iTunes Is Horrible.

The most widely popular media player out on the internet right now is iTunes. iTunes, in case you've lived under a bear for the last decade, is Apple's attempt at a slick, streamlined media interface that allows quick and easy access at your iThing.

I'll give Apple props at the fact that it does do that; as long as "that" is "talk to your iThing. Anything with a lowercase 'i' before its name can contact iTunes, and transfer whatever iJunk you want to it. So whoopee for that. But other than that, iTunes is a piece of bloated crapware.

Why, you ask? Why, is iTunes so godawfully bad?

File organizing.

iTunes, unlike most other media players, has an inferiority complex to... regular organizing (for example, organizing music by folders) so it feels that it needs to create its very own music database. So if you try to organize anything without notifying iTunes first, it will freak the f*ck out. And don't even try to use the iTunes organizing function, because apparently Apple believes that a bunch of folders in absolutely no f*cking order whatsoever is really f*cking spiffy.

Windows =/= Mac

I'm not talking about how Windows is different from Macs, or even how iTunes is different on Windows vs Macs. No, my qualm is that on Windows, iTunes runs SO FREAKING SLOW that is simpler just to drag the freaking files to the freaking iThing. Seriously.

DRM to all infinity.

Yeah, so maybe this issue is a little bit old, as they recently have changed the DRM restrictions on songs purchased off iTunes Store, but it still grinds mah gears. With the DRM restrictions, Apple could choose what you do with stuff you bought from Apple. You could be charged with copyright infringement if you got a new computer.

iTunes is ruining albums.

The iTunes store offers songs in easy to digest 3 minute portions. The availability of albums on iTunes is downplayed by the fact that no one is going to buy an album if all they want is that one song that they heard on their favorite Top 40 station. As such, iTunes is ruining albums.

No one buys albums if all they want is one song, and thus they will never hear all the rest of the album, even if it is much better. Even when I torrent music, I always get the entire album, not pick and choose what I want and what I don't. In that, I'm discovering new music. Not with iTunes and their crappy iTunes Store. iTunes is the biggest contributor to the production of crappy pop drivel.

iTunes is incompatible with anything without an 'i' before its name.

If, for example, I were to want to put iSongs on my Zune, I cannot do that. Because a Zune is not Apple-certified to put iJunk on. iTunes is tailor made for iThings only, and nothing else.

iTunes is not customizable at all.

Possibly this is just my problem, but I cannot stand programs if they do not allow for some degree of customization. The fact that this is conspicuously missing irritates me.

So what now?

Of course, by this point, you are wondering in helpless futility, "What can I do now, oh wise and omnipotent Dante?"

Never fear, I have a number of better and more useful alternatives.

My personal favorite is Songbird. Not only does it have fun doodads to customize it and it is built off the Firefox engine, it is fully compatible with most iPods and mp3 players. So whoopee for you iPod people.

And then there's VLC Media Player, a small and easily skinned player that can play... pretty much anything.

There are many others that I have not covered. They are ALL BETTER THAN iTUNES.

So I hope you've grasped my point here, it being that iTunes totally blows.