Music Management Software

Air.177 · 04-26-2006, 08:31

OK, I searched the site and couldn't find any discussion on this topic, so here we are.

What are people using to keep their Mp3s in order? I have played with Itunes, but it takes over everything on the machine and I am not a big fan of that. Are there any other options out there that you folks are using to keep things orderly?

Good times,
Blake

Bob1984 · 04-26-2006, 08:39

Using iTunes personally, I'm a Mac user. Probably the best overall program for handling music files, in my opinion.

If you have an iPod, iTunes is what you want to use with it (comes with the iPod on a CD).

iTunes is also compatible with other Mp3 players and you can burn CD's with it, in addition to having access to the music store, where you can buy music files in .m4a (copy-protected) format.

WinMX is popular amongst Windows users, even though iTunes is available for Windows and is functionally identical to the Mac version.

**Kyobanim** · 04-26-2006, 08:47

Make a bunch of folders and throw them in. That's my solution.

**Razor** · 04-26-2006, 09:57

I use Windows Media Player v10 and have had good luck thus far. I have a couple Creative players (Zen Touch and Zen Nano Plus), and an iRiver flash player, and they all synch up without a problem. I can also easily create playlists for the players (that support playlists), and rip and burn CDs. While WMP prefers .wma files, it also handles .mp3 without a hiccup, so far as I've seen.

Texian · 04-26-2006, 10:19

Have you tried Musicmatch, Sir?

jatx · 04-26-2006, 10:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texian

Have you tried Musicmatch, Sir?

I used Musicmatch before I purchased my iPod, and kind of miss it. Much easier to use (for me) than iTunes.

Air.177 · 04-26-2006, 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texian

Have you tried Musicmatch, Sir?

First off, easy with the "sir".

Secondly, No I have not, I will look into it.

Razor: I will check out the WMP, The last ones I played with were rather "Hitchy". Probably due to the computer I was running them on.

Thanks all, keep 'em coming

tyrsnbdr · 04-26-2006, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyobanim

Make a bunch of folders and throw them in. That's my solution.

That's my solution too, but it gets kind of hard when you have 38 gig of music.

I have itunes, but I'm starting to not like it. I burned a lot of my CDs so I only had to carry my harddrive when I deployed. I found out that iTunes burned them all into mp4 format and now I can't listen to them on my work computer.

Texian · 04-26-2006, 16:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air.177

First off, easy with the "sir".

Heh, you sounded like my dad there. I have the habit of calling people "sir." unless I'm at drill or AT and I'm addressing an enlisted man. No offence intended.

If you're willing to pay for the full version ($20 simple, $30 with unlimited upgrades), You'll like the features. It rips MP3's fast as hell and the burner is very good. It's also the best sounding music player IMHO.

keith · 04-26-2006, 18:07

Here's my favorite two, in order:

* Winamp
If you decide to use this, make sure you get the free 'lite' version (nobody likes spyware). The software's been around for awhile and plays pretty much everything (including movies), but I just use it for music. You can right click folders in your directory list and click "play in winamp", and it will put all of the songs in the folder into your playlist and play them. This works out great if you have nicely sorted albums. You can also add every mp3 in your collection by using the same right click option if your albums are in sub folders of a general mp3 folder (so it's recursive through all directories). The best part about winamp is that it's tiny. Turn off the equalizer and open the play list. When you double click the top of your playlist and the top of your main player, it will fold up into a tiny bar. I generally shove this at the top of the screen and it keeps my desktop nice and clear. The small program size makes it respond quickly and eat up less system resources.

* iTunes
I hate this software because it has a big nasty interface. I love it because it rips cds easily and REALLY quickly (but don't try to share those mp4s, they're protected). The other great feature only takes place if you have a iPod Shuffle, which is that it will rank songs by the amount of times you play them. So, if you populate your iPod Shuffle randomly there is an option to add based on rank, so more of your favorite songs get loaded up.

04-27-2006, 13:37

You can set iTunes to encode whatever format you like.

I encode to mp3 and it works like a charm on any computer.

j

keith · 04-28-2006, 05:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by eva05

You can set iTunes to encode whatever format you like.

I encode to mp3 and it works like a charm on any computer.

j

Can you then share them with others? I learn something new every day.

Bob1984 · 04-28-2006, 07:21

Deleted for exceeding the stupidity limit.

pulque · 05-04-2006, 01:50

I'm starting to get into the Rhapsody client. I have not tried it yet for portability on iTunes. Its normally a subscription service, but I downloaded the client and did the 2 week trial thing for free. They say you can continue to use the free client to manage your personal library, and I am going to try that next. although no podcasts

The low level subscription gives full listening rights to anything they have on the servers (1.6 million songs), and you can create and publish playlists (either publically, or you can email the whole playlist to your friends). Also, you can set Rhapsody up to use it as a browser plugin if you don't want the whole client. I do however like the whole client interface better than iTunes.

The hook is that it costs extra to have not only listening rights, but burning rights (or portable rights). The upside is that you get access to all the music to find out what you like, rather than just 30 seconds clips like in iTunes Store.