so I'm sick and tired of iTunes... I've got a 30GB video iPod...

I'm thinking about using WMAconvert to strip the DRM and convert everything to mp3 (I think all I have is mp3, wma, and m4a).

then use floola to sync with my ipod

and something like winamp for my player

what do you suggest for purchase music? something legal and without the hassle of something similar to iTunes DRM

anything else? suggestions?

the one problem is that I'll still have to have itunes for podcasts (well podcast - cartalk)

[Edited on November 13, 2009 at 11:30 AM. Reason : .]

11/13/2009 11:26:33 AM

i like lala.com

cheap music (most $0.89) and ability to buy the web license ($0.10) so i can stream music without paying full price... also can stream my entire collection for free.

winamp's not a bad player, but i just assume use WMP or Zune since i have both already, the Zune software has a pretty nice music player



[Edited on November 13, 2009 at 11:31 AM. Reason : .]

11/13/2009 11:30:02 AM

thanks. how is lala's selection?

11/13/2009 11:30:57 AM

Quote :

"the one problem is that I'll still have to have itunes for podcasts"

why?

11/13/2009 11:32:30 AM

^yea why? zune software can do podcasts.

i think it's one of the best, lots of new stuff, i think it's a close 2nd to itunes, lala latest stat is 8 million songs.

[Edited on November 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM. Reason : .]

11/13/2009 11:32:41 AM

did not know that

11/13/2009 11:42:12 AM

I use amazon, it's been pretty awesome so far. Bought a live album last weekend, and the first track was wrong (it was the studio album version somehow). That was the only one, but when I filed the complaint on Sunday it only took them a couple of hours to say they would fix it and to refund me the price of the entire album.

11/13/2009 11:42:40 AM

Quote :

"what do you suggest for purchase music? something legal and without the hassle of something similar to iTunes DRM"

I Can understand not wanting to use iTunes because its expensive and their recent price increase but DRM? I wasn't aware there was any DRM on iTunes purchased music.

I'm really stoked to see the Zune marketplace on Xbox Live November 17th!

[Edited on November 13, 2009 at 12:27 PM. Reason : .]

11/13/2009 12:23:51 PM

^ are you fucking retarded ?

11/13/2009 12:26:40 PM

yeah itunes is DRM free now.

11/13/2009 12:27:02 PM

^^umm...no...are you?

11/13/2009 12:27:28 PM

lol epic fail at calling someone out ITT

[Edited on November 13, 2009 at 12:43 PM. Reason : a]

11/13/2009 12:42:59 PM

must be all the penis hats in his photo gallery.

11/13/2009 12:44:37 PM

if you have an existing library of DRMed itunes songs, is it free to un-DRM them?

11/13/2009 12:45:28 PM

no but thats not an issue here OBVIOUSLY

Quote :

"I'm thinking about using WMAconvert to strip the DRM and convert everything to mp3"

durr I can read...

and I'm not trying to convince him to stick with iTunes if his beef is having to pay per song vs. subscription or he just hates the application. Just saying any music he purchases on iTunes IS DRM free...in case others were wondering.

11/13/2009 12:47:13 PM

it's DRM free... now. all of my shit has DRM. and that's not the only issue:

- itunes prevents ipod from syncing with multiple libraries
- itunes is slow as shit for creating libraries (artwork, gapless playback, etc)
- itunes corrupts the library file multiple times a year
- and someone I'm missing several purchased songs... I didn't lose them. my music goes to the proper directory and then stays, i believe itunes is fucking with my shit

[Edited on November 13, 2009 at 1:33 PM. Reason : .]

11/13/2009 1:33:15 PM

^ in fairness, you did have a laptop hard drive go bad... that might be related.

11/13/2009 2:14:43 PM

^lol, yeh, but it's happened multiple times on multiple HDDs on multiple machines...

11/13/2009 2:16:19 PM

^are you managing the same library across multiple machines? In a way its not really iTunes fault in that case because it simply doesn't support that kind of functionality which is dumb. So its usually due to user error in that case with forgetting to copy files over etc, i know ive done it and sometimes end up with duplicates and having to clean them out.

11/13/2009 3:18:39 PM

It is, however, Apple's fault that iTunes works in such a dumb way.

11/13/2009 3:37:05 PM

What works for some doesn't work for others.

11/13/2009 3:45:15 PM

I agree with Golovko 100%. The user error with iTunes occurs the moment you decide to install it.

11/13/2009 3:46:05 PM

no, I'm not using the same library across multiple machines. I update my music on one machine. then I transfer that to another and rebuild that library.

11/13/2009 3:53:36 PM

sooooo, complete n00b here, what (other than the massive drain on memory) are the general problems with iTunes?

11/14/2009 6:53:34 PM

on windows its slow as balls and unstable.... i use winamp

its sleek as hell on a mac, so i use it when on my laptop

11/14/2009 6:58:14 PM

ahh. I usually just use it to synch my ipod and shut it down, so I really hadn't noticed those two problems. gracias

11/14/2009 7:06:17 PM

sandsanta summed up the issues pretty well in the zune thread:

Quote :

"By contrast, I avoid hooking up my iphone to my PC as often as possible because I don't want to be prompted to download the latest bundle of itunes/safari/whothefuckcares and then sit there and stare off into space as iTunes itself attempts to gather up the vast amount of resources it apparently needs to sync with my phone."

11/14/2009 7:35:10 PM