Alternatives to iTunes: The three best tools
Even though Apple offers an extremely versatile program with iTunes, there are many practical alternatives. We present the three best here.
3rd place: Winamp as an alternative to iTunes
- The free program Winamp is in no way inferior to iTunes. Music is played in all formats; CDs or DVDs can be burned directly from the program.
- You can manage your entire media library with just a few clicks. Only a store like iTunes is not offered here.
- With Winamp you can unfortunately not directly synchronize your mobile Apple devices with the media library. However, there are several plugins that you can find under the extensions of Winamp. CHIP also offers a corresponding plugin for download.
- Keyword plugins: You can also listen to the radio via Winamp or expand it with many other small features and adapt it to your personal needs.
2nd place: MediaMonkey competes with iTunes
- Media Monkey can do everything a media player should be able to do. Just like with Winamp, you can synchronize your playlists and albums with your MP3 players or iPods.
- "Party mode" is particularly practical, as it prevents songs from your media library from disappearing or being moved. So you can play music with your computer at a party without hesitation.
1st place: Songbird - best iTunes alternative
- Songbird is a true all-rounder. The combination of media player and various web offers leaves nothing to be desired. The free program is available in both a Windows version and a Mac version.
- Not only does the player come closest to iTunes in terms of design, the range of functions is also similar. Only the app store and iTunes store are logically missing.
- For example, if you want to manage your iPhone with Songbird, you can access your music, videos and photos from the device like in iTunes and synchronize with your library as you wish. Unlike in iTunes, the music from your iPhone with Songbird also finds its way back to your or someone else's computer.
- Special features: Through the integration of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and the automatic recognition of songs on websites, Songbird becomes a major competitor for iTunes.
Spotify: music streaming instead of music management
While Spotify cannot replace all of iTunes' features, it does offer additional features that iTunes does not. The streaming service is available both as software for Windows and Mac, as well as an iOS app and Android app.
- Spotify, like iTunes, is free. The main function of the software is music streaming. iTunes also offers a streaming service for music with Apple Music, but this is only subject to a fee.
- Spotify lets you stream millions of songs for free. In return, advertising is occasionally recorded between individual songs. With these restrictions you can live well, for 9.99 euros per month you can deactivate the advertising if you wish.
- As in iTunes, you can create your own playlists on Spotify. Spotify can also manage the local songs on your computer. In addition, friends can listen to playlists and share their own playlists if desired.
- However, the synchronization between iPhone and Spotify is a little more difficult, you should rather use iTunes here. If you use the paid premium version of Spotify, the Spotify app on your smartphone can replace your local music.
If you are just looking for an alternative way to bring your music to the mobile Apple devices, we recommend the Copy Trans Manager.