Alternative music applications for iTunes?

So as the title suggests I want to find something that I can use to play my music from. I have had iTunes since the early 2000s and I never really had a problem with it. However I find that today even with it installed on my SSD it is slow and clunky. So I feel like today change is in the air so I would like any suggestions. Also where would be a good place to buy music from that is not directly from Apple?

Seriously? I tried iTunes for like 15 minutes and instantly felt like it was a bloated piece of crap. It's the reason I never touched an iPod even with a 20-foot pole. These days I use Foobar2000 and I'm happy enough with it; it's fast, simple, lightweight and highly customizable, the latter especially if you're willing to spend a little time playing around with it.

As for music, I guess you could try Amazon. Sorry, I'm not well versed in that area.

It's so simple and easy, love itunes.

I try to buy my music from amazon whenever I can. Much better than buying from itunes. I personally feel that groove in windows 10 is pretty good, it's simple and quick.

I use Musicbee. Plays everything and isnt ultra barebones like foobar.

But yea, itunes is ridic bloated and dumb.

Easy?

Try a copy and paste of music from one device to another and get back to me.

What about something like Spotify?

It can play streaming as well as offline files. The UI is very clean and very user friendly.

MusicBee is nice, as is Clementine, though the versions I tried of both had UI quirks I didn't quite like (can't remember what they were - this was right after Winamp went belly-up, you see), which is why I settled on Foobar2000. Yes, it's barebones, but it does the job, and isn't a monstrous pile of bloat like iTunes.

Still, now that you mentioned it, I might give them another try.

Why would I want to do that?

That's not the point I was making.

iTunes just makes everything more difficult than it should be. Transferring music, arranging music, downloading photos, moving files around.

On top of that it's buggy as hell. Apple should liberate it a bit.

Doesn't Spotify require a subscription? Sort of like Pandora where it has commercials?

Both free and paid plans. This compares them:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/comparison-of-spotify-subscriptions.html

I use Winamp, good and simple.

@PredatorRules:

I heard it has a new dev. Have they released a new version since Nullsoft died?

Yes, it also features the old style as a skin to choose if you've got some nostalgic memories =)

I use Spotify Premium; worth every penny, and they have all the music I could ever want. You can download to devices, too, for those rare moments you are without an internet connection. But I do 90% of my music listening at home or work so it is perfect for me.

Not the answer you were looking for, I'm sure, but something to consider.

How are Spotify even still around? Why are artists not suing them back to the stone age?

Because Spotify still has millions of people that subscribe to the service so it's paid.

But they're selling someone else's work.

The artists still get paid but very little and Spotify are working on this: http://www.spotifyartists.com/spotify-explained/

If you want to free download the alternative to Foobar2000 for Mac and Windows to play MP3, MP4, AAC, CD Audio, WMA, Vorbis, Opus, FLAC, etc and convert between any audio formats.I suggest Avdshare Video Converter,

Haha anything but iTunes.

Winamp, Foobar, WMP, VLC....anything!

Spotify is awesome. It's basically all I use now. I will continue to pay $10/month until they do have to shut down. Used to be I'd spend tons of time downloading and cataloging music. **** that (downloading and storing digital music on my HDD in this, the age of fast internet). If I want something in a higher quality I'll download the FLAC or listen to the vinyl.

@pyro1245:

Mate, I remember posting in this thread back in May, and this thread was probably necro'd by a bot.

Just a little heads up before mods come in to lock this.

Wow didn't even realize. heh

Winamp still exists? Does it still say this upon opening it?

@saintsatan: lol no

Itunes is the only play to get a large selection of JPN video game osts, so I will continue to have install even though I use WMP. I don't use spotify though so I have no opinion about them.

I use Google Play Music, you get a personal upload of 10,000 songs(I think) plus has a similar range to Spotify and the web based interface is nice and light plus a subscription means no adds on YouTube either. Probably not what you wanted to hear but seems the best of both worlds, good range of music, option to purchase and a little extra bonus of ad free YouTube.

Otherwise I use media monkey but only my laptop... for some reason... It's alright and can sync your iPhone.