iTunes is an easy-to-use digital media application developed by Apple in 2001. It allows the user to play and organize music and video on a personal computer and to manage the contents of their iPod. iTunes is available as a free download. Its amazing features allow users to import music from CDs, listen to and view podcasts, buy music online, listen to music on the Internet and across networks, etc. However, some users may want to have more functionality than that offered by iTunes and may need to look for an alternative. For instance, users may want the capability to transfer music to and from their iPod or may be bogged down by the very large file size of iTunes and want an application with a smaller footprint.

iTunes Alternatives

Yamipod

Yamipod is a great piece of freeware software that does not need to be installed. All you need to do after downloading the software is to run it. Yamipod offers most iTune features and has a great interface, making it easy to rename or delete songs and albums.

Winamp

Winamp offers auto synchronization support of your iPod with album art view. It comes with organizer and media features similar to iTunes. It also supports by far more formats than most other players

Banshee

Banshee has a simple and powerful interface, and its features include ripping music, burning CDs, sharing music, displaying cover art, keyboard shortcuts, etc. Banshee source code is open source for developers who wish to improve the software. It is mainly used on the Linux platform.

Amarok

Amarok comes with an intuitive interface, and its features include album cover detection and download, lyrics support, wikipedia integration, quick viewing of currently playing music, etc. Amarok is available as a precompiled binary for Unix and Linux platforms, and its source code is also available.

Vpod

Vpod is a pretty cool software for transferring music to your iPod from Windows. It creates a database of your iPod the first time it is started. It provides an integrated view of all your music, displaying what is already on your iPod. However, its interface may be a little different from what you may be used to and it may no longer work with most iPods.

Retune

Retune is also pretty cool and has amazing functionality. It allows you to copy music to your iPod with just about any type of file manager. Like Yamipod, it does not require installation. All you need to do is to extract it to your iPod’s root folder. You then need to drag your songs from any folder of your machine to your iPod and double-click on the program. Retune then scans your iPod for music files and builds the library. It works on Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms.

gtkpod

gtkpod is a freeware program for Linux users. It supports all iPod models and supports various file types. Its main disadvantage is that it is not compatible with the iTunes Store files.