Play Deadby Nugs.net
$10/mo
- ✓ Official Nugs remasters
- ✓ Curated weekly picks
- ✓ Dave’s Picks catalog
- ✕ Full Internet Archive catalog
- ✕ SBD / MTX / AUD source switching
- ✕ AI features
- ✕ Community & social
- ✕ Personal vaults & notes
- ✕ Free tier
LiveVault vs Play Dead
The vault, unchained.
Nugs.net’s Play Dead is the official GD streaming app. LiveVault is the Deadhead alternative — free, Archive-powered, community-driven, and adding the features we actually want. Here’s the honest breakdown.
LiveVaultby Deadheads, for Deadheads
Free· Pro $3.99/mo
- ✓ 2,300+ shows from the Archive
- ✓ SBD / MTX / AUD source switching
- ✓ Offline downloads & AirPlay
- ✓ Personal vaults, playlists, notes
- ✓ Free tier — full streaming, forever
- ✦ AI setlist sommelier
- ✦ AI remasters (in the lab)
- ✦ Community & social listening
- ✦ Living liner notes
When Play Dead is the right call
We’ll say it up front: if you only care about pristine official remasters and the Dave’s Picks catalog, and $10/month doesn’t bother you, Play Dead is a fine choice. The audio fidelity on their releases is real.
When LiveVault is the right call
- You want access to the whole Archive — not just the officially-sanctioned slice.
- You want to A/B the SBD and the AUD of the same show in one tap.
- You like the weird stuff — the 20-minute Dark Stars, the ’72 Europe outtakes, the acoustic Pigpen sets.
- You want an app that feels like a Deadhead forum, not a record label.
- You don’t want to pay $10/month for tapes that have been free on the Internet for 20 years.
A note on audio quality
Play Dead’s pitch is that their remasters sound better. Sometimes they do. But the Charlie Miller and Jeffrey Norman transfers on the Archive are also extraordinary, and with our upcoming AI remaster tools we’re aiming at parity on the AUD catalog too — free, for everyone.
And if we’re wrong?
LiveVault is free. You can use both. We’d rather share listeners with Play Dead than lock them out. That’s pretty much the whole difference.