[twobitsprite]

Ever since I got this computer I've used iTunes to arrange my music, so it's all stored in iTunes folders.

Yeah, I made the mistake of letting quicktime install iTunes once, and it went in and moved all my music around, etc. Took me months to get it all straightened out. I have been using WinAmp for years (before iTunes existed) and still use it to this day. I haven't heard of a single use for iTunes that WinAmp can't match, and as a plus, it just works without trying to take over my media.

Remember how all the Apple fan boys would cry bloody-murder about how anti-competitive Microsoft is by trying to take over everything and force you in to using their stuff? Well, Apple has proven they aren't any better.

Warning: I'm not looking to start/continue a holy war, this is just my opinion.

Both the iTunes software, and the iTunes store suck. I can find anything I'm looking for on Amazon MP3, and guess what? It works just fine on _any_ device or software I want to use it on; no proprietary formats, no DRM, (although I recognize that iTunes has (finally) gotten rid of DRM) no locked in hardware/software bundles.

A lot of people I talk to about WinAmp say "man, that's so old, everyone uses iTunes now." Sure WinAmp has been around for a long time, but it has evolved like the rest of the media-driven world. It has a full media library, like iTunes, etc, supports syncing with devices (and not just iPods -- it works great with my Sony Walkman and my Palm Pre), "smart" playlists which play your favorite songs, etc, it'll even import your iTunes library!

I really just don't understand why anyone would want to use iTunes...

(no, I won't work for WinAmp, I just really love their software)

[xg1itchx]

i wish songbird would work with playlists. winamp and media monkey feel old and look ugly, doubletwist is too dependent on other programs, and itunes is just plain crappy

[jack87]

Other options for syncing music was posted on precentral's main page today.

http://www.precentral.net/how-to-sync-music-palm-pre

[thatdude]

I really dont want to hear about pre users being bummed out about itunes! I never liked itunes i hated using it with an ipod when i had one. I used Media Monkey awesome program does a much better job then itunes ever did also id3 tags your mp3's for you. So do yourself a favor and drop itunes nonsense and use Media Monkey you'll love it.

MediaMonkey » Information » Free

besides it really doesnt get easier then drag and drop in usb mode. thats my preferred method. I only mention media monkey for those of you who want a music sync app.

as for mac users... you are out of luck with the media monkey method. Apple is horrible by making everything so proprietary.

You may also find other sync options here both for mac and windows

The only reason I use iTunes is to easily fix my meta tags. I tried various applications in Linux which I did not like.

besides it really doesnt get easier then drag and drop in usb mode.

I agree

[ScrapMaker]

The only reason I use iTunes is to easily fix my meta tags. I tried various applications in Linux which I did not like.


I agree

You can't beat The Godfather, for fixing metatags... (the rest of the world calls them ID3 tags, though.)

[Puzzlegal]

Yeah, I made the mistake of letting quicktime install iTunes once, and it went in and moved all my music around, etc. Took me months to get it all straightened out. I have been using WinAmp for years (before iTunes existed) and still use it to this day. I haven't heard of a single use for iTunes that WinAmp can't match, and as a plus, it just works without trying to take over my media.

I rather like the way iTunes organizes my music. I find it very easy to find my music files (all named in obvious ways, in obvious folders) when I want to do something else with them, like drag&drop them onto a thumb drive.

Remember how all the Apple fan boys would cry bloody-murder about how anti-competitive Microsoft is by trying to take over everything and force you in to using their stuff? Well, Apple has proven they aren't any better.

Well, that's been clear for some time now. I own a Mac, and I like it, but there are certain annoying things that have to be "the Apple way".

Both the iTunes software, and the iTunes store suck. I can find anything I'm looking for on Amazon MP3, and guess what? It works just fine on _any_ device or software I want to use it on; no proprietary formats, no DRM, (although I recognize that iTunes has (finally) gotten rid of DRM) no locked in hardware/software bundles.

Here I completely agree with you. I prefer the functionality of Amazon's shop as well as the no-DRM policy. I still mostly buy CDs and rip them, though, and iTunes is an excellent program for that: dead easy to use and lots of choices, convenient entry of metadata, really, everything I want when ripping CDs. (not quite enough flexibility for ripping analog media, though.)

I really just don't understand why anyone would want to use iTunes...

