Testing Out Songbird as an iTunes Replacement
Posted on March 16, 2007, under Software, Tools and Services.
iTunes has been going downhill, and I can no longer be a part of the sinking ship. These days it seems Apple is only interested in making updates and fixes to iTunes when it has a new product to support, like the latest iTunes update that rolls out support for the new Apple TV product. There are tons of bugs with iTunes, especially on Windows. On top of it all it’s a memory and resource hog, built off of QuickTime that is additionally a hog for resources. yes, it runs better on a Mac, but please do not tell me to “Buy a Mac”. Apple didn’t sell me an iPod that is to be used with iTunes only on a Mac, it sold me an iPod that supports Windows. They even stated that iTunes is the best application written for Windows… not sure that is true anymore.
So I have to find a replacement, and luckily I am not bound to any iTunes music store purchases much like many others are. I have been interviewing Songbird, which shows a lot of potential. Songbird is built off of the Firefox platform, which is my favorite browser… so it wins bonus points right there. It uses the mode of “extensions” or “add ons” much like Firefox, which I have always been a fan of. Extensions allow users to take control of the application, additionally it mans that the application isn’t overloaded with a tone of features you may not use.
So far I have imported my iTunes library, which Songbird makes it easy to do with a simple Import option. I have yet to plug in my iPod and see how well it interacts. I have read some problems with album art and podcasts not being put into the Podcast section.
Non the less, it looks promising and may just be the application to nurse me off of my iTunes addition. It definitely runs a whole lot faster, and not as much lag. The ebst pat, is when my screen saver kicks in and I wake it back up it doesn’t yell at me for an incompatible screen resolution.
I will continue to let you know how the transition goes. If you are a Songbird user, and have any tip, tricks, or suggestions for a newbie… throw them my way.
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3 Replies to "Testing Out Songbird as an iTunes Replacement"
Matthew R. Miller on March 19, 2007
I have kind of been coming to that conclusion myself with Songbird. I spend two hours handle importing my OPML because Songbird did not allow me to import it. It does not handle downloading and deleting podcasts well.
Unfortunately Apple has locked us into this proprietary nightmare, and can now take it’s time further innovating and fixing.
I have to do another write up here, but I can’t seem to find something that works. I just need a standalone Podcatcher that works, and is not bulky.
Alternatives to iTunes Podcasts - Code and Coffee on September 14, 2007
[...] have had a love hate relationship with iTunes through out its existence. Recently after deciding to go back to iTunes, because surprise it works [...]
Brian on March 19, 2007
I have been getting aggravated (to say the least) myself with the iTunes upgrades and bugs. I tried Songbird, but the way the application handles podcasting just didn’t work for me.
Another great free media manager is “Media Monkey.” I tried it, too, and it’s pretty fast and easy to use, but, again, I didn’t like it’s podcasting features.