A Turntable.fm alternative with avatars and a world
The part everyone actually misses: a room full of people, taking turns playing songs.
What Turntable.fm was
Turntable.fm was the original. You walked an avatar into a themed room, queued up behind the decks, and played a track for everyone there while the room voted it awesome or lame. It was social music before most people had a word for it, and it is the thing almost every app in this space has been trying to rebuild since.
What people actually miss about it
People searching for a Turntable.fm alternative are usually not asking for a music player. They are asking for the room — avatars in a space, turns at the decks, and the social pressure of playing a song to people who will react to it.
Is Turntable.fm still around?
The original service shut down on 2 December 2013. The domain was revived around 2021 by founder Billy Chasen with venture funding, and a separate related project ran under other domains. When we last checked, turntable.fm did not resolve in DNS for us, and a venture database lists the company as closed. A domain failing to resolve from one place is not proof a company is gone, so we will not state flatly that it is — but we could not reach anything there.
Status last checked October 2026. We would rather hedge than tell you a service is dead when it is not — if this is out of date, tell us.
Turntable.fm vs Listen Along
Including the rows where Turntable.fm was the better option. A comparison that only flatters us would not be much use to you.
| Feature | Turntable.fm | Listen Along |
|---|---|---|
| Avatars in a room | Yes, the thing it was known for | Yes — a walkable 2D pixel world |
| Taking turns | DJ booth with a waitlist | Shared queue with a per-person limit, so no one hogs it |
| Room reactions | Awesome / lame voting | Upvotes, vote-to-skip and emoji reactions |
| Music source | Licensed catalogue | YouTube, plus Spotify and Apple Music link resolution |
| Voice chat | No | Proximity voice — volume fades as you walk away |
| Cost | Free while it ran | Free |
Common questions
Is Turntable.fm back?
The original shut down in December 2013. The domain was revived around 2021 by its founder with venture funding, and the current state of that revival is not clear from public sources. We would rather say that plainly than guess.
Does Listen Along have a DJ booth and a waitlist?
Not a booth exactly. Everyone adds to one shared queue, with a per-person limit so a single listener cannot fill it, and the room votes songs up or skips them. The effect is the same — turns, with the room reacting — without anyone waiting in a line to play one track.
Can I walk around like I could on Turntable?
Yes, and a bit further. Your avatar moves around a 2D pixel room rather than standing in a fixed spot, and voice chat fades with distance, so you can drift off and have a side conversation.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in the browser, and you do not need an account to listen in a room someone shares with you.
Start a room in about ten seconds
No download, no subscription, and nobody needs an account to listen in a room you share with them.