Ask Slashdot: Best FLOSS iTunes Replacement In 2013?

First time accepted submitter cs80 writes "I've been looking high and low for a decent, open-source, cross-platform audio player that can import an existing iTunes library and sort my files based on their ID3 tags. Nightingale, with its iTunes-like interface, would have been the obvious answer, but its file organization feature was pulled for being too buggy. What open-source audio player did you migrate to after dumping iTunes?"

Comments

Foobar 2000

[Anonymous Coward]

It's annoying, and a bit weird, but it works and can play FLAC. It's also gotten better than it used to be, I don't worry nearly as much about losing all my playlists now. Which is good because there's not really a central "library" where you can just look at everything : (

Honestly though, I'm not sure there's such a thing as truly "good" music software. Just one you know how to use so you stick with it.

Re:Foobar 2000

[Anonymous Coward]

You've never used foobar2000, have you? I have used it for years and wouldn't imagine using anything else. It is completely user customizable and I have never "lost" a playlist. And yes, there is a central, user sortable media library in foobar2000. It's one of the core features.

Nice troll though.

Re: Foobar 2000

[phishybongwaters]

How exactly is that helpful in anyway? "how can I replace iTunes? " ...."don't use it in the first place". Congrats, you and those like you have made slashdot irrelevant, and a video-less YouTube. Christ the 3rd or forth comment is a racist one. Now tell me I'm gay and we can all walk away happy

Re:Foobar 2000

[mrclisdue]

In 8 years of use, I've never had foobar2000 crash, so I suspect you were either using an unstable component or you're not being truthful.

Indeed, because your truth isn't anecdotal, and the rest of us just come here to waste time telling lies.

I've used foobar200 for 8.1 years, and I've managed to launch 4 nuclear missiles with it, had it send an elephant to the moon, and just used it yesterday to bake a cheesecake. I, too, have never had it crash, but there was a near miss once on an Antarctic cruise.

cheers,

iTunes

[issicus]

just give up, like the rest of us...

Re:iTunes

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried iTunes once. It installed crapware (Safari) and destroyed the file names of my entire music library, all without asking. I removed every trace of it right then and restored a backup of my music.

From what I did use of it, it was slow and had the worst UI I have ever seen. The only reason anyone should ever used iTunes is if they are forced to (they own an iPod or iPhone) or if they are an idiot.

Re:iTunes

[jo_ham]

or maybe
1. software installs shouldn't default to bundling extra bullshit that really shouldn't be there in the first place?
2. software shouldn't have features that mess with source files turned on as start up/initial defaults?

itunes on windows is a piece of shit... hell so is quicktime. What started as a simple directshow/vfw codec turned into a monstrosity that installs tons of bullshit that is not necessary nor asked for.

It doesn't mess with your source files by default.

By default it copies the music you point it at on initial startup into its own folder. The source files are left 100% untouched, other than reading the data off the disk.

Of course, this means that it essentially duplicates your music library on install, so if you're hurting for hard drive space you'll be in a world of hurt (i.e., you get duplicates of everything, thus doubling the size taken up by the music), but once it has read that initial folder of music it never touches it again. To counter this you can tell iTunes to work with the folder system you already have and to not manage it automatically. This is *not* the default option.

best solution

[Anonymous Coward]

fuck your iTunes library. Set up mpd with a decent client like ncmpcpp. Light years ahead of Apple bloatware.

Clementine Player

[cl0secall]

... is what I went to after ditching iTunes. In addition to getting the podcast(s) I subscribe to, it plays Grooveshark and Digitally Imported in the same playlists as my local files.

Clementine

[maugle]

I like Clementine, mostly because it seems to be the only music player in existence which displays the image embedded in a song's MP3 file. All the others I've tried insist on displaying the same single image (which they found in the first song they happened to scan) for every song in my entire playlist.

Also, If anyone knows of a music player for Android which can do the same, I'd love to hear of it.

