Open-source alternative to iTunes?
updated 07:30 pm EST, Sat December 24, 2005
Songbird digital music app
A new Silicon Valley startup is looking to provide an
toggle
Comments
-
12/24, 08:13pm |
|
|
Interface
Why create a carbon copy of the iTunes interface instead of going with something new? Your commendable efforts may be drowned out by the calls of CHEAP COPY and lawyer notices.
-
12/25, 02:00am |
|
|
Wow no shame
so, because it is "open source", it is not thiefware and can't be supported by losing giants like Microsoft or AOL eh?
Just wait for hopeless geeks suggest using it instead of iTunes...
-
12/25, 04:11am |
|
|
Doomed
First off this project is doomed and is a waist of time. It will be slow as f***, not offer any compelling reason for people to switch and will not interoperate with iTunes Music Store tracks [#1 store] not offer good iPod integration nor will it be able to access the network of Podcasts that Apple provides.
It's a cheap knock off of the interface and a pointless entry into an already flooded marketplace.
A bit of advice tho. If you insist on working on a music player, help out other projects instead. Oh and Platform specific is the way to go; it's faster, cleaner and just plain easier to do. Why re-invent the wheel, both Apple and Microsoft have frameworks to make such an app in a few hours.
-
12/25, 10:08am |
|
|
iTMS
I just wonder how they're going to interface to things like iTMS. W/o such interaction, their app is useless.
-
12/25, 06:56pm |
|
|
Good Idea, But doomed
I think an 'open' version of something like iTunes is a good idea. Unfortunately it will never be an equal. For it to be a viable alternative it will have to seamlessly integrate with all the other online music stores, similar to how the iTMS is integrated with iTunes (this WILL require co-operation from the stores to allow the app to access the store from outside a browser, which is unlikely). It will also have to work seamlessly (again) with all the other MP3 players, and allow it to be the 'track management' app for the player, this again is unlikely. Can you see Sony allowing you to use this instead of there MusicMatch app, I can't.
-
12/26, 11:22am |
|
|
Why are they doing it?
I am tired of hearing about these alternatives for iTunes that are being done 'for the public' and 'for the rights of the consumer'. I think he's doing this for himself and trying to get press. Much like the nutcase CEO of Real™, who won't just admit that he's lost. People have made their choices -- they didn't have to use iTunes, but they tried it and they loved it.
-
12/27, 08:00am |
|
|
Wrong point of focus
Quote: "software that will work naturally with the growing number of music sites and services on the Web, instead of being focused on songs on a computer's hard drive. That's where iTunes, which plugs only into Apple's own music store, falls short, [founder Rob] Lord argues"
I think that amount of people who care about online music stores are small incomparison to people who want to just keep their digital music organize. iTunes does that just fine. along EXTRAS such as providing an interface for the iPod and access to the iTunes Music Store.
-
12/27, 02:02pm |
|
|
Re: wrong point of focus
I think that amount of people who care about online music stores are small incomparison to people who want to just keep their digital music organize. iTunes does that just fine. along EXTRAS such as providing an interface for the iPod and access to the iTunes Music Store.
Well, it does it fine for as far as it goes. But it doesn't support several popular and open formas (like FLAC, OGG, etc) which limits its usability to a group of people. Plus, there's a community of people who like to have specific control over the encoding of their music (why they use lame instead of iTunes to rip in the first place).
-
09/17, 05:14pm |
|
|
This is wonderful
^^^ Amarok is dependent on the Qt libraries and other core KDE technologies that do not exist on Windows. Amarok is Linux only.
Secondly, where do any of you get off saying this will be a failure? I hate iTunes! It's a pile of c***! It's bloated, won't shut up with its stupid popups and "HAY DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE MUSIC STORE? NO? WELL ILL TAKE YOU THERE ANYWAY" c***. Also, iTunes has a FLAT VIEW, which is stupid, because I want to be able to browse by artist and not have to scroll past 10,000 songs just to get to the artists who start with letter 'M'.
Another thing, the metadata editing and file organization, when that is implemented completely it will blow iTunes' organization out of the water. I want my mp3's organized the way I want them organized, not the way iTunes is hardcoded to organize them.
iTunes does not play well with open standards like ID3 tags. Updating meta info on iTunes does not update meta info in the file.
iTunes is a thrown together piece of commercial bullcrap and it will be replaced by something quicker, easier to use, FREE OF DRM, and with much better support and development. And the sad part about it is Apple will be follow the Microsoft route and not improve their product. They will just leech off the idiots who think because you have to pay for software somehow makes it better software. Have any of you downloaded and tried Songbird? It's f****** amazing and will only get better.
You say "cheap copy" now, but you are probably the same kind of people who were saying the exact same thing about Firefox vs IE.
Login Here
OR
toggle
Network Headlines
toggle
Most Popular
Recent Reviews
Logitech Cube
The world of mice could often be described charitably as stagnant: it's an endless sea of ergonomic shapes that assume you're sitting ...
NewerTech and Targus USB Hubs For Gifts
A useful holiday present to resolve an ongoing frustration is a multi-port hub. Whether as a stocking stuffer, Chanukah present, or an ...
X-Rite ColorMunki Photo
Color calibration is the art of tweaking your monitor so that the colors represented on screen better match real life and your printer ...
toggle
Most Commented
10 Most Discussed
- JC Penney CEO Johnson defends choice of DeGeneres
- Leaks: whole MacBook Pro line to drop optical...
- Samsung: image quality would fend off possibl...
- Samsung's Super Bowl ad taps Galaxy Note, The...
- Report: Apple's phone dominance comes from ma...
- Google loses exclusion of incriminating mail ...
- Apple rumored rounding up graphics-heavy apps...
- Rumor has iPad 3's A6 chip as faster dual-cor...
- Amazon Kindle Fire ad: three of these less th...
- Sony Music caught inflating price for Whitney...
Popular News
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2001
amaroK
Another option (open-source) is amaroK: http://amarok.kde.org/