Other than promotions for using free months and using my wife’s account, I’ve never paid for Spotify or Prime Music, and it’s not that bad: I listen to music in random mode from time to time, my song skips are limited, and I swallow a few ads. But not paying costs me more on long trips, so after using RiMusic in the car I discovered: RiMusic and I took a tour through Android Auto.

When I read the name, I thought the same as you: ViMusic and RiMusic are very similar, right? Yes, it turns out RiMusic is an independent branch of ViMusic. The gist is the same: two services Free music streaming with no ads and open source.

Of course, I was able to confirm that RiMusic was updated more frequently; this is worth it for both new features and bugs. In any case, both work on Android Auto and exceeding 100 million pieces (Drinks from the YouTube Music catalog) and I confirm that I searched and found Linkin Park or Rozalén via Izaro or Raimundo el Canastero.

Download and install on Android Auto

RiMusic is not on Google Play Storebut no problem: as described on the website, you can download it from alternative stores such as F-Droid or from the GitHub repository. It’s as simple as downloading the APK from here and don’t forget to allow installation from unknown sources, that’s it.

Once installed, if you go to the vehicle with your mobile phone You won’t see this in the Android Auto menu because you will need to do a few more things: you will need to open the Android Auto settings and scroll to the bottom where the version number appears. You’re tapping away like there’s no tomorrow until you enable developer settings. Then go to the three little dots in the top right corner and click ‘Developer settingsenable ‘ option‘Unknown sources’.

Left: Android Auto developer options. Right: RiMusic Settings

Finally, we open RiMusic on the mobile phone and tap the icon with three lines in the upper right corner and click ‘Settings‘>’Various‘ and there we scroll until we find the option ‘Enable Android Auto support‘, by sliding the corresponding button. We will now see RiMusic on the Android Auto screen when entering the vehicle.

This is what RiMusic looks like in Android Auto

RiMusic actually offers an experience very close to Spotify in terms of both interface and possibilities: from the dark interface with green details to functions such as search engine, library, playlists, artist/song/artist tabs and even quick selection based on your tastes. . On the home screen, there are suggestions, new albums, artists similar to your favorites, groupings by genre… In Android Auto, the interface is simplified but quite complete.

to emphasize maintenance of designIt’s pretty intuitive and clear so there’s no need to explain too much about how it works. There’s no shortage of classic icons for pausing, starting, rewinding or skipping songs, for example. Going back to the start is as simple as tapping the green button with the logo in the top left corner, and since everything else falls into the app, we won’t find the hidden options.

In the Android Auto app the menu is in the top bar (in the app it’s in the bottom area) and songs, libraries, albums and artists showing things you already own in the app. That’s why it’s important to select and pre-add some artists before getting in the car, and the same goes for songs. Or better yet, you’ve taken the time to create your playlists (the procedure is the same as on Spotify: search and add to the list).

Actually, The most important part of driving is the libraryYou can see your lists (as you can see in the image above, ‘2024’ is the name of one of them) and also see your most listened to songs that you have downloaded to the device to listen to without consuming data, among others.

When you put the gameplay in the foreground, classic controls appear, such as the random mode, the possibility of queuing or reversing. If you switch screens while keeping RiMusic in the foreground, a button to return to that playback screen appears, but this Combine with other applications thanks to Coolwalksomething he does perfectly. So you can see the song you’re playing, skip or rewind, but it also has a quick menu with options like favorites or downloads. Great care is taken to ensure that everything is agile and fast.

During my tests with this application while driving, I was very pleased with both the application catalog and the handling. I experienced some slowdown from time to time. Even though the sound quality is not as good as others when it comes to loading tracks, it does its job.

In any case RiMusic is a great alternative For those who have an Android phone and Android Auto in their car and don’t pay for music streaming services, for the ability to listen to music on demand and ad-free, or for those who just want to save data (or if coverage is poor) and download music in advance.

Cover | Eva Rodríguez de Luis

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