Re:Clementine

[kevmeister]

Rocket Player comes pretty close.It will allow my Android to do almost everything that an iPod will do including use the image from the file,though that has to be set in "Settings" or it will also use the image from the first song. The only place it fails is that it does not recognize the "Music Video" STIK.

Amarok/Clementine

[Anonymous Coward]

They both have the same library management mechanisms, and come from the same place. There are a bunch of differences though.

Clementine is more old school and the development team seems to focus on online services (spotify, grooveshark and whatnot).
The playlist management is pretty basic though

Amarok is flashier and has much fewer online services, but is top notch for automatic playlists, both the automatic playlist generator and the dynamic mode are awesome.
There was a GSoC this year that brought to Amarok the ability to import and export libraries from a bunch of other media player (including iTunes).http://konradzemek.com
There's no official mac port though, because no Amarok developer uses a mac.

Re:You could always...

[Lisias]

winamp always worked for me. So simple, so tiny...

So missed. :-(

An ugly spreadsheet that plays music.

[tpstigers]

Wow. Replacing that is going to be a tall order.

Shameless plug

[gQuigs]

Ubuntu 12.04 Overview: http://bryanquigley.com/reviews/12-04-music-player-review-my-top-choices
(also has a stuck on Windows section)

Never used iTunes

[__aaqvdr516]

I've never used iTunes. I just use folders and store everything by /Artist/Album. It's easy enough to right click the folder and select "play in VLC".

Replace iTunes???

[BringsApples]

You could probably go out and get a homeless person and just hand them all of your music. Just tell them to do whatever they want with it. It'll be a better interface, and at least someone will know where the hell all of your music is.

Logitech Mediaserver

[m.hataj]

This was the one and only serving a TB-size musiccollection well.
You can stream to different speakers, laptops, mobile phones in parallel.
It's really good as DLNA server and you can have him on Linux, Mac, Windows, NAS, BSD.

http://www.mysqueezebox.com/download

I'm not sure on the FLOSS status, there are a lot parts from this development on sourceforge and github.
And yes, it's running local as your server without any ties to Logitech.
Give version 7.7 up to 7.8 a try, higher ones are crippled.

Try iTunes ...

[psergiu]

Try iTunes on OS X.
It's much harder, better, faster and stronger that the Windows version.

Re:screw itunes

[ArbitraryName]

How is babby duck formed?

Re:You could always...

[adamstew]

Because it holds the key to millions of people's music that they paid for?

The iTunes Music Store hasn't sold a song with DRM since April of 2009. Anyone who ever bought any song, that was DRM'd off the iTunes store is able to download a free DRM-free replacement anytime by logging in to their iTunes account...so long as that music is still currently for sale on the iTunes store. Heck, that replacement copy will even be upgraded to 256kbps quality too! If the music is still not for sale on the iTunes store, then anyone can use the good-old-fashioned burn and re-rip method to remove the DRM.

Re:You could always...

[Anonymous Coward]

winamp always worked for me. So simple, so tiny...

So missed. :-(

Software whose installers are downloaded to local storage, run locally, and have no dependencies on web services, is never missed. It just works.

Re:You could always...

[jo_ham]

The DRM still exists, it's just more subtle - they imbed your personal account info into the tracks you buy, so if you die and bequeath your music collection to your kids, they'll lose your entire music collection at best, and go to jail at worst - or possibly pay an exorbitant fine.

Apple's claims of 'no drm' are bullshit, but most people seem to have bought into it (much like Google's 'do no evil' and look where that's gotten us). This blinkered acceptance comes part and parcel with the creeping surveillance society, apparently.

You seem to not understand what DRM is.

Tagging a file with your Apple ID is not DRM. What Apple is doing there is discouraging you from sharing your music with the entire internet, but not discouraging you from sharing it with your immediate friends and family.

An iTunes file tagged with your Apple ID will play back on any music player capable of reading AAC files.

If you die then your entire music collection isn't lost. It's just there on your hard drive. I wasn't aware that your hard drive got deleted when you die.

Your kids certainly won't be sent to jail or fined for listening to it.

Man, the Apple haters get crazier every passing day.