Alternatives to iTunes?

Ribos · 06-08-2008, 03:19 AM

So before the gigantic wall of replies telling me "FOOBAR!!!!", I'd like to say that I really do like the aesthetics of iTunes (whole freakin' library in front of me, organizable by any piece of info about the track I want), but I'd like a free program that can achieve that without 1) having a crappy ripping/converting/burning system, and 2) the resource whoring.

I really don't care about album art, so if the player doesn't handle that, no problems. However, I would like it to be able to use the file organization in explorer that iTunes has already set up, with the whole [artist]/[album]/[song] directory. I REALLY REALLY REALLY do not want to have to re-import and reorganize my entire library. Also, FLAC files must be playable.

I used WinAmp several years ago, but the tagging system it used then bugged me to no end. Has that been fixed? And will Foobar give me immediate access to any song in my library? I haven't really used it enough to find out.

stuartwood89 · 06-08-2008, 08:28 AM

Winamp has come a long way since then, and it supports album art now. Not sure how it handles the tags, but there's no harm in downloading the new version and finding out. Not sure about the FLAC support, but there's bound to be a few plugins available.

EDIT:: Here's a few

Ribos · 06-08-2008, 11:09 AM

Indeed, Winamp seems to have improved, but there's still two things that bug me: Not ripping to MP3 and horrendously slow CD burning.

The problems, fortunately, seems to be solved with plugins. Only question is, which of these three would be best for my purposes in ripping to mp3?
Winamp Plug-in Details - Customize Winamp Media Player
Winamp Plug-in Details - Customize Winamp Media Player
Winamp Plug-in Details - Customize Winamp Media Player

Thanks, and I'll be taking a look to see about the tagging info, though hopefully that won't be a problem either!

stuartwood89 · 06-08-2008, 11:41 AM

I reckon any one of those will do nicely, if you can't decide then go for the one with the highest rating.

shuniqLo · 06-08-2008, 03:14 PM

Songbird Media Player

Ribos · 06-08-2008, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wuze

Songbird Media Player

...Mozilla does iTunes. Okay. But how about audio quality? I can't find any information regarding that on the site. In fact, I'm not seeing much information about how it works at all, just a bunch about how similar it is to iTunes.

**dieKatze88** · 06-08-2008, 04:40 PM

I use the "Ctrl Push Enter" approach to managing my music library

I select a bunch of tracks using Ctrl, then I push enter.

Windows Media Player 10 would do it with a container splitter and codec for FLAC.

Ribos · 06-08-2008, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieKatze88

I use the "Ctrl Push Enter" approach to managing my music library

I select a bunch of tracks using Ctrl, then I push enter.

Windows Media Player 10 would do it with a container splitter and codec for FLAC.

That's wonderful. I have over fourteen thousand songs to keep track of. I don't exactly care for going through three dozen folders in explorer to put together a one-hour playlist.

Also, I absolutely despise WMP.

I'm going with Winamp for now and not minding it, but I haven't tried the CD-ripping plugin yet. I need a CD I haven't already imported.

alexquick · 06-08-2008, 05:00 PM

i tried it (songbird) out.

as near as i could tell, it didn't offer much and didn't work as well as itunes.

i uninstalled it.

shuniqLo · 06-08-2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexquick

i tried it (songbird) out.

as near as i could tell, it didn't offer much and didn't work as well as itunes.

i uninstalled it.

Only reason I got rid of it was because it's solid black (not racist). I honestly think it's better than iTunes while still doing what I loved from iTunes. It even has a feature to import your iTunes library in.

alexquick · 06-09-2008, 01:11 AM

i just didn't like it because it didn't run any better than itunes. i was hoping for smoother operation.

and the 'coverflow' sucks. and it doesnt import your album covers from itunes, or at least i couldn't quickly figure out how to do it.

i did like all the online functionality though.. made it easy to add plug-ins.

WiLLiSTER · 06-09-2008, 03:20 PM

Winamp seems like your best option. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the slow ripping as I've had no trouble ripping a cd in flac and mp3 in about 5 minutes. As for the plugins, go with LAME.

Foobar is great too, though it takes a bit more work to get things to look nice, the default skin does what you need. Winamp uses less resources though (generally, but they're pretty close)

I only use foobar once and a while when I'm customizing and I want a specific look. Otherwise, it's winamp. Songbird is still just as crappy as the day it released. I had high hopes for it, but I've forgotten all about it now.