I've had it for a while, I like the interface, it does everything I need it to do. My only complaint is that it exports stuff to the iPod (or the Pre) as a hidden file. They were the first company to make a meaningful deal with the record industry to sell digital files with enough flexibility in the
DRM that you could reasonably use it, and their role in getting the record companies to allow that, paving the way for better services like Amazon, was important. The annoying hidden file thing is an artifact of the deal they had to cut, and it was the right deal for them to make at the time.

Still, I think I will use the less full-featured Missing Sync instead of iTunes so as to have direct access to my music files on the Pre. But in case I change my mind, I'm not "upgrading" iTunes.

[darreno1]

Itunes is nothing but tardware, thanks for the heads up, I will try MediaMonkey.

[thatdude]

You can't beat The Godfather, for fixing metatags... (the rest of the world calls them ID3 tags, though.)

Yeah.

The correct term did not come in mind at the time.

[tadnishida]

The only reason I use iTunes is for pod casts. How does Media Monkey handle podcasts? I really need the new marker to work with my current workflow.

[Spyral]

i wish songbird would work with playlists. winamp and media monkey feel old and look ugly, doubletwist is too dependent on other programs, and itunes is just plain crappy

What do you mean? I use Songbird with the FolderSync add-on and it syncs any playlist(s) I choose with no problems.

I suppose said synced playlist was created INSIDE Songbird... but...

[jack87]

Yeah.

The correct term did not come in mind at the time.

Haha in my main post i mentioned id3 tags and how media monkey is amazing at it.

The only reason I use iTunes is for pod casts. How does Media Monkey handle podcasts? I really need the new marker to work with my current workflow.

to be honest i have never listened to a pod-cast in my entire life i dont have a clue how media monkey handles it if at all. maybe someone else can help answer that question.

Update: media monkey has a whole section for pod cast subscriptions might even be superior to the way iTunes handles it. I have attached a screen shot

[quiksilver]

What do you mean? I use Songbird with the FolderSync add-on and it syncs any playlist(s) I choose with no problems.

I suppose said synced playlist was created INSIDE Songbird... but...

When you "sync" this way, can you pass playcounts back to Songbird? I started using it this weekend and this program is excellent. I was able to use the "Ipod control" add on to sync the device, but music transferred that way was missing the album art. After using the folder sync and copying that folder to the Pre everything worked fine.

If anyone is looking for a new media player, this one is worth a look.

Now if only i could get my zune to sync with it...but that's a whole other forum.

[ScrapMaker]

heh, when I first got my iPod, I tried listening to a few podcasts... they were somewhat entertaining for when I was stuck on a flight somewhere, (the video podcats, especially,) but eventually I realized I'd rather just listen to my own music.

I'll agree that a method of having playlists is fairly important.

I have playlists like,

ALL ALL
ALL OLD
ALL NEW
COUNTRY ALL
COUNTRY NEW
COUNTRY OLD
... etc...

so obviously some lists have duplicates compared to others, by design, and if I ONLY had folders, that would be annoying.

On the other hand, the Pre has so 'little' storage, (in my opinion,) that it's almost not worth copying music over. I basically just put on my favorite 'party' tracks, so if something goes wrong at one of my shindigs, or at a friend's party, we still have music.

Bad part is the damn Pre is not very intelligent when you are using the headphone jack... incoming calls, etc, play at FULL VOLUME, and nearly blow out all the speakers.

[Kyusaku]

I have an issue with Media Monkey if anyone can help me. I sync'd a bunch of songs to my Pre but mediamonkey didn't save them in the Music folder, instead in the root directory(not \root but basically the \ directory) (The syncing was done in Media Sync mode)

Sync tracks was set to \Music\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Title>

And even when I try to look on the device now, it'll only load about 169 songs out of about 508.

This is my first time using MediaMonkey.

------Edit-------
I think I figured out why it doesn't show all files, it doesn't want to list m4a files even though the Pre does support the format.

-----Edit--------
With syncing to Music folder I had to do this edit to the MM ini file
http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/i...kbarticleid=16 Still don't know how to make m4a files visible through MediaMonkey on the device though.

-----Edit-------
Had to resync with the ini changes to see m4a files. However with the new directory structure it makes seeing the device's music collection more difficult. Is there no Library view for portable devices?

[quiksilver]

There is no library view for the device. I typically just create a playlist and then I know every thing in that playlist is on the device. Also easy to auto sync that way.

Good to hear you got the other issues worked out. Not sure why you had to manually change the ini, mine worked right out of the box.

[scrupul0us]

the only thing i hate about media monkey is that in library mode it only shows 5 songs per album and not all (you have to expand each album list) and I have not found a way to disable this