I already know that before I even say what I'm going to say, there are people plotting against me because of the title of this blog entry. But, the fact remains that to me (yes, this is my non-professional opinion - that IS what blogs are for, right?), iTunes is a crap media player. Why do I dislike it? Well, there are several reasons but I'm not here to dis iTunes. No, I'm more frustrated than anything that it's the only decent (and I use that term loosely), alternative.
iTunes is Apple's flagship media player and it also ties in with their online store. Nothing wrong with that at all...most great media players have that option. It can stream internet radio stations, fetch missing album art, sort, filter, sync, blah blah blah... With all the things that it does right, why can't I live with it?
Well, I suppose it comes down to what I've been used to combined with my expectations - oh, and throw in a dash of my own stubbornness. I have been a PC user for many, many years. However, I started out on Macs. I believe that both platforms have their distinct advantages and disadvantages and I'm not here to compare apples to oranges. They are different and have different uses. While I do like the way Apple has made their whole OS fairly clean and simple to use (great for the computer illiterate as well as the long-time advanced user), I have to speculate that it's the simplicity that irks me.
I understand the reasoning behind the brushed grey layout with it's polished, sparse GUIs that favor the graphic designers. The look is supposed to be less of a distraction to them so they can focus more on their work. I'm no graphic designer so I can't speak for its effectiveness in that area. The fact that it's so hard to customize my OS and make it my own without paying for apps that only mod small things (such as folder icons, mouse pointers, etc.), bothers me.
In truth, it doesn't really matter but I like the option to change things if I like. Hence, my attraction to Windows. It's fun to tamper and tweak to my heart's content. Have I gotten the BSOD before? More times than I can remember. In fact, when I get a new PC, I try to see how fast I can get the BSOD greeting. C'mon...it's fun! xD
Anyway, I'm getting off topic. My issue with iTunes is that it's just bland to me. I want my media player to say something. I'm listening to music after all and I want my media player to reflect some sort of emotion! Not just sit there all grey and cold and distant. To date, my favorite media player has been Winamp. It does everything that iTunes can do (for the most part - I'm not gonna get down to insignificant details), and I loved how customizable it was! I could give it a whole face lift in seconds, completely changing the feel of it. And my favorite feature was letting my music play as I hooked it up to my HDTV and turned on the trippy, 3Dish visualizations!
Fuck the iTunes store. I'm not gonna buy anything from there. I have Amazon for my music and cloud storage as well as Google. Plus,, being an Android enthusiast, the Amazon media player is great on my phone for streaming. If I want radio, I use the free DI.fm app. Between those two systems, I'm covered. All I need is a good media player at home that I can put on my Mac and enjoy LOOKING at.
Oh, and if you haven't read my other blogs and don't know me, I'm a DJ and a future music producer (in school now for it). So, I use my Mac mostly for my music....except when it comes to listening to it. Sad, ain't it? Oh well. I guess I'll just have to get accustomed to the fact that as great as Apple is, it can't get please everyone. It'll do well for my music creation and DJing, but that's about as far as I can see it taking me.
What are your experiences?
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