I dove into iTunes as soon as it was available for Windows. It’s really a great program. Nevertheless, it has some limitations:
Purveyor of DRM [see rant] System Resources hog extraordinaire Brainless library system
iTunes’ integrated library and playlist tools contributed the most to my original move from Winamp to iTunes as my default music player, but the limitations of the app’s database started to drive me crazy. Any iTunes user with a large music library has probably experienced frustrations with the way iTunes manages files. You can choose to either let iTunes index the locations of files and their filenames or you can give iTunes complete management of your files, in which case it copies each file into its own massive system of folders. Either way, adding music to your iTunes library can become a painful process.
As someone who is constantly tweaking his computer as well as its contents, iTunes’ forced structure was painful for me. It wasn’t rare for me to shout out loud at Apple’s music player. I desperately wished for an integrated player and library that would do everything iTunes did when it comes to the library but would be smart enough to notice changes I made to my own files, among other things.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an open source project called musikCube, an offshoot of wxMusik. (From what I understand, wxMusik is no longer under development by its core creator, Casey Langen, who moved on to create musikCube.)
What makes musikCube so great?
It really is “iTunes without the suck” as one musikCube user put it.
Like iTunes, musikCube incorporates integrated static and dynamic playlists, drag-and-drop file management, and an indexed database allowing users to search their music on the fly. But musikCube accomplishes all this with a memory footprint easily one quarter that of iTunes’. musikCube, which relies on an embedded SQL database, further adds folder “synchronization”. Just tell it where you put your music and it will track any changes you make to your music’s filenames, tags, or locations. This feature of course overcomes iTunes’ database limitations. But more than that it’s great for folks like me who just have unending “junk drawers” of music stashed here and there on about four different hard drives.
Because musikCube uses SQL, the queries for dynamic playlists are very customizable. Want a playlist of just songs you’ve never played? Or double files? Or songs most skipped? No problem for musikCube. The included “example” dynamic playlists are pretty cool. More than identifying your most played tracks, musikCube “learns” your favorite artists and albums over time using advanced SQL queries.
Of course, musikCube is not complete. There are a few key items missing from musikCube, including:
No plugin for Audioscrobbler… yet! (It’s coming soon.) No iTunes-like support for iPods. (You can map your iPod or any other player as a “device” instead) No skinning functions or eyecandy UI (It won’t ever feature this and that’s fine with me – musikCube is the self-described “vanilla” music player) No integrated CD burning tool, which is irrelevant for me since I always drag my music to Nero to burn it anyway.
Regardless of these shortcomings, I am greatly enjoying this wonderful new app!