FOR VINYL COLLECTORS & RECORD STORE BROWSERS
The ultimate music historian right in your pocket.
Point your phone at any album cover. Get instant AI-powered reviews that tell you why it matters musically—not what it's worth on Discogs.
FOR VINYL COLLECTORS & RECORD STORE BROWSERS
Point your phone at any album cover. Get instant AI-powered reviews that tell you why it matters musically—not what it's worth on Discogs.
THE FRUSTRATION
The uncertainty builds with every flip. You're guessing, not deciding.
Not whether the music is actually good. (Who cares if it's a VG+ if it sounds like a VG+?)
Even if you remember the cover, do you remember if it was their good one?
HOW IT WORKS
Aim at any album cover, tap SCAN. No typing, no searching, no barcode hunting.
Our AI recognizes the album from the cover art alone—even obscure deep cuts.
An honest assessment: cultural significance, critical reception, standout tracks, and a clear recommendation.
Every scan saves to your history. Remember that album you wanted to stream when you got home.
KEY FEATURES
| Cultural Impact | Not just how it sounds—why it matters. Did it change a genre? Influence your favorite band? Sometimes the most important album isn't the most sonically impressive one. |
| Dynamic Ratings | A score out of 10 plus a recommendation tier—from "Essential Classic" to "Avoid Entirely." Generated from AI trained on decades of critical consensus, not one person's opinion. |
| Key Tracks | Instantly see which songs were the hits. Great for when you recognize an album but can't remember which track you were looking for. |
| Scan History | Every album you scan is saved locally. Browse later, remember what caught your eye, build a log of your discoveries. |
| Ultra FeatureEnhanced Matching | When AI knowledge alone isn't enough, Ultra searches the web in real-time. Identifies deep cuts, obscure pressings, and albums with minimal cover text that would otherwise go unrecognized. |
| Ultra FeatureEnriched Reviews | Ultra blends AI knowledge with live search results from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Metacritic, and AllMusic. Real citations, real scores, real critical context. |
OUR PROMISE
After 10 years of collecting, I got tired of the same routine: standing in a record store, holding an album I half-recognized, googling reviews and losing the rhythm of the dig. Either you burn out and buy a dud, or you spend an hour researching and leave with nothing.
Building a thoughtful collection on a budget is hard. You can eyeball the sleeve condition, but knowing whether this is the album worth owning? That takes knowledge I didn't always have.
AlbumScan changed how I dig. Now I scan, set it aside, keep flipping, and read the review when it's ready. I buy with confidence instead of hope.
This is not a price guide.
I don't need to obsess over pressing variations or chase vinyl as an investment. If it plays clean and sounds good, I'm happy. AlbumScan tells you if the music is worth your time—not what the cardboard is worth to someone else.
SIMPLE PRICING
That's $0.42/month. Less than a damaged 45.
$1/month to never miss a hidden gem.
QUESTIONS
Most albums from the last 70+ years. Popular releases identify instantly. For deep cuts and obscure pressings, our Ultra tier uses web search to track them down. If an album exists and has been documented anywhere online, we can usually find it.
Yes. Any album cover works—vinyl, CD, cassette, even a poster on a wall if you're feeling adventurous.
By design. We built AlbumScan for people who care about the music, not the market. There are already apps for that. We're focused on helping you discover albums worth listening to.
Reviews are AI-generated fresh each time, synthesizing critical consensus, chart history, and cultural context. They're not perfect—think of them as a knowledgeable friend giving you their take, not an academic citation. We include a disclaimer because honesty matters.
Base works great for well-known albums—most of what you'll find at a typical record store. Ultra adds advanced web search for identifying obscure releases and provides reviews with cited professional sources (Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc.). If you're hunting deep cuts regularly, Ultra pays for itself.
Your scans stay on your device. We don't have user accounts. We don't track you. We don't sell data. The only thing leaving your phone is the album image going to our AI for identification—and we don't store those.
AI-powered search isn't cheap to run. Every scan costs real money on the backend—especially Ultra's web search features. The subscription model keeps AlbumScan sustainable so I can maintain it, improve it, and keep it running without taking a loss. I'd rather be upfront about that than shut down in six months.
Download AlbumScan and turn your next record store trip into a discovery session.
Download Free on iOSFree to try. No account needed. Discover your first 5 albums on us.