So, iTunes took it upon itself to change a number of ID3-tags last time I moved my music-folder. I now have 1500 songs where the title is now also the artist.
I’ve also noticed that it gets a bit slow to work with when the folder is large (25 gigs and it will at least be double that once I fix my current issues and rip all my cd’s).
But I used to like iTunes due to it’s clean interface, many options and ease of use. What music managers do you guys use and why? Help me find a new one.
Itunes is slow as hell with slightly larger collections. My 60g collection, admittedly only on a 5400 rpm extra drive due to the constraints of laptops, runs like molasses. It often dupes downloaded or copied mp3’s for no particular reason when they are added to the collection, and it takes forever to open and close. I am bound to it forever due to to my reliance on my ipod, but I would also be interested in exploring alternatives.
iTunes.
Someday, though, they’ll get their act together with Songbird, and I’ll probably switch to that.
iTunes… the math just doesn’t make sense.
I wish they would offer a subscription service (as once was rumored) already. Until then, I’m sticking to Napster-to-go.
(cue the iTunes partisans who will swear up and down that nothing is better than iTunes despite never having tried other services and who otherwise would love the idea of a subscription service… if Apple offered it)
iTunes is bloated crap. I use Winamp. It’s a lot better, as you can set up your library to auto-update itself on any interval you choose. You can also remove all dead/incorrect library entries at once with just one click. Library browsing is faster than iTunes, and iPod support was added to Winamp about a year ago, I think.
iTunes Music Store is balls, but I don’t use it for buying music. I was just talking about the player, which I still find to be the best out there, interface-wise, for my needs.
But as Mogg pointed out, you don’t have to use iTunes if you use an iPod. There are dozens of options for those who find the iPod’s interface compelling but don’t like iTunes’.
What does iTunes do interface-wise that other players don’t do? I’ve used it quite a bit and haven’t noticed anything.
I use jriver media center 11. It has every feature under the sun and can handle terabyte-sized music collections but it isn’t free. Far, far better than itunes.
I passed over Jriver media center last year because it didn’t support podcasting. Looks like the latest 11.1 release added the feature, so I may have to give it a spin myself.
EDIT: $40 bucks?
Yep… I paid $25 originally for MC9, then I think $12 for the upgrades to MC10 and then MC11. It is a very full featured program. Download the trial and see if you think it’s worth it.
I switched from iTunes to MediaMonkey and I couldn’t imagine going back. It’s very easy to write scripts for it, and the forum is full of useful additions.
For example, I currently run various (free) scripts that do the following:
Automatically rate songs according to how often I listen to them.
Generate playlists based on how songs are rated, when last they’ve been played, and how recently they’ve been added to my collection.
Search last.fm for recommendations and play them whenever a playlist runs out.
Automatically search for lyrics for new songs, and add them to the ID3 tag.
Search google images for album art and add it to the ID3 tag.
Naturally, it can play visualizations, rip CDs, synch with an iPod, burn playlists on CDs, and do everything that iTunes does except connect to the iStore.
You know why it dupes them? Took me forever to figure this one out. It’s because when you added the folder there was the tracks, and an m3u. It adds them both, and dupes the whole album. Stupid, isn’t it. Remove the m3u and the problem goes away.
Just out of curiosity, what’s the knock on Windows Media Player these days? I was a WinAmp guy for the longest time, before my iPod made me into a default iTunes user. I’ve heard that Microsoft has really gotten their act together, but they still lack an ecommerce solution. I enjoy streaming my music into my 360, but I hate the fact that it can’t play the stuff I bought at the iStore. I’m tempted to go back to WMP for an all-in-one media solution, but I’m guessing it’s not there yet.
That is so simple it hurts. Damn those internet completists and their rules! Thanks for the tip.
Another vote for Winamp here. Tried them all, always go back.
To clarify - I want the best music manager out there. I don’t care about stores or whatever subscribtion service is used (I steal my music anyway*).
A music manager with lots of features and a sim ple interface, that won’t scare my wife - I don’t mind paying if it’s good
(right now I’m using Yahoo! Music Player to fix the 1500 misnamed tunes - the Gracenote MusicI, which is free and built in, luckily catches 85% of the titles - unfortunately it takes 3-5 seconds per song and can’t be done as a patch process).
*I keed, I keed. Itunes Music Store sucks over here and none of the subscribtion services are avaliable.
I would like to thank everyone who participated in this thread. Without it I would not have discovered Media Monkey. I have found Media Monkey to be completely amazing for managing all my music files, be it tagging them, moving them, categorizing them or synching my iPod.
I only keep iTunes around now to transfer video files, if not for that I’d have kicked it off my computer for good.
Uhm… I use NTFS? Perhaps some random tagger when I’m lining up songs for a set.