[xample]

<-- still an iTunes user. but i'm considering other options as well.

 

[Albert7]

<-- still an iTunes user. but i'm considering other options as well.

I love iTunes like you do

 

[Haydn man]

I use iTunes for playing media
Use Sonos to play it on the Hi Fi or via the Play 5 speaker
Spotify to explore new music, and the great thing is I can play this via Sonos also

 

[Jos]

When I still had a PC I used Foobar.
Liked the minimalist interface, barebones, no frills and the fact that it would play absolutely everything, no matter how obscure the formats were.
Do I remember correctly that it would play zipfiles on the fly, without having to "unpack" them ?

Now I only play tracks with iTunes, but seldomly with the streamingquality being good enough

 

[Albert7]

iTunes has the huge plus of having an online music store so for me that is the key element that I love!

 

[Jeff W]

iTunes user here. I've kept to version 10 as anything after that is a usability disaster, IMO.

 

[Albert7]

iTunes user here. I've kept to version 10 as anything after that is a usability disaster, IMO.

Actually iTunes 12 on PC is much better than the Mac version strangely enough. Not sure why however.

 

[KenOC]

iTunes user here. I've kept to version 10 as anything after that is a usability disaster, IMO.

I'm still on v 10 as well. A previous upgrade disaster caused me to lose a 150 GB library. Don't ask how long it took to rebuild! Once burned, as they say...

 

[Albert7]

For my iTunes library I keep four hard drive backups in case of disaster.

 

[Handel]

I am an old school guy regarding digital download of music. I do it for games or shows but I still enjoy to buy physical CDs.

 

[Albert7]

I buy physical CD's only if I really like the cover look and want the physical booklets. In most cases, I don't.

 

[fjf]

I am an old school guy regarding digital download of music. I do it for games or shows but I still enjoy to buy physical CDs.

I understand that. But you cannot beat the convenience of ripping them, putting them on a server (a synology NAS works fine) and then accessing all your music from a DLNA player at home (I have a Denon AVR3310 connected to my main speakers), any computer at home through your network, or your smartphone anywhere (synology has an app for that). Internet just makes the world a small place.

 

[Lord Lance]

foobar2000. Nothing quite like it. The replay gain, the all media files support, the unparalleled level of customization, the myriad skins available online, the plug-in community and most importantly the absolute lightweight make it 100x times better than iTunes at least. iTunes is bloated on the resources with not much to offer.

Second choice would be AIMP. The media library organizing selection make it exceptionally useful for people who obsess over perfection in their library which can be massive. [Hint: Me] Because of this, it has one feature which foobar2000 does not.

Third choice: VLC. Nothing worth mentioning. It is a very popular choice after all.

Last resort: MediaMonkey.

 

[Centropolis]

I use Foobar2000 but one thing that I can't get working is streaming Foobar2000 music to my DLNA-certified speakers. Installed the right component but never got it to work at all.

 

[Lord Lance]

I use Foobar2000 but one thing that I can't get working is streaming Foobar2000 music to my DLNA-certified speakers. Installed the right component but never got it to work at all.

Use the foobar2000 forums.

 

[Albert7]

foobar2000 has the worst looking interface ever.

http://www.head-fi.org/products/rha-ma450i

iTunes forever!

 

[Proms Fanatic]

I use Music Bee - very easy to use and navigate the masses of music I have.

 

[Azol]

Second choice would be AIMP. The media library organizing selection make it exceptionally useful for people who obsess over perfection in their library which can be massive. [Hint: Me] Because of this, it has one feature which foobar2000 does not.

That's my first choice for my PC. It also has audio converter (sometimes needed).

Sometimes I use embedded CATraxx audio player, since I use CATraxx as my main cataloguing software.

 

[michaels]

I use iTunes to manage what ends up on my iPhone (not really most of the music I listen to)

I use JRiver with JRemote for my actual classical library. It has *fantastic* features that have allowed me to setup views that allow me to find all my Music by Composer work (e.g. show my Shostokovich 10 by conductor) or by conductor (show me all my Kleiber then grouped by Composer, then by Work)

These are not "playlists" but a way to view my library like one would view the "Albums" view in iTunes. HIGHLY customizable **and** accessible from your phone with these views! You can either control the JRiver install via the remote, or stream the music to your device (from anywhere on the internet).

On the downside, JRiver has 20 different ways to do the same thing and I found it very difficult to understand things. I have since discovered a few screen casts that give the best overview if you end up with JRiver.

 

[Chipomarc]

Purchased a Sony Hi-Res NWZ-A17 Walkman a while back and installed their Media Go player software on my laptop to try out.

Really think it's great.

Using it to send my FLAC downloads and CD rips to the network amp.
Wonderful interface and hooks to gracenote.