 | SOUNDTRACKING iTunes Alternatives! Soundtracking is a weekly column featuring indie, alternative, and all around amazing music - published by music correspondent Laura Cushing on Gather.com. Soundtracking includes interviews, CD reviews, band and concert news, music trivia, playlists and much more!
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This week on Soundtracking: iTunes Alternatives!
Some people are crazy about their iPod, and swear by iTunes as the best way to get the music you love downloaded and usable by you. But after you pay to download the music, is it really your music? With DRM (digital rights managment) built into every iTunes download, the answer is 'sorta-kinda-but-really-no'. Not to mention, every time we have installed iTunes onto one of our machines, it has been cumbersome, proprietary, and very irritating to operate. For those of you that don't share the iLove, there are alternatives out there. In fact, there are many places on the Internet today where you can listen to music, podcasts, and download songs without the bother of installing iTunes or the like on your computer.
In this issue of Soundtracking, we take a look at some of the alternatives for some common iTunes features.
Internet Radio:
There are some great free applications out there to listen to internet radio. My favorite of these is Pandora , which allows you to listen to a station based on artists you like. You type in the name of an artist you like, and it creates a station that is based on that artist and artists that have a similar sound. As you rate the music you hear (thumbs up, or thumbs down) it learns about your tastes and can provide you with for a station more tuned to your interests. You can share your stations easily with others. This is a station I created based on my favorite band, The Elected. Some other good sites for internet radio are Live365 , Shoutcast , Radio Locator , and Live Radio Net .
Podcasts:
Podcast Alley is one of the best podcast portals out there. You can visit the site, and search by genre to find new podcasts, see what the most popular podcasts are, or subscribe to podcasts of your choice. They also have interviews and forums to add and interactive element. Other good podcast sites include NPR , Digg , and Podcast Dot Com . You can also find podcasts from specific interest sites like the NY Times , CNN , Scientific American , and ZDNet .
Playlists:
If you've tuned into Soundtracking on a regular basis, you already know that my favorite site for creating playlists is Imeem . Imeem is a free service that lets you listen to live streaming music and videos, and lets you organize those into playlists. You can also create a photo/music playlist, and so on. You can upload music from your computer as well, and it will become available on the site to be streamed. Many artists now have their own official Imeem page - like this one from Rilo Kiley . The Soundtracking Imeem page can be found at soundtracking.imeem.com . Other playlist sites include Rhapsody and Project Playlist .
MP3 Playback:
My favorite MP3 player is Winamp . Winamp is available in a free version, or for a fairly reasonable price you can upgrade to Pro for more features. You can put custom 'skins' on it, to decorate it in a variety of fashions and it it will show you the album art for the MP3 that is playing and tell you a bit about the artist. This player is compatable with most MP3 players, inlcuding the iPod. The only other player I use is Windows Media Player , which comes standard on most PCs.
MP3 Download:
But where do you get your music if you don't use iTunes? Many alternative download sites are available for the traditional cost of 99 cents a song - some are even less, but if you don't want to go with the questionable legality of Russian sites, stick with places like Amazon.com which has a 99 cent / 9.99 per album standard. Don't want to pay for your music at all? Try a legal free download site like We7 , which offers some fantastic free music. Also, be sure to check in with your favorite artists to see if they offer free MP3 downloads on their website or Myspace. One of my favorite artists, Adam Merrin of The 88 offers his entire album for free download here . You can also find some free mp3 downloads on sites like iLike , ReverbNation , and GarageBand .
Television and Videos:
You already know my favorite site for videos - you're on it right now. Gather has some of the best videos and MP3 songs around. Just take a listen in music.gather.com , firsttracks.gather.com , or our own soundtracking.gather.com for some great music content. You can also find practically any video on YouTube , Imeem , Google Video , Myspace Video , and Yahoo Video . If you like watching television programs digitally, you can try Joost.com , or visit the website for your favorite network and watch episodes of your favorite shows online for free.
MP3 Players:
Before you buy the i-anything, make sure you know what you are getting into. You will have to use iTunes, and if the machine breaks down, there are reports of Apple service being less-than-good. Check out the alternatives that are available to you. My MP3 / video player of choice is the Creative Zen , and I've also used the MobiBlu cube, which is a low-end tiny portable.
iTunes and iPod may be the right choice for some folks, but it is important to remember that they are not the ONLY choice by any means (despite what popular culture and advertising may try to tell you). Know your options and make informed choices to choose the player and playback that are right for your specific needs. You have the right to music that is free of DRM (digital rights management), and to use services and players that do not support DRM media.
What services and players do you recommend? How do you feel about iTunes and DRM? Let us know in a comment!
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CDs and promotional materials, interview and/or review requests can be sent to:
Soundtracking
PO Box 141 Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141
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| Laura Cushing, Music Correspondent - Soundtracking | ||||
Laura's column, 'Soundtracking' is published every Saturday in Gather Essentials:Music. Soundtracking is your guide to indie and alternative music -- featuring musician interviews, CD reviews, MP3 mixes, and discussions. Laura Cushing is a 37 year old writer from the New Jersey Pines. In addition to music journalism, she writes fiction and poetry. Keep up with Laura's music series by joining her network, or subscribing to her content. | ||||
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Comments: 29
The thing about iPods is that they have super high resale value, so you can unload them pretty easy when you want an upgrade.
I have an iPod nano now and really like it. I had a Creative Zen Micro before that, but it doesn't work so well with Windows Vista.
One other thing, the MobyBlu is a waste of money. I got one for Christmas in 2006 and by September 2007, it was broken. It came with a 1 year manufacturer warranty. The US arm of the company went AWOL and the warranty was impossible to make a claim against. I tried. So $200 flushed down the toilet for a player that was still under warranty and should have been fixed for free.
I ended up buying a $60 Insignia MP3 player and it works great. I just miss that neck strap SO much!
Then the 'upgraded' the software. Now I hate it. It lock up my PC regularly, and is really clunky.
I don't like being locked into the proprietary software.
We have lots of CDs, so I have no interest in donwnloading music, I am just trying to make what I have portable.
I am a little unusual in that I don't listen to music...and when I do it is typically something out of the ordinary or classical in nature. All of my stereos are continually tuned to NPR and the BBC, and that makes up my 98% of my listening choices.