Alternative to Itunes

Ramz_3

and Windows Media Player.

musikCube. Open source software, easy to use, customise, and it doesn't use up as much system resources!

http://www.musikcube.com/

MercilessKiller

But why would you want to?

Itunes = amazing (especially the music store)
Ipod = amazing! (Just bought my grandma one.. Shes 74 and could use it with NO help from me! Very impressive.)

Asus_Mobo

Winamp for me

Itunes = Bloated software
Ipod = Scratchy screens, lol and m4a is a pain as its far easier to use mp3 format.

Cerro

I hate Itunes - its a virus. Converts everything it sees into some dodgy apple format. That and as Asus Mobo says, its a bloated piece of software.

Windows media player is at least a complete package - but version 11 is terrible. Winamp is probably the best for music but what I really want is something that does DVDs, Music and the rest all in one (yes i know winamp does movies but it just doesn't "feel" right if you know what I mean?)

MercilessKiller

Cerro, you could always disable the auto manage itunes library which converts all music into apple format In fact theres an option to disable it when you first install itunes

As for bloated.. if you use the extra features then bloated isn't the right word.

For those who legally download music and own an ipod, its a fantastic piece of all round software that does everything you want

As for resources.. people complain it takes up too much.. but at the end of the day does it? If your pc is running really slow with itunes open do you REALLY need everything open in the background?!?!?!?!

I have an elderly pc and run itunes with firefox while playing 3d games (cs source etc) and my fps is hardly effected. We all know when firefox has 20 tabs open thats resource intesive too!

The ONLY time I have problems is when running football manager 2007 with Itunes! But hyperthreading solves that I suppose.

Idiophreak

Itunes *is* an evil virus...

Aside from actually trying to use the silly thing, I get so fed up with it trying to install itself every other day at work...Really must uninstall quicktime to get rid of it.

I've not ever had a problem with media player...why I'd want to install more crap than I have to when there's a solution out of the box is beyond me...

Occasionally I'll use MCE/MediaPortal..if I want the interface, but if I'm sat in front of the box, WMP serves me fine...

Just for the sake of my curiosity...what is it that you all want that media player doesn't offer?

Asus_Mobo

Idiophreak wrote: »

Just for the sake of my curiosity...what is it that you all want that media player doesn't offer?

A program that is more user friendly, a better layout, a program thats easier to customise, also more settings (not to compicate but to get a sound tuned to the users ear) something that has more codecs and is easily integrated into an OS, also something that will play a lot more file types, plus I can play hours of Zeppelin

Thats why I use Winamp in classic style.



My first image upload aswell

mascherano

lol thats the first (and probably last) time ive heard someone call iTunes 'amazing'!one of the very worst pieces of software available

Idiophreak

Asus_Mobo wrote: »

something that has more codecs... also something that will play a lot more file types...

...but like what? I've never come across *anything* that I can't play with a codec in WMP...and I've played a lot of dodgy stuff in my day

...and as for "easily integrated into an OS" - WMP is *part* of the OS...how much easier can you get!!?

Asus_Mobo wrote: »

My first image upload aswell

Good job!!

MercilessKiller

mascherano wrote: »

lol thats the first (and probably last) time ive heard someone call iTunes 'amazing'!one of the very worst pieces of software available

In your opinion.

Don't forget its one of the most used pieces of software available.......

Once again it is easy to use, looks nice, and had good features (when needed!)

And as I say once again, my 70+ year old grandmother recently got an ipod with itunes. She can use it all without my help absolutely fine. She set up her own music store account, downloads opera , syncs her ipod, creates playlists, upload cd's!

PS: Just google for itunes reviews and you'll see all professional sites giving it VERY high ratings compared to other media management programs due to ease of use and music store.

Its a fantastic application for the majority of users! If not it wouldn't be so heavily used!

Asus_Mobo

Idiophreak wrote: »

...but like what? I've never come across *anything* that I can't play with a codec in WMP...and I've played a lot of dodgy stuff in my day

...and as for "easily integrated into an OS" - WMP is *part* of the OS...how much easier can you get!!?


Good job!!

Try any Video format that needs ffdshow or Haalis video renderer like AVI files and WMP falls over like a statue of Saddam, easier intergration of the OS meant something that integrates easier than Itunes as thats what this thread is about, and also m4a has trouble on WMP.