iPod lovers, iTunes haters, here's something for you ;)

[headchange4u]

I hate iTunes with a passion!

Ever since the first time I used iTunes I hated it. I think the interface is kinda cluttered and ugly, IMHO. I prefer the file tree view. I hate the way it handles tags and mass retagging of files. iTunes has not once but twice wiped my iPod clean when trying to use it to update a few songs. I really don't like how the music store crap is embedded into the software. The biggest fault I have with iTunes is not being able to copy songs off the iPod to the PC

I use Anapod. I have tried almost every option out there for software to interface with my iPod and I have found Anapod to be my favorite. It integrates into the Windows file explorer, which I REALLY like. Everything is drag and drop. The interface is clean and well organized. Although the way Anapod handles tagging of files is not the best I've seen, it is monumentally better than iTunes. Best of all you can copy files from the iPod to you PC. Granted this software has its occasional bugs (so does iTunes) but it's nothing that makes me want to switch to something else. This software does cost money but it well worth it, IMHO.

The Anapod Xstreamer is also a neat feature (I've never gotten around to using it.) You can see the rest of the features for Anapod here.

I also used Ephpod for a while and found it to buggy to deal with.

I do find iTunes a necessary evil because I listen to audiobooks. I like my audiobooks to be in the .m4b format, which is Apple's bookmarkable audio format. You have to have iTunes installed to convert to and play these files.

All of this is just my opinion, but I have many friends who have given up on using iTunes as their primary iPod interface software and switched to something else.

[tyrion]

I've used iTunes on every ipod I've used since it was released as do my wife and kids. I find it to be extremely simple to use and I've can't recall any adverse problems while using it. My only complaint is that it is a system resource hog while loading. I started my ipod journey with the original 5gb and Mediafour's xplay since I never owned a mac. I also tried ephpod but always went back to xplay. I just want a program that will import, burn, and transfer music to my ipod. I rarely have to take music from my ipod to put on a computer. When I do that I use ipodrip.

[RobG]

there is a nice, free add-on for Winamp that works well

[Big Fella]

Originally Posted by fguihen

i tried out most of the itunes alternatives when i first got an ipod as i hated itunes, sure lots of them have tons of features and extra stuff, but itunes has everything i need and i find it easier to use than a hammer. its foolproof. i dont need all the extra functions. horray for itunes

I agree, itunes works well, once you know exactly what to do, have tried others no impressed, why use a Ford key to open a BMW!

[MASantos]

I downloaded EPHpod to use with a ipod shuffle but when I was configuring the program it said that he couldn't find some files!! Does this program work with the shuffle?

[solvexyz]

One thing I hate itune is that it auto sync. Say you went to friend's house, and you mysteriously hooked up your ipod to your friends computer, and it happens to have itune installed. Boom, right away all your music is sync to your friend's library. That is just how brilliant itune is.

[Feclar]

Mediamonkey
www.mediamonkey.com
Hands down best organizer I have been able to find.

Favorite things about it are
-Modify multiple songs tags at the same time (artist/album type stuff)
-Auto file/folder nameing/organization, lets you setup the path/file syntax and everything, awsome for those of us pre-ipod people that used to organize it all by hand.
-auto tag from amazon
-auto tag from filename
-supports winamp plugins

Cons
-player doesnt support video, audio only

[mas]

hope you guys will excuse my ignorance, but i couldn't find a description of what exactly EphPod does that iPod doesn't. could someone please clarify this? i'm looking for something that simplifies music transfer from a (Windows) PC onto an iPod (shuffle) into drag-and-drop (and if possible from iPod to PC), and i'd like to know if EphPod does that.

i've also been informed about Winamp iPod, but the link i got didn't have a thing on how to use it. could someone explain what it does? here's the link:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/...Pod_Plugin.htm

[tnmike1]

will explore Ananpod later, but right now can tell you something about Redchair software. Used to use their interfaces with my older Creative Nomad Jukebox and the company really knowshow to do stuff in the correct way. I believe I paid about $25 for the software--altho this was about three/four years ago--and worked perfectly. Anyone who's used the older Creative Nomad Zen knows what a nightmare the instructions and manipulative abilities of the unit were; Redchair's sofware took all the guesswork out of the whole picture.

Great company; looking forward toplaying with Anapod when Ihave more time tonight

[haibane]

my first solution to itunes.

ECA and winamp

Now I just use rockbox with my hd

[K2Grey]

Rockbox is indeed great.

[tnmike1]

OK read all the Anapod info and two questions:

1) Will this software provide backup for the Ipod? I think it will from what I read but unsure

2) Can it provide a spreadsheet of my songs within an artist--say all 25 Sinatra CDs with all the titles--so I can tell if I have duplicates or to prevent me from buying duplicates?

Looks great and about to buy it, but wanted those two questions clarified

[mixxxer]

I have never installed iTunes for my nano. since day 1 - I have been using Media Monkey. I was using it as my media manager before - so the fact that it also supports ipods and my toshiba gigabeat are just a wicked bonus.

Awesome tag management and audio conversion too.

plus it is free. there is a Gold version you can pay for - but is unnecasary really.

[tnmike1]

just answered my own questions to my previous post: downloaded the trial version of Anapod and it seems to provide backup and spreadsheet capabilities. Sounds like an interesting addition to the Ipod

[CookieFactory]

iTunes is an incredible piece of bloatware. Easy to use yes, but bare in functionality. Some people might argue a "good design" is something that has a gentle learning curve, but true good design is something that can be picked up easily by the beginner and have the functionality a more advanced user can appreciate.