Alternative to Itunes?

[mrderisory]

This is a two fold question.

a) I have been a mac user for over a year now, and don't regret it at all. I love my mac and don't miss anything about the windows world---EXCEPT Winamp. Itunes is nice and all but I have grown sick of the whole "library" way of listening to my music. Is there an good alternative? Anything anyone can personally recommend?

b) Is there an Alternative to the I-Pod. I have asked this question before on other forums, and I've never gotten a straight answer. Not that I don't want an Ipod, they are obviously master when it comes to MP3 players, I would just prefer something a little cheaper.

Thanks

 

[HiRez]

Itunes is nice and all but I have grown sick of the whole "library" way of listening to my music. Is there an good alternative? Anything anyone can personally recommend?

I find your question bizarre. The "library" way? Which way would you prefer? The "manual shuffling of MP3 files around on your disk" way, like we did in 1998? Seriously, please tell us more specifically what it is you are looking for.

 

[zim]

You don't have to use the "library" way, as you said. iTunes can be told to not organize your files, look in the preferences.

As for alternatives to iTunes and the iPod, in my honest opinion there are none. I am sure that there are some that don't like iTunes or the iPod but I think that both have the best design, interface, and usability then anything out there.

You will need to give some more input such as why you don't like the iPod and what you are looking for.

 

[mrderisory]

argh Did you even read my post?

Not that I don't want an Ipod, they are obviously master when it comes to MP3 players, I would just prefer something a little cheaper.

I believe I was very clear in my explanation of the Ipod question. I said "not that I don't want one" And you reply pondering why I said I didnt want one? I can't afford one right now. I was simply asking is it possible to use a different MP3 player. Not if you would, or would you suggest one, just if it was possible to use something other than an Ipod on a mac.

Now as far as Itunes goes maybe I didn't make myself clear... Itunes is nice, maybe that wasn't the best way to explain it. No I dont want to shuffle through piles of MP3s. But if you've ever used Winamp, it could also hold all your mp3s like Itunes. The thing I dont like about Itunes is how big and bulky and uncostimzable.

Please don't reply to my questions treating me like I am "flamming mac" I just simply said I was looking for an alternative to Itunes/Ipod. sheesh

 

[mduser63]

I love iTunes, and do use it as my main music player, but like you I was looking for something that is not so bulky. I found Audion at www.panic.com. It's recently been released for free (just click on the "buy" link to get a free serial number) as development on it has stopped. Anyway, for a long time it was THE MP3 player for Mac, and so far I like it quite a bit, although I've only had a few days with it. You might want to check it out.

 

[jamdr]

No, not really.

There are a few "alternatives" to the iPod, and some will even work with the Mac. I think the Rio Carbon does, and it is cheaper than the iPod mini. There is also a Rio Nitrus, which is even cheaper. However, I urge you to go read the reviews on epinions.com or amazon.com before you buy one and see if they will change your mind.

Let me tell you my personal experience with Rio: I've owned 3 of their MP3 players over the past 5 years and they were all utter crap. Their customer service was outsourced to India and it is near impossible to understand them because of their accents. Their products often look good, but they will never work well and they often fail completely just outside of their warranty. Out of the 3 players I owned, I probably went through 6-7 getting replacements.

There is also the Creative Zen (not sure if it works with a Mac). Again, read the reviews and I think you will find that you are just wasting your money. Even though they are cheaper, is it worth saving $50 if the product doesn't work and the customer service is horrible? At least you know with Apple the customer service is there if you need it. I now own an iPod and I love it so much I bought 3 iPod minis for family members for Christmas!

 

[jamdr]

iTunes

I understand what you mean about iTunes being too bulky--I agree with you. Sometimes I wish you could change the interface to be more like Mail's, with the playlist section in a drawer you could close and the buttons in a toolbar you could hide. However, it seems that Apple is moving away from this look: in Panther, the Finder windows have become incredibly bulky and it looks like Mail in Tiger is going to become just as bad. Too bad because I think Mail is currently Apple's best designed application.

There is a pretty good alternative to iTunes that I think you will like more. It's called Audion and is available for both OS X and OS 9. It is more like Winamp in that it is not as bulky and is more customizable. Check it out at http://www.panic.com/audion/

EDIT: Whoops! Looks like mduser63 beat me to it.

 

[mrderisory]

mduser63, Audion appears to be exactly what I am looking for! And thanks Jamdr even if I didn't get one I just wanted to know if it was possible. Ipods are nice though, so I suppose the extra 50 is worth it. I'll wait till I can afford an Ipod Mini.

 

[MacFan25863]

Have you considered the rumored Flash iPod coming out? They say it should be considerably cheeper than the current iPods out.

 

[MacFan25863]

Have you considered the rumored Flash iPod coming out? It will probably be considerable cheeper.

 

[mrderisory]

I've never heard of it, do you know anything else about it? Or a link would be great!

I am sure it'll be the first of the year before I am able to pick up an Ipod so if its coming out it should have more info by then.... ?

 

[Westside guy]

Well if you've got fink installed on your mac, you can always install the X Multimedia System (xmms) via fink. xmms is basically a clone of winamp, designed to run on Linux.