a much smaller library as a realistic alternative to streaming music.
I do miss the old days of Google Play Music though - it is a shame what Google did to a neat app with a standalone subscription.
Oh my God yes Google Play Music was the best. And whoever convinced them to give up that glorious branding (Play Music, Play Movies, Play Store) in favor of ‘YouTube Music’ should be drawn and quartered.
Play Music’s uncanny ability to let me know who was actually playing near me, meaning within my usual territory, and with music I would like, was unmatched. It was par with Spotify for playlists based on the sound of a song. YouTube music doesn’t do playing near you, Spotify seems to think 1000 miles away is nearby, and neither are as good as Play Music was at finding good match for my location and time of day. It was perfect in name and function and they gave it up.