A good program to replace iTunes?

[arkeo]

Most of the search results I've seen here usually deal with a replacement program to manage iPhones or iPods.
I'm actually looking for something that can import my current iTunes library, leaving the files where they are with all the metadata, like rating and possibly playcount, intact.

As it is, I can't stand iTunes any longer, but my Playlists (mostly rating-based) and I are stuck with it.

Any suggestion would be kindly appreciated...

 

[greck0]

mediamoney is what i use and have done for years. not sure how the transfer will go but deal with it!
Iphone crashed other day and i lost everything, but reinstalling actually was good to do so was happy... dont resist change!

 

[calccrypto]

helper91, only you have to change the settings to make it show english. but you still need to at least install itunes edit: i dont know about importing or anything from itunes

 

[hybridfan]

Winamp can do this, give it a try...

Winamp Media Player - MP3, Video, and Music Player - Winamp

 

[G1LLY]

I think Songbird can manage iPod's ok by using a add-on.

Not sure about the music transfer keeping meta data though.

Songbird - Welcome

 

[WinKid]

I dont know if you like this or not. but ive been using spotify for a while and i like it alot.

Key things spotify has:

Free to download.
You can listen to any music on spotify as well as listen to your own. (i get 20hours of free music i can listen to. after 20hours you have to wait few days till it resets unless you buy membership)
You can import your own music to spotify and rate/star your music you like.

I Hope you like this program.

Download:

Download Spotify for Windows

 

[aquarian]

Winamp can do this, give it a try...

Winamp Media Player - MP3, Video, and Music Player - Winamp

Two people I know use winamp instead of iTunes and always recommend it.

 

[arkeo]

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Here's what I found out:

- Winamp imports all the tags and Playlists correctly, but doesn't seem to recognize either Rating or Playcount. It also doesn't appear to copy over iTunes' Album Artwork--although it tries to present various media such as pictures and videos from the Internet.

- MediaMonkey imports all the tags correctly, including Album Artwork, Rating and Playcount for each song. But apparently it fails at importing playlists (which at this point is not such a huge drawback, since I have the elements to duplicate their criteria). Before trying out these programs, I made the iTunes Music folder Read-only, I wonder whether this might have interfered with the playlists, though I don't see why it should--shouldn't MM keep its library/config file(s) somewhere else?

- Songbird annoyed me a bit when it needed an Internet connection to perform the first run/setup wizard. Aside from this, it imported everything correctly except for Smart Playlists (even though it imported correctly the "fixed" Playlists).

- Helper91: I couldn't even set the website to a different language, so I didn't want to waste precious 3G broadband with random downloads...

- Spotify: I have yet to try this one out.

I have to point out though that MediaMonkey and Winamp both require around USD 20 to get the whole feature set, while Songbird seems to be completely free (although it certainly feels the less snappy of the three I tried so far...courtesy of the Mozilla rendering engine, IIRC).

BTW, didn't Songbird use to be available on Linux as well?

 

[EchoX860]

I don't see why people have issues with iTunes, it's the best looking Media Software out there

 

[arkeo]

I don't see why people have issues with iTunes, it's the best looking Media Software out there

De gustibus non disputandum est...

 

[BigRob]

Winamp can do this, give it a try...

Winamp Media Player - MP3, Video, and Music Player - Winamp

Two people I know use winamp instead of iTunes and always recommend it.

Yeah I hear it's worth the download and the try so I agree with that as well.

Regards

 

[kn0c]

The alternative would be media monkey. But like everyone else we don't know if it's as compatible with what you want it to do.

If the reason you ditching itunes is because of the bloatware that it comes loaded with. Here an article that i came across on how to install it bloat free.

The unofficial guide to installing iTunes 10 without bloatware | ZDNet

As for me i ditch the firmware and went with rockbox which is straight forward drag and drop like you would an external hard drive.

 

[arkeo]

I dont know if you like this or not. but ive been using spotify for a while and i like it alot.

Key things spotify has:

Free to download.
You can listen to any music on spotify as well as listen to your own. (...)
You can import your own music to spotify and rate/star your music you like.

I Hope you like this program.

Download:

Download Spotify for Windows

It looks like I still need an account even to use it only locally, and my country is not supported... Unless I'm doing something wrong--download, install, and then it asks for an account which I can't create, because it asks for a credit card issued in a supported country as some sort of "proof"...

Pity, I'd have liked to give it a try...

 

[arkeo]

If the reason you ditching itunes is because of the bloatware that it comes loaded with. Here an article that i came across on how to install it bloat free.

The unofficial guide to installing iTunes 10 without bloatware | ZDNet

Yep, more or less what I did, although I was a bit more clumsy: install iTunes monolithic and then uninstall everything except iTunes, QT and Apple Application Support. Works just as well...

 

[bigg123]

I don't see why people have issues with iTunes, it's the best looking Media Software out there

I agree. Right on!

 

[bigg123]

iTunes is all you need.

*It's also the best music management software out right now.

 

[Wishmaster]

Zune or Media monkey IMHO.


I personally think Zune is one of the better ones.

Its a lot like iTunes in the sense of a store, and can manage video /pictures as well.
Only a MUCH friendlier interface & also looks much better.

But Zunes Store is much better than iTunes I think if you buy alot of music .... well at 1cd a month.
$14 a month and you can DL all you want from the store and keep as long as your a member. And 10 of those songs you can choose to keep forever each month.
Certainly beats buying Song by Song.

If you buy 1CD a month, it nearly pays for itself with the 10free track credits every month.

And another reason I like Zune better, its a lot lighter wieght and doesnt require a ton of extra things to work properly.
((I/E Quicktime, bonjour etc...)) Its all incorporated into what Win7 already has going.

 

[logicearth]

I don't see why people have issues with iTunes, it's the best looking Media Software out there

Best looking? Then you havn't used the Zune Software.
Now that is a good looking player.

Heck the now playing screen is just freaking awsome all by itself.

 

[Wishmaster]

I don't see why people have issues with iTunes, it's the best looking Media Software out there

Best looking? Then you havn't used the Zune Software.
Now that is a good looking player.

Heck the now playing screen is just freaking awsome all by itself.

It certainly is

The generic version that shows all album art is really nice, but the artists that Zune has Artist artwork for is really great. And that DATA base seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

 

[exoTron]

iTunes interface is great, Real Player's interface also looks great. However both suck (rea lplayer being one great hoax that tries to get your money, according to me anyways). I am mentioning RealPlayer, because in the pre-iTunes days, it seemed to be kind of special and the only player to play certain important file types, albeit a great disappointment.

These days there is a multitude of free media players and iTunes alternatives which one can chose from. Here is a good article which compares some of the more popular iTunes alternatives out there.