Switching to Macbook Pro - but I dislike Itunes

unclescrotor · Mar 4, 2007

I am awaiting the delivery of a 17" macbook pro after 20 years of using 'other' computers (Commodore, Amiga and PC). I have everything pretty well sorted out except my choice of media player. I have tried to use Itunes on the PC (WinXP) and I never have liked using it. I currently use MediaMonkey for my media center and it's about the only piece of software I truly am going to miss after the conversion. I have no interest in purchasing from the Itunes store so that will not be an issue. What other mac options are out there for media center functionality and syncronization with the ipod?

Thank you in advance.

KoDorSean · Mar 4, 2007

unclescrotor said:
I am awaiting the delivery of a 17" macbook pro after 20 years of using 'other' computers (Commodore, Amiga and PC). I have everything pretty well sorted out except my choice of media player. I have tried to use Itunes on the PC (WinXP) and I never have liked using it. I currently use MediaMonkey for my media center and it's about the only piece of software I truly am going to miss after the conversion. I have no interest in purchasing from the Itunes store so that will not be an issue. What other mac options are out there for media center functionality and syncronization with the ipod?

Thank you in advance.

I am just curious, what do you dislike about Itunes?

unclescrotor · Mar 4, 2007

KoDorSean said:
I am just curious, what do you dislike about Itunes?

-Ponderously slow load up times
-lack of features compared to other applications for windows (e.g. selecting what compression codec you would like to use)

That being said I haven't even looked at itunes for over a year so maybe on a mac and a year's time have made it an app I could be happy using.

KoDorSean · Mar 4, 2007

I suggest you give it another shot.. My load up times are rather fast. you can change the codec for any song/file on itunes.

unclescrotor · Mar 4, 2007

KoDorSean said:
I suggest you give it another shot.. My load up times are rather fast. you can change the codec for any song/file on itunes.

OK I'll try it again but I still would like to know if there are other options out there.

RiDE · Mar 4, 2007

Give SONGBIRD a try. I believe it is still in it's infancy but you may enjoy it.

And Welcome to Mac-Forums!

unclescrotor · Mar 4, 2007

RIDE said:
Give SONGBIRD a try. I believe it is still in it's infancy but you may enjoy it.

And Welcome to Mac-Forums!

I have played with Songbird on the PC. It shows promise. I wasn't aware there was a mac version (thanks much for the info).

RiDE · Mar 4, 2007

No problem!

TOYOTA · Mar 4, 2007

Enjoy your MacBook, and good luck with whatever music program you settle on. I definitely suggest you look at iTunes again!

Smell The Glove · Mar 5, 2007

Ooo, Songbird looks nice! I like the black. Might have to give it a try.

Mattlike · Mar 5, 2007

Consider using Audion if you are that against iTunes. http://www.panic.com/audion/

mathogre · Mar 5, 2007

unclescrotor said:
I am awaiting the delivery of a 17" macbook pro after 20 years of using 'other' computers (Commodore, Amiga and PC). I have everything pretty well sorted out except my choice of media player. I have tried to use Itunes on the PC (WinXP) and I never have liked using it. I currently use MediaMonkey for my media center and it's about the only piece of software I truly am going to miss after the conversion. I have no interest in purchasing from the Itunes store so that will not be an issue. What other mac options are out there for media center functionality and syncronization with the ipod?

Thank you in advance.

Greetings unclescrotor!

I'll simply add to what others have said.

You don't need to buy from the iTunes store to load music onto an iPod. You can rip everything quickly and easily in iTunes on the Mac. From there you can make custom playlists. Maybe this is more important with a Shuffle, as I can't see what I've got on the little stick (1st gen).

That said, you can go to the iTunes store and download FREE items - podcasts for instance if you're so inclined. I've downloaded more than a few video podcasts for free, mostly nature related (National Geographic et al) and a movie trailer or two. Also, there are "radio stations" on iTunes that present interesting alternatives to broadcast (and sometimes satellite) fare.

I come from the Linux world, though I use a Windows machine at work. Linux is media barren, so to me the Mac is as if being in media heaven. The Mac is different, but I never want to go back to the others.

Best of luck to you with your new Mac! May you enjoy it.

The Turtle! · Mar 5, 2007

unclescrotor said:
I am awaiting the delivery of a 17" macbook pro after 20 years of using 'other' computers (Commodore, Amiga and PC). I have everything pretty well sorted out except my choice of media player. I have tried to use Itunes on the PC (WinXP) and I never have liked using it. I currently use MediaMonkey for my media center and it's about the only piece of software I truly am going to miss after the conversion. I have no interest in purchasing from the Itunes store so that will not be an issue. What other mac options are out there for media center functionality and syncronization with the ipod?

Thank you in advance.

I understand completely where your coming from I didnt really like iTunes much either when I used my pc but had no choice because I used my iPod but when I got my mac and started using iTunes again it was a HUGE difference it updates my iPod in no time and loading songs is so much quicker it really blows the windows version away...so give it a shot and see what happens you might be pleasantly surprised like I was!

hclincha · Mar 5, 2007

I'll just second the comment on the difference between Win and Mac iTunes. It tends to suck big time in Windows, but in OS X it works like a charm. The same can be said for QuickTime (in my opinion, of course)

The Turtle! · Mar 5, 2007

hclincha said:
I'll just second the comment on the difference between Win and Mac iTunes. It tends to suck big time in Windows, but in OS X it works like a charm. The same can be said for QuickTime (in my opinion, of course)

I definitely agree with you about quicktime also!

Jonnyfive · Mar 5, 2007

RIDE said:
Give SONGBIRD a try. I believe it is still in it's infancy but you may enjoy it.

And Welcome to Mac-Forums!

I love songbird and was one of the things that I missed most about linux.

slashjunior · Mar 6, 2007

I find iTunes to be a lot quicker on my Mac than it is on XP.

biffyiffy · Mar 6, 2007

Id just like to echo the comments of several others. I never used itunes in windows. I did not see what was so fantastic about it that everyone else seemed to see. Once I got my mac I really had no alternative but itunes. At this point I cant imagine using anything else.

My ONLY complaint with itunes is that its so limited on the video files it will allow you to put in the movies library. It only allows mp4 and m4v. These may even be the same file type for all I know. Id like to be able to load avi, divx, xvid, wmv, you name it in my movies library.

unclescrotor · Mar 7, 2007

Update: 48 hours with Mac iTunes

I'm still not very impressed with the product but it does perform better (not stellar mind you) than iTunes on the PC.

I am evaluating a plugin (Coversutra) that makes it much more usable for me. (Last.fm integration and a nice pop-up between song changes).

Songbird still isn't ready for prime time but I will be watching this app closely over the next few months.