iTunes is getting on my nerves!!! What choices do i have?

Fri, Jun 13, 2008

It seems that not everyone is pleased with iTunes , especially Windows users! Some bugs, eats a lot of memory/system resources and what is really annoying is when it tries to force you to organize your music in a certain way ( if u read my earlier post you know i don’t deal very well with authority)

The majority of the problems with iTunes, are really with iTunes for Windows. The interface and version numbers may be the same, but the overall user experience is completely different in Windows XP or Vista than it is in OS X! For music playback , a Windows user is using Winamp, or most of them are using this app! But all the Windows i know that are using iTunes have the same complaints : it eats up a lot of memory! Even on a powerful system that is well configured , for most of my friends is very frustrating when they see that a lot of their PC resources or a high amount of RAM is being used by this one app : iTunes

But iTunes strength is represented by its perfect integration with the iPod and the iTunes Store! But this doesn’t mean we have to like it or use it! What happens if we don’t like it but we still want to use an app that is reliable and can manage both our music and our iPod? I don’t say i don’t like iTunes, because i kinda like it and use it ( only on mac os ) but i got pretty tired and you know i want new things over and over again! So i did a little research, and i found some alternatives that can do both music and iPod management for Windows, Linux, and yes, even some OS X alternatives.

WINDOWS

MusikCube – this is for all of you out there that wants to use something very easy and not messy! It is very very fast, it has playback support for most of the formats out there but , it does not have support for protected iTunes music files or provide built-in iPod management

Winamp – I think that any info about this app is useles! This is the grandfather of all music apps out there! The Full version (which is free) and the Pro version both include integrated iPod support and all version will playback iTunes protected files, again, as long as QuickTime is installed.

foobar2000 - foobar2000 tackles both of these issues with ease. Not only is it built to be lightweight and to efficiently handle large playlists or music libraries, it’s incredibly customizable. HydrogenAudio keeps a well updated list of components (plugins) that are available and compatible with the latest releases. The most barebones set-up includes compatibility with everything that iTunes will play (including purchased files, if you have QuickTime installed) plus FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, and more. This iPod component works really, really well with most iPods (we havent tested it with the Nano 3G or Classic series units).

One of our only complaints about foobar2000 in the past (and we know that for many users, this is actually a benefit) was the user interface. Although the UI is actually a component itself, the default and even some of the additional UI components never really met our standards as far as aesthetics and usability goes. With version 0.9.5 (now in its third beta), the default UI is getting a complete overhaul. The results are fantastic – and usability is significantly increased.

LINUX

Linux is a sensitive subject, becouse i don’t have a lot of experience in this field but i hope this will be helpful for all you Linux people out there as well. Sure, programs like VLC and MPlayer will play back most audio formats, but features of actual music management programs like search, playlist storage, etc. were a long time coming. The good news is that those features are available and they are available now. The downside, most DRM formats are incompatible with Linux (unless the DRM is stripped), and the lack of Linux compatibility, out of the box, with the iPod/iTunes means that purchased files cannot be played on a Linux system, at least with the DRM intact. But if you are using Linux, you knew that already.

Amarok is based in KDE, though released independently (and it will function without any problems in GNOME, it just might not look as pretty), and is very good at not only playing back different audio formats with ease (which is a problem many Linux music players/managers have) but also at managing large music libraries. It comes with built-in iPod support and will also work with iPods loaded with Rockbox. Pre-compiled binaries are available for most distributions via Amarook’s site, or apt-get.

Banshee is for GNOME, and it is really designed to replace iTunes or Windows Media Player, by making it easy to rip, burn and playback tracks. It also has iPod support, thought it seems to be a little less advanced than Amarok’s. We really like the interface.

MAC OS X

Where should i start? iTunes is the best music player for MAC, i not this is a shock but still… it is not perfect! It has plenty flaws : encoding/rip options are atrocious from an audiophile POV, FLAC support is non-existent and for older systems, it can be slow (recomended to turn off album art and the music store if you are on an older PPC machine and iTunes is slow). Still, as far as integration with the iPod, nothing is going to beat it – especially not on Mac.

Cog is a music player, first and foremost (like old school Winamp or Audion) and it does not try to manage your music. It’s newer in the development cycle, but it is showing lots of promise.

Play tries to be more of a lightweight version of iTunes. It handles music management, search and tagging features in a manner similar to iTunes, but with fewer resources and support for more formats. The development seemed stalled for a bit but seems to be back. The developer is the same guy responsible for Max which is the closest thing Mac users have to EAC

NOTE :
Neither Cog nor Play will currently play protected iTunes files*

One of the most annoying thing is that iTunes does not allow users to take the music off his/her iPod and put it back into his/her computer. Fortunately, managing and reading the iPod database was one of the first hacks figured out for the iPod, going as far back as early 2002.

Floola (Mac OS X, Windows, Linux) – supports all iPods; Beta Classic and 3G Nano Support – Free

YamiPod (Mac OS X, Windows, Linux) – Beta Supports Classic and Nano 3G – Free, and we have used this many times in various version of Windows to retrieve/transfer songs.

Senuti (Mac OS X) – works with Leopard, Free

PodWorks - (OS X) – works with Leopard, iPhone, iTouch and Classic Nano 3G support – $8 and worth it for keeping meta-data and playlists intact.

GNUpod (Linux, may also work with OS X) For the real badass.

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