iTunes Is Great but Still Trails SoundJam, WinAmp in Some Areas
- 2004.11.19
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iTunes is a great MP3 player. It's based on SoundJam, which was bought by Apple and recreated as iTunes. Although here was an OS X version of SoundJam planned, it was only in the alpha stage Apple took over. It's a shame, because SoundJam had a number of features that iTunes doesn't have.
Within just a few years, pretty much every MP3 player had become obsolete, and developers have little incentive to continue development on Macintosh MP3 player software, since the Mac OS now ships with iTunes preinstalled.
Then came the iPod and the equally free Windows version of iTunes. With the popularity of the iPod, many people have now switched to iTunes on Windows as well. This is bad news for AOL's Nullsoft WinAmp software, which was once the most popular MP3 player for Windows. (After having some serious issues with WinAmp version 3, they actually ended up reissuing a slightly updated WinAmp 2 as WinAmp 5. This would be a problem enough, but with more and more people using iTunes, it makes trying to compete almost futile.)
Which is why it isn't much of a surprise to hear that WinAmp - and the version that they tried developing for the Mac - is going to be discontinued. While eWeek cites the reason as the founder of Nullsoft stepping down, if AOL really thought it could compete in the market, it would have kept WinAmp alive.
On the Mac side, Panic Software recently announced that Audion, one of SoundJam's early and strong competitors, has been retired.
Now iTunes isn't bad software by any means. In fact, I'm listening to one of my many, easily accessible 80s playlists in iTunes as I write this.
Other than the iPod, one reason that iTunes is so popular is because it's easy to use. I can access my playlists without having to go through any menus, and all of the songs in my music folder are displayed. It tells you exactly what song is playing, and all of the commonly used controls are right there in easy reach.
But when it comes to features, iTunes is lacking when compared to something like WinAmp, which you can use to can host your own Internet radio station. But most people aren't going to care, and they'll take ease of use over many features any day.
The other big contender on the Windows platform is Microsoft's Windows Media Player. I know one person who uses it for playing MP3s, and from looking through it myself, it seems to be quite a bit like iTunes in terms of the way you access your playlists and the way it displays the music. However, Microsoft hasn't brought the same functionality to the Mac version of Windows Media Player.
Why not? iTunes.
Mac users often use Apple software, even when better alternatives are available. I'm not saying that Windows Media Player is better, but it would at least be nice to have a few more choices. The competition in MP3 player software is becoming narrower and narrower, and that's disturbing.
Four years ago there were many applications for both platforms. Today, you basically have four choices - five if you still count WinAmp. There's Windows Media Player, MusicMatch (PC only), iTunes, or RealPlayer. Even Audion, one of the better known Mac MP3 players, is no longer under development.
While iTunes isn't bad software - as I said, I use it myself - it would be nice if there really were another solid alternative that was compatible with the iPod and still being updated for future OS versions so there's no risk of having to switch MP3 players when you upgrade your OS.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find anything meeting my requirements for software that's both easy to use, like iTunes, and offering many features, like WinAmp.
As I see it, Mozilla's Firefox is a "Safari Killer." Now let's see someone develop an "iTunes Killer." It's all part of what keeps healthy competition alive.
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