I absolutely hate iTunes. What else can I use?

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musicpad

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While I love my iPod, I absoultely have come to hate iTunes and WANT OUT! What other applications (or methods) can I use to simply manage my mp3s between my iPod Mini and my Mac?

I used to love iTunes when it was simple and direct. However, I can't manage this stupid, insipid "library" function and I have NO USE for it! All I want to do is drop my mp3s into different playlists, then place these on the iPod. I have no desire to "copy" each file and play shell games with this idiotic "library" function. When I delete a playlist, I want it deleted- simple as that. I do not want to play games fooling around with this moronic library list which tries to upload to the ipod and goop it up, wasting space. Simply put, when I hit "delete", DELETE! When I get to the maximum storage on the iPod, I have had to waste more time with arcane extra steps and tedious editing of this idiotic library which I cannot seem to get away from having to use.

iTunes is not intuitive and is un-helpful to the max. How can I do my simple task of placing mp3's on my iPod, filed in their respective playlists without iTunes? I don't think I'm asking much. Thank you.

PAD
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dcmacnut

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iTunes has always used a "library." This is how iTunes has operated from day one, long before the iPod was created. For you to say you "used to like it" makes me wonder if you ever liked it in the first place, since it has always had a "library." Nothing has changed.

The library takes up NO extra space on the iPod. All it is a database for tracking your songs in iTunes. The library is not stored on your iPod, only your computer. Even my 8000 song library database file only takes 17 MB of space on my computer. Only the music files are copied to the iPod.

Every time you add a song to iTunes, it is added to your library. No way around that. If you want a file deleted, then delete it. It will be deleted from your library and your hard drive, if you want. If you want to delete files from within a playlist, option-delete does the same thing. I don't know why you are so antagonistic toward the program for behaving like it always has.

Are you sure your beef isn't with autosync rather than the library? If you are on autosync, and your library is larger than your iPod mini, then of course you'll be taking up unwanted space since it will store every song you have in iTunes on the mini automatically (if there's enough space). To get around this, just tell just tell iTunes to sync only those playlists you want on the iPod. Then you can add songs only those songs and playlists you want on the iPod. Or better yet, set the iPod to manual, and that way you can add and delete songs from your iPod as much as you want, and iTunes won't "take over." You'll have complete control.

Finally, I don't know of any way to get your songs on the iPod without iTunes if you use a Mac. iTunes IS intuitive and the best iPod solution for the Mac. You just have to want it to work. There are options for you to make iTunes work they way you want, you just have to be willing to use them.
 

MikeM

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option+command+delete will remove the selected files and move them to the trash.

Switch to manual updating if you want to do everything manually.

Learn to use iTunes properly and you won't have issues anymore.
 

Rhine

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Or you could use the Winamp Plugin which works well but i like Itunes better after usign them both
 

Alex Wilson

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musicpad said:
While I love my iPod, I absoultely have come to hate iTunes and WANT OUT! What other applications (or methods) can I use to simply manage my mp3s between my iPod Mini and my Mac?
Audion's no longer supported, but it might still work with current iPods and it's now free. In its heyday they billed it as the "power" version of iTunes. Give it a shot.

http://www.panic.com/audion/

Panic, the creators, also develop Transmit. They're good people.

Alex.
 

musicpad

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The majority of the problem has been the stubborn inability of the library function to follow through when changes are made to the playlists. The primary (extremely frustrating, annoying and flat out stupid) manifestation of the problem happens when I convert an AIF file to MP3 format. Once converted, I deleted the files in the original playlist and replace it with the new MP3 files of the identical music. Itunes refuses to drop the AIF files from the library and will try to upload the old AIF files to the iPod, not the MP3 ones. It is idiotic that the library contents is not managed by the contents of the playlists. My solution has been to actually delete the original AIF files after they have been converted and in that manner, iTunes has no AIF file to work with, so a warning message pops up. I ignore the message and things so far seem to be going better. However, I think it is sheer stupidity that iTunes deliberately keeps reference to music files which are not kept as a playlist (or, worse still, are deliberately removed from a playlist).
 

dcmacnut

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musicpad said:
However, I think it is sheer stupidity that iTunes deliberately keeps reference to music files which are not kept as a playlist (or, worse still, are deliberately removed from a playlist).
Playlists are based on the library, not the other way around. Again, this is how iTunes has always been since it was created. If you want to delete files from a playlist AND your library at the same time, option-delete will do that for you.
 

elob

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Musicpad,

Your concern is based around an incorrect assumption. Think of the library as the entire collection of your music and the playlists as user-created lists of things you might want to hear at a certain time. The music is *all* in the library. The playlists are simple lists of some of the songs in your library. It's completely intuitive--If I throw away a list I've created of songs in my CD collection, I don't expect my actual CD's to disappear. So it is with iTunes.

Whenever you delete something in iTunes and want the actual music file to disappear, delete it from your library and your problem will be solved. (It will give you the chance to confirm the deletion.) The option+command+delete trick will work, but this is nothing more than a cross reference to the files in your library.

You can, of course, put any playlists you want on your iPod. iTunes will then find the songs (by looking in your library) and transfer those, as well as the playlist. To do this, just go to the iPod tab in Preferences and tell it you want to sync manually. You can have it sync the same ones all the time if you want, or you can create smart playlists to do this according to criteria you define. If you *don't* sync manually, then iTunes has no way of knowing which playlists you want and which ones you don't. In that case, it will choose enough songs from your library to fill the iPod. Those, obviously, might include anything you've placed there.

If you use a good tool incorrectly, it's a bit silly to blame the tool.
 
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