The iTunes alternatives
With the dominance of the iPod music player from Apple, iTunes has become the default music player for many people. Last year investigation showed that 25% of all songs sold digitally or physically in the United States were sold via the iTunes music store. But there are alternatives to iTunes, including those responsible for the music on your iPod.
Let me point out first, the important caveat: no other digital music manager works with the iTunes music store. One alternative music manager that I’ve used in the past is Songbird. It is based on the Firefox web browser, and the intelligent part is that it has plugins for various music services like Last.fm and the music store 7digital. It also has plug-ins to display the lyrics of songs or even find the chords of the song you’re listening to what may follow. The plug in for iPod Songbird is produced independently, and does not work with the latest music player.
However, if you want to manage your iPod, look no further than Floola. Both Songbird and Floola run on Windows, Macs and the open source Linux operating system. Sync your music, podcasts, photos, and calendar, as iTunes does. Although Floola has a basic interface, it does have some bells and whistles that you won’t find in iTunes. iTunes can sync with iCal, the built in calendar application on the Mac, but Floola can synchronize with Google calendar too. You can also copy web videos to your iPod, repair your iPod and download missing artwork.
It is a recreational project, and developers to request a donation if you wish and use the software. The money helps pay for your time and also for iPods so they can be sure it works with newer models. It does not work with all iPods, most notably it doesn’t work with the iPhone, the iPod touch, the fifth generation Nano and the latest iPod Shuffle.
These’re just two alternative iPod music managers, and there are more than I can cover in this one column, so if I do not mention your favourite, feel free to mention it in the comments online.
