iTunes alternatives

[Lorrin]

I'm currently using iTunes. Virtually every time I restart iTunes it decides my library is corrupt and churns for hours rebuilding it from the XML file. Argh! I'd love to use a different library system. Can anything else do what I do with iTunes?

* dynamic "smart" playlists based on ratings and genre and listening stats
* syncs to a portable player. Portable player can input ratings to the system.
* SlimServer can read the dynamic playlists
* podcast support

Bonus points for bi-directional interaction with SlimServer so that Squeezebox ratings/playback feeds back in to the system.

Thanks!
-Lorrin

[Gildahl]

There are lots of alternatives to iTunes, but before you jump ship you might want to just investigate the cause of this problem first since this *shouldn't* be happening. I've been using iTunes to manage my large Squeezebox music collection for a couple of years and have never had any trouble with corruption. Considering the features you're looking to preserve, sticking with iTunes still sounds like your best bet. I might suggest completely uninstalling iTunes and reinstalling. I can't imagine why this should be necessary, but I do know that iTunes is generally very stable. Perhaps you can share more information about your system and the nature of the corruption.

[erland]

By syncing with a portable player I assume you are talking about an iPod ? If this is the case iTunes is the easiest way to get this to work.

There are a number of plugins available related to ratings, smart playlists and iTunes, but as long as you are setting the ratings only on the portable player I believe the standard SlimServer should be enough.

Ratings
========
- SlimServer will automatically make the smart playlists defined in iTunes available if you have enabled the iTunes integration in SlimServer. The playlist contents will be updated the next time SlimServer scans the iTunes library file.
- iTunes Update plugin: Makes it possible to view/change ratings from SlimServer/SB and store them in iTunes
- TrackStat plugin: Makes it possible to view/change ratings from SlimServer/SB and store them in SlimServer database plus optionally export them to iTunes.

Dynamic Playlist
================
- iTunes Party mix: Makes it possible to launch an iTunes Party Mix directly from SlimServer/SB.
- SQL Playlist/Dynamic Playlist plugins: Makes it possible to create smart playlists directly in SlimServer without any need for iTunes.

Portable player
===============
- No plugin available for this yet as far as I know. I'm personally working on a iPod plugin, but it will probably not be ready for use for a couple of months. Your best bet will be to export the information to an application which can synchronize with your portable player. If you have an iPod then iTunes is probably the easiest way to get this to work.

[Empgamer]

Media Monkey is what I use as my PC based player as I like its interface and its way of handling the library. It can also manage Ipod synch. I don't use if for that though as I synch with that using a Macbook (my PC based files are FLAC and are for playing trhough a streamer or PC only).

I have found iTunes stable when i did use it though, my daughther has used it for years and hers has been fine. Have you done a COMPLETE re-install/re-boot etc. I tend to run a registry cleaner (like Registry Fix) once I've done that too, and CCleaner, just to get rid of left behind junk. Lots of iTunes users on the AVForums too who I am sure would also try to help out.

[Lorrin]

Sorry for the late follow-up. I did eventually resolve my iTunes library rebuilds. I don't understand what was going on. It seems to have been issue with confused resource forks on the file server (an Infrant/Netgear ReadyNAS) on which I store my iTunes library. Some combination of carefully deleting all the hidden files containing the resource forks and temporarily connecting via SMB/CIFS instead of AppleShare did the trick. (I prefer AppleShare since it seems to more gracefully handle my machine going in and of sleep.)