Alternative to Itunes?

[dominatr]

Hey i just got an ipod and i am planning on putting a lot of music on it, but i don't want to use itunes since you pay per song, and that would empty my pockets quickly. Not saying i don't wanna pay, but i think it would work better if i had a membership where you pay monthly for unlimited songs.

problem is, i listen to a lot of underground/independent hip hop and not all sites will have the songs i am looking for...

anyone have any suggestions for an alternative i can use instead of Itunes? Please tell me why i should, and let me know what you use.

thanks

 

[SKILORD]

I used to use Rhapsody, I don't know how they work now but when I did they charged a monthly subscription fee of like, 10, 15 bucks and you could download/put as much music on your mp3 player as you wanted but had to pay per song for permanent ownership (post-subscription) or to burn a CD.

 

[dwaxe]

You don't have to get your music through the iTunes store. You can simply sync your music with your iTunes library, which may or may not include music that you bought through Apple. To add music to your library, go to File > Add Songs.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

Depend on which pc and its current OS you are managing your mp3, and what device you are using (iPod what?) to transfer it from, or vice versa. I personally don't use iTunes.

 

[ZeletDude]

frostwire

 

[Zelig]

Of the subscription services I've tried, Zune Pass has been the best, of ones that work on ipods, I'd look at Rdio.

 

[Hakim]

Spotify, if that's available in your country and technical platform. I've been a premium (=paying) member since start.

 

[Maniacal]

Grooveshark?

 

[cardgame]

You don't have to get your music through the iTunes store. You can simply sync your music with your iTunes library, which may or may not include music that you bought through Apple. To add music to your library, go to File > Add Songs.

Or, you know, just play the mp3 files with iTunes set as the default media player. Or drag and drop them into the iTunes window.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I like humming and whistling a happy tune, myself.

 

[_random_]

Huh. Some kind of web service that would let you get almost any sort of music without costing a good deal of money. No idea how to help you. Sorry. Let me know what you find though.

 

[Ronojoy1917]

You could take the url of the song's music video from youtube, convert it and download. There's plenty of youtube to mp3 converters out there and I'm pretty sure that's legal. It's quite good quality and you can find almost anything on youtube.

 

[dirtyparrot]

Like dwaxe said, you don't to pay anything to put your music on iTunes. That being said, I would try to keep all your music on one drive especially if you have an extensive music collection. An alternative that I sometimes use is MediaMonkey.

 

[GoodGame]

I just started a trialpay of the eMusic website because it gave a kickback (funds for my MMO habit), a free $10 credit, and I wanted a new service myself. I think if you go directly to their website that you can get a $20 free credit up front.

So far it seems pretty cheap per month at good rates per song, and kind of largish library, but it is a bit more of a niche library so far. I've found several Matisyahu albums so far, but it's a little hit and miss. You might find several albumns per artist, but still miss a few singles that are only on Youtube.

I also don't quite like the website interface, as it is not well integrated with the downloader. You can listen to snippets, but then you have to download to a separate browser to decode the file to a listenable format. And then copy to your media player. All manual, without enough automation.


Worth a try, since you just have to give them a credit card number, get free downloads on albumns at reasonable prices (i.e. discount Amazon prices, not retail music store prices), then unsubscribe if you don't like the features/library.

 

[GoodGame]

Another thought: go to a free/cheap internet radio station that suits you, and capture the stream. I believe there are some software tools that do that. I'm not sure if there are tools to rip the stream to individual tracks though.

Shoutcast and 365/Live are some options for finding stations.

 

[EnglishCrusader]

problem is, i listen to a lot of underground/independent hip hop

Seems like this is the problem.

 

[SouthernKing]

I use the youtube mp3 downloader, but the sound quality often isn't consistent.