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Mik B Author

Level 1

31 points

alternatives to iTunes on Mac?

So now when Apple totally downgraded iTunes 11 to become cumbersome and pointless as a music listening application and even for shopping at iTMS (they seel too many tracks or what?) by removing fully working very usable features like:

proper search
proper cover handling with multiple images (that you also typically get with Digital purchases)
Lack of duplicate listing feature
removal of next/previous buttons when in album mode info window

just to name a few* dumb moves, what usable alternatives are there out there that are:

compatible with the iTunes library format**
have the obvious features missing in iTunes present and implemented well
are sane in an Apple-like way and user-friendly, now when Apple isn't, before having "features" that are really not that important

What suggestions for an improved user music experience do you have to share with us all?

For me Mavericks 10.9.x is the environment.

*I've been a user since it was called "Soundjam" so have seen them come since 15 years

** I still want to use iTunes for Wifi syncing and iTunes match

Posted on Jul 12, 2014 9:14 AM

40 replies

Mik B Author

Level 1

31 points

Dec 8, 2014 5:24 PM in response to kevinr621

Did you miss my earlier posts on Swinsian?

Swinsian reads the iTunes Library, including smart playlists.

Forget Sync to devices. If you got an old iPod you're in luck with sync.

No video. Why bloat? Doesn't make sense.

You can find my previous more detailed description of advantages and disadvantages on the first page. Look for the section "This solved my question" right after my original first post and click the "See answer in context" to read the full post.

Beyond that, please do your own research on differences. There's a free 30-day demo. I don't care much about any differences. I dislike iTunes for music listening. I love Swinsian. That's enough for me.

I don't use Swinsian instead of iTunes as I think I already explained. I already described the gains, which mainly is getting a better music player that finds tracks very fast, yet let me retain the iTunes library that I use for both sync and other music apps. The negative is mainly that new tracks has to be added to iTunes, if they are to be in iTunes. While iTunes shares its library it sadly doesn't allow other apps to control it.

I do that by placing new tracks that I purchase outside of iTMS in the "Add to iTunes" folder of my main library so that all tracks in there are automatically added to iTunes. So all I have to do is open iTunes and then Swinsian or if open already choose "Import iTunes Library".

Also playlists created in Swinsian doesn't sync back to devices, so if I need that I must create these in iTunes. This can probably be solved with an applescript to copy playlists to iTunes.

I use iTunes for certain videos that I need to sync to devices and I do sync devices, so I still open it. I just don't have to fight the dreadful, almost unusable interface to hear my music.

Dec 9, 2014 2:27 AM in response to Mik B

itunes once used to be a good music player and Swinsian actually allows to listen to music how it once was possible on itunes. With proper search. For listening to music Swinsian is the first choice now, since itunes has gotten glitchy and has totally bad search functions.

Luckily I still have an old PowerBookG4 (2004) ;-) which is very stable and has well functioning itunes 7... this is not just nostalgia, because my MacBook Pro 2011 has CPU problems apart from itunes 12.01.. which is totally glitchy. I'm ok with adding new features, but not if you at the same time kill the very essential functionality of it.

Dec 9, 2014 10:36 AM in response to jaguar3000

This thread is a good example of why not to jump on the "update to the newest" bandwagon.

I also have a G4 (tower) with iTunes 7 still connected to my network and my home theatre. I'm holding at iTunes 10 and OSX 10.6 on all my other Macs. They work and I see no need to update any farther. Actually my main house computer is a G5 running 10.5.

Mik B Author

Level 1

31 points

Dec 9, 2014 12:11 PM in response to Tracy Reynolds

Tracy Reynolds wrote:

This thread is a good example of why not to jump on the "update to the newest" bandwagon.…

They work and I see no need to update any farther. Actually my main house computer is a G5 running 10.5.

Yeah, but if you want to sync modern iOS devices your choices are limited. What Swinsian does for me is allowing me to have iOS 8 devices syncing fully via iTunes while listen to my music the way I want it in Swinsian. While it's within the power of Apple to make that happen just with iTunes, they have chosen to deviate from that path. Possibly in their aspiration to become the new Microsoft. I fail to see the point in that as I feel being Apple is likely much more lucrative.

As a long time Apple/Mac user I see it as something of an obligation to make Apple understand when they go wrong. All of us together can move Apple. This has been proven time and time again. Keep complaining in an informative and polite way! Be constructive. Apple users are unique in that we demand quality an don't put up with substandard practices. If you don't view your Apple experience like that you should start right now. Let's remind Apple of this when they need it. Politely as always.

ianoid

Level 1

8 points

Dec 12, 2014 1:32 PM in response to jaguar3000

Swinsian seems to be mainly for audio. My main complaint with Swinsian is that it shows all of my podcasts in my library, and I can't sort them out, as in 'music only'. I don't use playlists, I just sort by 'date added' so I can see my newest music. Unfortunately, that includes a lot of podcasts I'm not interested in playing when I'm listening to music. I can't see an easy fix aside from moving to using playlists for my music (40k+ tracks, prefer not to), or sorting differently.

I use the oldest possible hardware (2007 iMac) that is still upgradeable, so iTunes is too bloated for daily use.

Mik B Author

Level 1

31 points

Dec 13, 2014 4:31 AM in response to ianoid

ianoid wrote:

My main complaint with Swinsian is that it shows all of my podcasts in my library, and I can't sort them out, as in 'music only… I can't see an easy fix aside from moving to using playlists for my music (40k+ tracks, prefer not to), or sorting differently.

As Swinsian can handle 40k tracks in a smart playlist I fail to see the problem. How would it make sense to hide audio that is in your library on default? The idea to make that optional is something you can take to the author.

I simply made a smart playlist that hides genre "podcast", which takes care about a majority of my podcasts.I also have another smart play list that only shows local music as I have one large external library that is not always online. Embrace smart playlists is my my suggestion. I mean why not use such a powerful feature?

ianoid

Level 1

8 points

Dec 13, 2014 3:32 PM in response to Mik B

Ah, totally useful. I'll just use that Smart Playlist as my music playlist.

Some people like to be spoon fed. Thanks!

ReaderF

Level 1

4 points

Dec 20, 2014 6:02 AM in response to Mik B

Do any of the alternatives offer multiple playlist windows?

Mik B Author

Level 1

31 points

Dec 20, 2014 1:53 PM in response to ReaderF

Swinsian supports multiple windows. Swinsian made me forget about the others I tried, so couldn't tell you about them. These days I'm focusing on my music collection, pondering the fact I paid for a year of iTunes Match and didn't use it. Renewed it now.

Jan 27, 2016 6:32 PM in response to Mik B

I am forced to use iTunes as I use a AppleTV 3 - but over the last years I really don't like using iTunes - to say it in a political way. Unfortunately now with my AppleTV3 I have no way than using it to stream my movies. But really - iMovie is a pain in the *** !! - All my 200+ movies are in 1 long list - why can't I look them up alphabetically - a usable categorisation doesn't exist as I cannot categorize easily. In fact for all my movies I also see all my music categories - making the list looooooong - I wonder how stupid a programmer must be to only have 1 categories for music AND movies .... - If I have ripped a movie with extras from my DVD - I can add the movies plus the extras to iTunes but I have NO WAY in connecting them like a DVD, The extras are "spread" over my collection just by alphabetical order - if someone doesn't know where they belong to - no chance.... - why can't I create my OWN categories ? - why can't I sort movies into folders ? WHY ISNT APPLE CHANGING iTUNES INTO A REASONABLE MEDIA MANAGER AND PLAYER ???

alternatives to iTunes on Mac?