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Is there an alternative to iTunes? (for Windows or Mac) thats free?

I'm looking for a free, lightweight iTunes replacement for my Windows XP Netbook. iTunes itself is slow and bloated.

The software should be able to read the iTunes library, espeacially the ratings of the songs and the intelligent playlists. I don't need the sync to an iPod because I don't own one, I used iTunes only as a jukebox. I also don't need the store, the podcasts and all the other things iTunes provides.

Does someone know a good alternative?

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I don't think so, because the other questions focus on the iPod sync. – elsni Oct 13 '10 at 20:23
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So just to clarify - all you need is a music player? I can't imagine using iTunes exclusively as a player...it's pretty much the worst one ever, hence my request for clarification. FWIW, Windows Media Player should be preloaded on this XP machine and shuold handle it just fine (just point it at your library). – Shinrai Oct 13 '10 at 20:26
Since the duplicate listed doesn't have any other answers I will keep this one open. – Diago Oct 13 '10 at 20:35
@Shinrai, yes, all I need is a music player which is able to import the iTunes library and provides intelligent playlists. If it also has the nice full screen "cover flow" view of itunes and a similar screen layout, it would be nice. – elsni Oct 13 '10 at 20:58
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10 Answers

up vote 11 down vote

Foobar2000 is the best all-around music player I've used. It plays most anything, is extensible, and is insanely fast when compared with anything else.

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Foobar2000 gets the vote from me. – Sathya♦ Oct 15 '10 at 18:34
Foobar can pretty much do everything under the sun, only caveat - takes time initially – Kvad Jan 20 at 5:51
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up vote 10 down vote

I love the Zune Software 4.7, works well, very fast compared to iTunes...free...check it out:

http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/software/download/default.htm

The download size is somewhat large, which one should expect with this kind of program...again, highly recommend!

WinAmp:

http://www.winamp.com/

* The way you listen, watch, manage & sync your media. Read More
* Major podcast overhaul including new directory powered by Mediafly
* Native video support for popular H.264 formats including streaming & the new WebM
* New 7digital music download stores for Europe
* Updated device support for iPod & USB players
* New Windows 7 features including taskbar player controls

Media Monkey:

http://www.mediamonkey.com/

"Manage small to very large collections of audio files and playlists (50,000+), whether on a hard drive, network, or CDs. Rip CDs, download podcasts, lookup missing information and album art online, tag almost any audio format, and automatically rename/re-organize tracks on your hard drive."

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Wow... I thought there was nothing slower than the Zune software. Then I met iTunes! – Billy ONeal Oct 13 '10 at 22:31
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I've been using the MediaMonkey Gold for some time now. I was so impressed with the free product I broke down and paid for it. – Zooks64 Oct 13 '10 at 23:32
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+1 for Winamp. It really whips the llama's ass! – Beaming Mel-Bin Oct 14 '10 at 1:02
+1 on @gadzooks64 comment for "I broke down" =) – CodeBlend Feb 9 at 10:55
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up vote 5 down vote

yes, it is called Windows Media Player :)

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Kinda slow, isn't it on XP? – digitxp Jan 5 '11 at 3:03
Lightweight???? – soandos Dec 22 '11 at 9:31
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up vote 3 down vote

Try Songbird. I used it as my main music player and, although it could be clunky at times, overall it was pretty stable. You might also want to try DoubleTwist. I now use it because of its ability to easily synchronize with Android devices.

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Thanks, I'll try that. Android sync would be I very nice feature! I did that before with iTunesSync. – elsni Oct 13 '10 at 21:00
Thank, you nice program, many features, but lacks responsiveness. – elsni Oct 13 '10 at 21:18
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up vote 3 down vote

CopyTarns Manager is a simplistic iTunes alternative and a small-sized iDevice-manager app.

After having a closer look at the rest of the answers, I can say that unfortunately, neither Media Monkey nor Songbird are yet compatible with iOS 5. On the other hand, I have used copytrans manager with an iPhone 4S with so far no issues.

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up vote 1 down vote

MediaMonkey is free and uses much fewer system resources than iTunes. I also prefer it over Windows Media Player because it has better metadata editing tools and supports more tags. It is also less of a resource hog than WMP. One caveat though: the free version can only rip CDs for the first 30 days.

There is a great little program called MusicBridge that will transfer ratings back and forth between iTunes and WMP. Once in WMP, the ratings will be written to each files' tags and can be picked up by MediaMonkey.

These two recommendations come right from my book, Love Your Music - How to always listen to music you love by harnessing today's music technology.

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up vote 1 down vote

You should look at banshee.

Play your music and videos. Keep up with your podcasts and Internet radio. Discover new music and podcasts. Keep your portable device loaded with good stuff.

Simple enough to enjoy. Powerful enough to thrill. Open source through and through.

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up vote 0 down vote

I use Media Jukebox instead of iTunes. Apparently you can import your iTunes library. It syncs with Android, as well.

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up vote 0 down vote

I like the old DB Poweramp player version 2, its hard to find but is my favorite. Works on W7, install in compatibility mode with Admin privileges. Not sure if is compatible with iTunes libraries, sorry never used that evil software ; -)

http://www.filewatcher.com/m/dBpowerAMP-r2.exe.2033318.0.0.html

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What makes iTunes evil? – Lèse majesté Mar 11 at 14:22
evil, wink wink. – Moab Mar 17 at 14:26
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up vote 0 down vote

One that i use is called Foobar2000, its highly customizable and is really light weight. If you are interested i can show you my set up for it! Also check out the Zune music player

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