Top 5 Best iTunes Alternatives for Mac and Windows

If you love listening to music, watching movies or using iTunes to sync your iPhone, iPad or iPod, to your PC to manage your Apple device; you may want to know some of the best iTunes alternatives. We have a list of the best iTunes alternatives for Mac and Windows. For many, iTunes has some issues that could be fixed, like when iTunes automatically launches when you connect your Apple device to the computer.

Another issue with iTunes is that new iTunes updates have a different user interface that is hard to get use to and find the tools that you need. Instead, our list of the best free alternatives to iTunes will reduce the stress you face when using these iTunes alternatives for OS X and Windows.

A smaller complaint by iTunes users is that the software is sometimes slow and has performance issues. Using iTunes, the transfer of data between your iOS device and your PC confusing and the process could be much easier. Some of the best itunes alternatives for Mac and Windows are free to use and if you don’t like these alternative iTunes software, then you can always go back to iTunes. Also, it’s important to note that these alternative iTunes software have similar features like synching media to iOS devices – using other media players. Here is a list of some of the best iTunes alternatives to download:

Spotify

Spotify has quickly risen to become one of, if not the most popular music player around. It has a huge library of songs stored in the cloud that you can stream over the internet from your computer, smartphone or other mobile device. With new music being added all the time, Spotify has put an end to the days of ripping your CD collection to store in programs like Windows Media Player. The company has struck numerous deals with many large and “indie” record labels alike, meaning it has one of the most eclectic online song libraries around.

You can also add your own computer’s music to a Local Library to sit alongside music in the cloud. In addition to creating and sharing playlists, Spotify allows you to “follow” artists and other users, queue up songs (handy for parties) and listen to tons of internet radio stations. Better yet, you can sync music from your library Apple devices, making it a potential iTunes replacement even for die-hard Apple enthusiasts.

Google Chrome (MP3 Player add-on)

The Google Chrome browser has become extremely popular because of the extension feature that the browser has. It can handle many different tasks that other Internet browsers can’t handle and that includes sorting and playing media files. The Google Chrome MP3 Player add-on extension allows you to listen to music stored on your computer within Chrome, saving you from having to duck out to your music player.

It comes with a few other features, including the retrieval of song lyrics, YouTube clips, relevant information about the artist playing and links to their Wikipedia page. On the negative side, it only supports MP3 and OGG formats, and it’s not much of a looker. If you value convenience over aesthetics, MP3 Player could be for you.

RealPlayer

RealPlayer was one of the first music players and was launched in 1995. Many still consider it one of the best iTunes alternatives. The software now also has the ability to support a wide range of video formats – including proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo (RA, RM, RV and RMVB), in addition to MP3, MPEG, Windows Media Player and Flash Video (FLV).

Some parts of RealPlayer are like itunes but free to use and these features include making playlists, bookmark videos on webpages, burn CDs, DVDs, stream videos and more. Newer versions of RealPlayer allow you to transfer music from your smartphone to your PC, and visa versa.

MediaMonkey

MediaMonkey is the music player of choice for the those wanting to organize music and would be considered as one of the best free alternative to iTunes. The first time you fire up the software on your computer, MediaMonley will scan your computer to find audio and video files, allowing you to then tag and sort them into different columns.

There is no limit on the numbers of tracks you can have on MediaMonkey. The software lets you add up to 100,000 tracks in different formats that range from MP3, WMA, W4A and M4P – and like iTunes, you can sync your library with iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices.

Winamp

Venerable media player Winamp was first launched 18 years ago. Like MediaMonkey, Winamp has the ability to load your music into a central library, tagged and sorted into different columns.

Winamp is unashamedly retro and may be a better fit in its original form for anyone still on Windows XP or Vista. That said, a chance to blend the old with the new came when the makers of Spotify released Spotiamp, a lightweight media player that streams Spotify’s extensive database of music in Winamp’s original skin.