What is the Samsung equivalent of iTunes?

iTunes is Apple’s proprietary media player, media library, and mobile device management application. Originally released in 2001 solely as a media player, iTunes has expanded over the years to include the iTunes Store for purchasing music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and more. iTunes also enables users to organize, sync, and backup their iOS devices like iPhones and iPads.

For Samsung device users, iTunes is not compatible for syncing and managing their Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Samsung offers its own set of apps to provide similar functionality as iTunes for its Android-based devices.

Samsung Music

Samsung Music is the default music player app that comes pre-installed on most Samsung Galaxy devices running Android 5.0 and higher (Samsung Music). It allows users to play both locally stored music files and stream music from online services.

Samsung Music supports common audio formats like MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, and M4A. It can play both music downloads and tracks stored on an SD card (Samsung Music – Apps on Google Play). The app has both streaming and download capabilities for accessing music. Users can stream from services like YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora, and SoundCloud.

Downloading tracks for offline playback is also an option. The app makes it easy to browse, purchase, and download songs from the Samsung Music store. Downloaded tracks get saved directly on the device storage.

Overall, Samsung Music aims to provide Galaxy users with a seamless music listening experience and full-featured music player right out of the box, without needing to download a third-party app.

Galaxy Store

The Galaxy Store is Samsung’s own app store that comes pre-installed on Samsung Galaxy devices, providing access to games, apps, themes, and more specifically designed for Samsung devices. According to the Samsung website and the Galaxy Store site, the store offers exclusive apps and content optimized for Samsung Galaxy smartphones, tablets, watches and more. The Galaxy Store aims to provide a curated selection of high quality apps tailored to Galaxy users.

The Galaxy Store features many top apps and games including exclusives not available on the Google Play Store, as well as free themes to customize the look and feel of your Samsung device. It also offers Galaxy-specific utilities and integrations with Samsung services like Bixby, Samsung Health, Samsung Pay, and more. Overall, the Galaxy Store gives Samsung device owners access to specialized content and apps designed to take advantage of Samsung hardware and software capabilities.

Smart Switch

Samsung’s Smart Switch app is designed to help users transfer content from an old device to a new Samsung device. This includes transferring iTunes content like music, playlists, podcasts, videos, and more [1].

To use Smart Switch to transfer iTunes content, you first need to connect both your old iPhone and new Samsung device to your computer. Open Smart Switch on your computer and it will detect the connected devices. You can then select what content you want to transfer from iTunes, including media files, contacts, messages, photos, and more.

One of the key benefits of using Smart Switch for transferring iTunes content is that it aims to preserve your playlists and media organization. When transferring music, it will recreate your playlists on the new Samsung device so you maintain the same listening experience.

However, there are some limitations. Smart Switch does not transfer over iTunes store purchases and decrypts all DRM-protected files. So any media bought via iTunes will need to be re-purchased. Smart Switch also does not transfer over apps, so iOS apps will need to be redownloaded on the Samsung device [2].

Overall, Smart Switch provides an easy way to transfer your locally stored iTunes media to a new Samsung device. Just be aware it does not support transferring all iTunes content.

Third Party Apps

While Samsung provides its own proprietary apps for syncing media and files, many users find better functionality and flexibility using third party alternatives. Some popular options include:

doubleTwist (https://www.doubletwist.com/): doubleTwist allows you to sync iTunes media to Android devices and vice versa. It supports music, photos, videos, playlists and metadata syncing between desktop and mobile. Compared to Samsung’s Smart Switch, doubleTwist provides wireless syncing and a smoother cross-platform experience. The tradeoff is paying for the premium version to unlock additional features.

iSyncr (https://www.jrtstudio.com/iSyncr-iTunes-for-Android): iSyncr focuses specifically on syncing iTunes media libraries from desktop to Android. It wirelessly syncs music, playlists, videos, podcasts, and metadata. The free version handles basics while the paid pro upgrade enables advanced features. The main limitation is no desktop app so it requires more manual syncing compared to doubleTwist.

Syncios (https://www.syncios.com/): From the makers of iSkysoft, Syncios transfers music, videos, photos and other media between iOS, Android, and desktop. It covers the basics like Smart Switch but adds extra features like built-in conversion tools in the premium version. However, transfer speeds may be slower than other alternatives.

