Despite it's fancy, brushed metal skin and $0.99 downloads, there are some people who simply don't like iTunes. And that's fair. There are literally hundreds of other media players that you can use to satisfy your
Genesis obsession, and its nice to have a choice in terms of features form and function. Unless you're an iPod user that is. Apple's popular media player has been locked to iTunes for years, forcing users to stick with the software even if it's not their player of choice. PC users in particular have been disappointed in how resource-intensive iTunes has become. It's crashy and the Apple auto-updater is just annoying (no, we don't want to install Safari).
Of course, if you've been happily cultivating your music collection elsewhere, there's no real reason for you to use iTunes anymore. Despite what Apple may have you think, there's more than a few options out there for your iPod and iPhone syncing needs, and we're going to show you the best of them today.
It looks like iTunes, but it totally isn't. We swear.
You might recall that
we've mentioned DoubleTwist before as one of the Android's better desktop media clients, but that's not to say iPhones and even iPods have to be left out of the party too. Once you've plugged in your device, DoubleTwist will display an image of your iPod, and give you access to all your songs, playlists and album art in a very iTunes-like fashion. In fact, the entire application takes cues from Apple's media player, which isn't entirely a bad thing. And best of all, syncing to an iPod — even one not "paired" to that particular computer — requires just a simple drag and drop. If you find yourself managing multiple music-playing devices, that sort of functionality can come in handy.
Drag-and-drop simplicity.
If you want the quickest, easiest way to get music onto your iPod, Sharepod is it. The application is entirely self-contained, and can even be run from the iPod itself, ideal if you frequently borrow songs from friends. Grab a song or album from Explorer, drag it into Sharepod, and your files are shuttled over to your iPod completely iTunes-free.
Doh. Seems we were a bit too quick to judge Sharepod on that one. More recent versions have
full iTouch/iPhone integration, making this one of the best, all-around apps you can get for loading up tunes.
Lots of functionality here for feature fans. iPod sync is just on of them.
We mentioned this media player briefly while showing you how to wrangle your errant artwork, but it has other uses as well — namely, syncing with your iPhone, iPod or iPod Touch. Unlike DoubleTwist, or even Apple's iTunes, MediaMonkey goes much more heavy on the features, which makes it a great alternative if you're looking for more library-oriented features. Everything you'd expect from an iPod sync is here, including albums, playlists and cover, with the ability to either drag-and-drop, or automate the process as well.
You read my Windows-formatted iPod under OS X, and for that, I love you.
At first, you'll find Floola very similar in look and functionality to Sharepod, offering a similar drag-and-drop style of functionality for frills-free syncing. However, the difference lies in how Floola interacts with iPods from other systems — the Mac version is one of the only iTunes alternatives that can successfully interact with a Windows formatted iPod. If you're looking to move music between numerous cross-platform machines, you'll find Floola indispensable in getting the job done hassle-free.
Images via Flickr user Mike Neilson,
