If not iTunes, then other alternatives??

kprhok

I've received a few replies from previous posts where the authors had mixed reviews about using iTunes to hold my music collection due to loss of quality.

My question is...what are the alternatives? Are individuals simply purchasing the CD from a retail outlet, downloading from a higher quality source online, ?? and where is the music stored if not on laptops, desktops, etc.

To me iTunes has been the most convenient source for searching and downloading music , although I realize now that there can be some loss of quality in the download.

I simply don't want to miss out on excellent sources for music purchases and proper way to manage within my system.. thank all!

quadzilla

iTunes is for those who value convenience over quality. If you want quality, buy the CD or album, then rip the tracks. The only other alternatives are a very few online music stores that sell lossless files, but they do not typically have large selections.

hagmanm2

Since you already have a base of knowledge about digital quality, let me add another perspective. Although I'm still not entirely on board with iTunes, it has become my main player and library.

First off, just because you use iTunes to organize your media doesn't mean you have to purchase from their store. Nor does it mean you have to use it to import the media you already own. You can purchase from other online sites and use other software to import (Many people like dBpoweramp - including myself).

Second, iPods are, hands down, the most popular mp3 player, which makes them more accessible on both the new and used market. One of the reasons they became so popular is because they are so damn easy to use. Their intuitive and generally hassle-free. They also have some of the largest capacity players (for those who require the storage for uncompressed media).

Third, I love the new genius setting for playlists on the fly. No, it's not as thorough as Pandora's Music Genome technology (or Grooveshark), but it's linked to your library all the time and it uses YOUR music. I like the play counts and auto lists too, but all worthwhile players have those abilities.

So do your homework and choose carefully. Using a mediaplayer is an investment and you most likely will stick with only one.

PS. if you do use iTunes to do any importing, PLEASE change the default import settings. iTunes is from Apple which means, by default, it wants to keep everything proprietary.

hope this helps.

kprhok

That is exactly the kind of info I needed to help me decide on approach, so thanks very much!!

BlueFox

kprhok wrote: »

I've received a few replies from previous posts where the authors had mixed reviews about using iTunes to hold my music collection due to loss of quality.

This makes no sense.

If you buys music from the iTunes store then you will get lossy (low quality) music. If you use iTunes software to copy CDs and manage your music then if you use lossless (either compressed or uncompressed) then there is no loss in quality.

concealer404

I use cds.

If i want them on a computer, i rip them to lossless via dbpoweramp, and play through winamp.

quadzilla

I find iTunes to be far more hassle than it's worth. It's not intuitive, at least not to me, and it's a huge pain in the **** to manage. I let iTunes manage my library once. I took me days to unscrew the screwed up mess I ended up with. It also won't recognized the large collection of flac and other lossless files I have. Basically, I only recommend iTunes to those people I don't like. Fortunately, linux is my main OS, so I have plenty of choices to manage a music library there, and all of them work better than iTunes, even for managing music on my ipod. If not for the fact that I'm stuck with ATT for a cell provider, I won't use iTunes at all. But I have to in order to sync my calendar to my iphone, and that's about all I find it good for. Maybe ATT will get the droid, and then I'll be done with apple's cruddy little walled garden for good. Understand, I don't hate apple or their products. I just think they must think everyone except them are idiots, judging from their designs.

wayne3burk

i uninstalled iTunes from my windows xp machine after....

I installed winamp 5.58. If you want to manage your iPod - i have a 4GB nano - then you download the ipod winamp plug-in that you can find on sourceforge.net

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlipod/

I also use shoutcast for listening to (sampling) all sorts of music

http://www.shoutcast.com/

and if you want to take it a step further....
you can use Simple Ripper v1.6 -- if you want to record the music streaming from the shoutcast radio station....

but thats just my 2 cents (worth...)

-- wayne --