MediaMonkey: I'm in the process of switching from iTunes to MediaMonkey. I've always struggled with iTunes, probably because I don't use it continuously, but also because it keeps...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm in the process of switching from iTunes to MediaMonkey. I've always struggled with iTunes, probably because I don't use it continuously, but also because it keeps changing. MediaMonkey is one of the recommended alternatives. When I imported my music into MM, it didn't move anything. It just noted where my music was stored for iTunes. That's good.

Do any of you have an opinion of MediaMonkey?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

jerryc41 wrote:

I'm in the process of switching from iTunes to MediaMonkey. I've always struggled with iTunes, probably because I don't use it continuously, but also because it keeps changing. MediaMonkey is one of the recommended alternatives. When I imported my music into MM, it didn't move anything. It just noted where my music was stored for iTunes. That's good.

Do any of you have an opinion of MediaMonkey?

I've never heard of it. We use iTunes, Spotify, and various Internet radio sources. And we watch lots of concerts on YouTube. There is a ton of free music available on YouTube. Some of the live performances are incredible.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Never heard of it.
I use iTunes.
(Alexa in the kitchen.)

alexol

It works well enough.

iTunes is becoming a bloated pain in the tailpipe.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

alexol wrote:

It works well enough.

iTunes is becoming a bloated pain in the tailpipe.

How so? I haven't noticed.
(But I don't use it on a regular basis.)

alexol

Far more complex than it was originally.

Several years ago, I found it to be wonderful and the sole reason I had an iMac.

If you live in Apple walled-garden ecosystem - I don't - it's probably OK, but I prefer a wide range of devices and don't find iTunes to be a simple as it was, nor as user friendly any longer.

It certainly isn't as easy to move files around, import and export etc., with my personal preferences for quality controls, bit rate and a host of other parameters. For ripping to my exact specs my poison of choice is dBPoweramp, and then I can play through any device whatever. It's easy to save totally lossless, and run another set of instructions on the same files to produce smaller files for my phone etc.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

alexol wrote:

Far more complex than it was originally. br br Se... (show quote)

Interesting.
I'm in a Windows environment and primarily use it for the database structure of my songs on the hard drive.
Secondarily, on occasion, to search (the store) for an old song that I may not have, to see when it came out. Maybe to purchase.
I had iTunes rip my 400? CDs years ago.
I just play them on the computers once in a while. I select songs, albums, or make a playlist. I never move them. I never noticed any bloat.
I don't copy songs to my phone. If I did, I'd simply use Windows File Explorer.
For my car I have a radio (primarily) and a memory stick (rarely).

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Longshadow wrote:

How so? I haven't noticed.
(But I don't use it on a regular basis.)

Apple Music replaced iTunes a long time ago, but folks still call it iTunes. Go figure...

They broke out Books, Podcasts, News, TV, and Music as separate applications, to simplify things. It was a good move.

BTW, MacOS is very mature now, as are all the more than two dozen applications that ship with it. I use most of them, plus Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and Acrobat Reader, and the Microsoft 365 suite formerly known as Office. My other apps are shareware or came with hardware (VLC, Handbrake, Graphic Converter, FireFox, Epson Scan, SpyderXElite, and Fotor).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

burkphoto wrote:

Apple Music replaced iTunes a long time ago, but folks still call it iTunes. Go figure...
...
...

Interesting.
I still call it iTunes, and I noticed that's what the shortcut says and it calls iTunes.exe that lives in the iTunes directory.
But the program references "Apple Music" and "iTunes Store". "About iTunes" and "iTunes Help" are still in the menu.

I don't think "iTunes" will be going away.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Longshadow wrote:

Interesting.
I still call it iTunes, and I noticed that's what the shortcut says and it calls iTunes.exe that lives in the iTunes directory.
But the program references "Apple Music" and "iTunes Store". "About iTunes" and "iTunes Help" are still in the menu.

I don't think "iTunes" will be going away.

All that is because you're using the Windows version of iTunes. The Mac version is long gone.

Music.app is on the Mac. (.app is roughly the Mac equivalent of .exe in Windows)

A while ago, Apple started putting the same applications on iOS (iPhone) iPadOS, and MacOS. They have the same names, roughly the same functions, work in much the same ways, and most of them talk to each other over iCloud. Users can work on files on all their iDevices.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

burkphoto wrote:

All that is because you're using the Windows version of iTunes. The Mac version is long gone.

Music.app is on the Mac. (.app is roughly the Mac equivalent of .exe in Windows)

A while ago, Apple started putting the same applications on iOS (iPhone) iPadOS, and MacOS. They have the same names, roughly the same functions, work in much the same ways, and most of them talk to each other over iCloud. Users can work on files on all their iDevices.

Ahhhh. I did not know you were referring to APPLE system(s) only.
You simply said it went away. So naturally I inferred in general

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Longshadow wrote:

Ahhhh. I did not know you were referring to APPLE system(s) only.
You simply said it went away. So naturally I inferred in general

Yeah, I forgot that the Windows version of iTunes is still out there.

alexol

I copy lower res / smaller files to my phone so I can listen on my motorcycle, and occasionally in the car or a hotel someplace.

Smaller files because hi-res files are often 60-100mb each for a 3-4 minute track, and hi-res classics can be (of course) very much larger simply due to longer track length.

I still use iTunes occasionally, I just avoid it where possible. Musicolet and Poweramp both work very well on my (Android) phones.

spaceylb Loc: Long Beach, N.Y.

burkphoto wrote:

Apple Music replaced iTunes a long time ago, but f... (show quote)

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Longshadow wrote:

Interesting. br I'm in a Windows environment and p... (show quote)

How long did it take you to rip 400 CDs?

I had just about given up on ITunes after my subscription to Music Match developed a bug (could not add new music) that no one at Apple could fix after 6 months and half a dozen 1-2 hour support sessions, but Apple Music’s new high resolution streaming looks interesting used with an external DAC if it actually works.