Syncing Playlists and Media

You can easily transfer and sync playlists, podcasts, videos, and other media files between iTunes on your computer and your Samsung Galaxy device. This allows you to access the same playlists and media across devices. Here are a few ways to sync this content:

Use a third party app like Syncios to wirelessly transfer iTunes playlists, podcasts, videos and more to your Samsung device with one click. It will retain all your playlist and media info.

Connect your Samsung to your computer via USB and use an app like Smart Switch to sync iTunes content over. Media like playlists, podcasts, and videos will transfer while retaining their structure.

You can also manually recreate your iTunes playlists on your Samsung device using the Samsung Music app. Search for each song individually and add it to a new playlist to mimic what you have in iTunes.

While there’s no direct iTunes sync ability, these workarounds let you easily recreate your iTunes media library on your Galaxy device.

Purchasing Media

There are several options for buying music, movies, TV shows, books, and other media content for your Samsung device. The main ways to purchase media are through the Galaxy Store, third party apps like Google Play, and directly from media providers.

The Galaxy Store has a Music section where you can buy albums and tracks to download directly to your device. There is also a Movies & TV section for purchasing and renting videos. Purchases are tied to your Samsung account, allowing you to access them from multiple devices. A downside is that the available catalog may be more limited than other stores.

The Google Play Store has a large selection of music, movies, TV, books, and more that you can buy or rent. Purchases are tied to your Google account and can be accessed from Android devices and the web. Google Play may have a greater selection than Galaxy Store for media.

You can also purchase media directly from providers like Amazon, streaming services like Netflix and Spotify, and digital stores like iTunes and Vudu. This gives you more options for content, though may require using multiple apps on your Samsung device. Purchased media can usually be downloaded to your device for offline playback.

Overall, the Galaxy Store provides convenient buying integrated into Samsung devices, while third party apps and media providers offer wider selections. Mixing different sources gives the greatest options for purchasing media.

Backups and Restores

One of the key features of iTunes is the ability to easily back up and restore iPhone data. Samsung offers similar capabilities through Smart Switch and Samsung Cloud.

Smart Switch lets you back up data from your old device and restore it to your new Galaxy phone or tablet. You can transfer contacts, messages, photos, videos, calendar events, reminders and more. Smart Switch can transfer data via USB cable, Wi-Fi or wirelessly from one Galaxy device to another. This makes it easy to keep your data safe when upgrading devices.¹

Samsung Cloud offers 5GB of free storage to back up your photos, videos, contacts, calendar events and more. You can access your backed up data from any internet-connected device. Paid storage upgrades are available if you need more capacity. The Auto Sync option automatically backs up your data in real-time.²

While not a direct equivalent, these Samsung services provide robust backup and restore capabilities to help safeguard your data when transitioning between Galaxy devices.

Limitations

Though Samsung Music and Samsung devices provide many of the core functions of iTunes, there are some limitations compared to full integration with the Apple ecosystem. Some key limitations include:

Apple’s proprietary formats like AAC or ALAC may not play properly on Samsung devices (Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/tnkt3r/what_are_these_famous_limitations_of_ios_compared/)

Purchased iTunes media has restrictions for usage and sharing on non-Apple devices (Source: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7981248)

Features like Apple One subscription sharing have limitations for Android users (Source: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253921144)

Seamless integration for backups, restores, and syncing across Apple devices may not work as smoothly with a Samsung device

Limitations around using services like Apple Music on Samsung devices and Google’s Android Auto platform

In general, the deep Apple ecosystem integration and proprietary formats limit interoperability with non-Apple devices and services.

Conclusion

In summary, Samsung offers a few key options for Galaxy users looking to manage their media without iTunes. The native Samsung Music app provides a solid music player and library management. The Galaxy Store offers a marketplace to download apps and media. Smart Switch helps transfer existing iTunes content to a new Galaxy device. And third party apps like doubleTwist can sync playlists and content between iTunes and Galaxy. While the experience isn’t identical, these options give you the core functionality to backup, purchase, play, and organize media. With a combination of Samsung’s built-in tools and third party support, Galaxy owners have several alternatives to fill the iTunes-sized hole in the ecosystem.