iTunes alternative

[MrColin]

Any recommendations for a MacOSX app?

I have a rather large music collection that includes flac and ogg files, wich I understand apple refuses to support. Also, I wish to avoid proprietary lock in. An app that can index songs on a windows or samba network share would be awesome. iTunes for windows...... don't even get me started, suffice to say it locks up trying to index. I've been spoiled by foobar2000.

 

[TheStu]

Songbird maybe? But not sure about FLAC and ogg support.

 

[Tegeril]

While I have none of the lockup issues with iTunes in Windows managing a library of 30000 items, I hear you on format specific tie in.

That said, Apple Loseless is still loseless so you're only locked in to the point of having to convert between lossless formats... =\

I haven't found better than iTunes, sadly.

 

[effowe]

You won't get OGG or FLAC support on a vanilla iDevice. If you have an older iPod which supports Rockbox you will be able to play them.

http://www.rockbox.org

Apple: iPod 1g through 5.5g, iPod Mini, iPod Nano 1g

 

[whiteonline]

J.River is porting their awesome Media Center to Mac.
It is still extremely alpha - the UI is still Windows based, lots of bugs.

I know this does nothing for your immediate needs, but their goal is to make it as good as the Windows version. There is no better on that side, so my hopes are high.

You can download the alpha builds that expire without purchase. Though if you want to purchase, it's at a 40% discount right now (and money is a great incentive to keep the development going)

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=31.0

 

[Rakehellion]

Weren't people using MacAmp before iTunes came out? Or Macast?

 

[TheStu]

Weren't people using MacAmp before iTunes came out? Or Macast?

You mean... like 12 years ago?

 

[MrColin]

Thanks for all of the suggestions/discussion. I'm trying out Songbird now. The playlist manager seems to have some issues but it does have out of the box support for flac & ogg.