A good Itunes alternative that follows Yosemite's design guidelines

[chad.petree]

I'm fed up trying to put up with itunes, no FLAC support at all, heavy, almost no customizability etc...

I've tried Vox and while it plays all kind of files, I find it too simple almost no info is shown, it's just a miniplayer.

Lately I've been using the demo Swinsian, which I quite like, I can customize the look of it, but still kinda looks like a blown up excel 2000 sheet and it costs 20 euros so I'm not convinced.

Which programm do you use , that you think is a good alternative and that it doesn't look like it belongs in windows xp? A player tha fits with yosemite's design guidelines

 

[Partron22]

Apple does not encourage the creation of alternatives to iTunes.
Clementine is likely the best you'll find, and its interface is not very Yosemite-e.

 

[plagued]

I gave up on iTunes a year or two ago. All I use is FLAC nowadays and having tried several players (including trial versions of a couple of expensive ones) VOX wins hands down. Free, regularly updated with various additional features though not really very 'Yosemite'. Available directly from developers website or via app store. Runs both 16 & 24 Bit audio. Definitely worth a look.

Good luck in your search for the perfect iTunes replacement.

 

[B3taVulgar1s]

JRiver Media Centre is another option you could look at.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/enqueue/id493119959?mt=12 is going to be your best bet though.

 

[chad.petree]

JRiver Media Centre is another option you could look at.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/enqueue/id493119959?mt=12 is going to be your best bet though.

I tried JRiver and it looks very windows xp it doesn't even have retina support, and enqueue has't been updated since 2012 ...

Apple does not encourage the creation of alternatives to iTunes.
Clementine is likely the best you'll find, and its interface is not very Yosemite-e.

Clementine looks really dated too

 

[chad.petree]

I gave up on iTunes a year or two ago. All I use is FLAC nowadays and having tried several players (including trial versions of a couple of expensive ones) VOX wins hands down. Free, regularly updated with various additional features though not really very 'Yosemite'. Available directly from developers website or via app store. Runs both 16 & 24 Bit audio. Definitely worth a look.

Good luck in your search for the perfect iTunes replacement.

The thing with VOX that bothers me is not that is not very yosemite, it's the fact that it looks like a mini player, I'd like to have a wider window, I'd like the album art to be bigger etc , vox is very slick, snappy and gets regular updates, but I want it to feel more like a full player, I cannot edit the info of the songs, albums, maybe because it lacks so many options is that it feels so snappy

 

[chad.petree]

I switched to vox but I think it kinda sucks if you just wanna have a library and add music to your library , any other options out there?

 

[campyguy]

Audirvana Plus

http://audirvana.com

Far cheaper than buying a decent DAC IMO...

 

[/V\acpower]

I assume that you have a particular reason for using FLAC instead of ALAC (for example, a particular device that doesn't use ALAC).

Because if your Mac is your main music source, then there is really no need for FLAC instead of ALAC, since they both are lossless.

I ask because I've seen folks seriously getting into FLAC thinking it give them a better sound than ALAC, which is not true.

But, if you know better, then sorry for asking.

 

[chad.petree]

Audirvana Plus

http://audirvana.com

Far cheaper than buying a decent DAC IMO...

I just downloaded it, will let you know what I think of it

I assume that you have a particular reason for using FLAC instead of ALAC (for example, a particular device that doesn't use ALAC).

Because if your Mac is your main music source, then there is really no need for FLAC instead of ALAC, since they both are lossless.

I ask because I've seen folks seriously getting into FLAC thinking it give them a better sound than ALAC, which is not true.

But, if you know better, then sorry for asking.

Actually I do, I have an android device and most of the music players on android are not able to play ALAC

 

[chad.petree]

Since the iphone is getting a revamped music player, is safe to assume that itunes for Mac will get revamped too? Maybe we will finally get FLAC support?

 

[KALLT]

Maybe we will finally get FLAC support?

Don’t count on it.

 

[Pudlo]

After checking all possibilities i think the best is:

-xld to convert all FLACs to ALAC
-put all into MusicBrainz Picard for tags
-import into iTunes
-use coverscout for covers
-use isyncr to sync with android device (you can make a playlist and sync it)
-use poweramp (best android palyer) to play files (add isyncr folder to library)

And all is lossless, smooth and easy to sync.

 

[chad.petree]

After checking all possibilities i think the best is:

-xld to convert all FLACs to ALAC
-put all into MusicBrainz Picard for tags
-import into iTunes
-use coverscout for covers
-use isyncr to sync with android device (you can make a playlist and sync it)
-use poweramp (best android palyer) to play files (add isyncr folder to library)

And all is lossless, smooth and easy to sync.

That's a lot of work isn't it? For know I'm sticking to vox, which is not perfect, but at least it plays every kind of file

 

[Pudlo]

It's not All these apps are pretty automatic and let you convrt huge library in one swing.

With xld you can convert all your flac at once (just set it corectly)

Musicbrainz is not obligatory. I just use it to correct all tags (musicbrainz takes them from online library of cds) And you can put all your music into it and scan. It's automatic.

Coverscout is automatic. You can manualy add missing covers too.

And after that your iTunes library is clean, all cds have correct tags, all have covers, it looks nice overall.

I syncr is an app to sync itunes library with your android. It works pretty good. You just select a playlist form iTunes (just make one called Android for example)
And your music is synced with a folder on sd card of your adnroid device.

Poweramp just lets you choose your music library. So just select isyncr folder.

And after syncr you have your music in Android with covers clean and nice. You want to change cds on android...just change playlist in iTunes, and click syncr. And it's done. Much easier and faster then copying music album by album.

Musicbrainz and coverscout are not obligatory. Depends form your library. And your needs. And even with Alac music it's good to try it. But if your library is correct with cover you just convert in xld and push it into isyncr.

Just try it I use it for a year now. And when i get a new Flac album it takes me 1 minute to make it Alac and clean with tags. Those apps are really userfriendly.

 

[chad.petree]

It's not All these apps are pretty automatic and let you convrt huge library in one swing.

With xld you can convert all your flac at once (just set it corectly)

Musicbrainz is not obligatory. I just use it to correct all tags (musicbrainz takes them from online library of cds) And you can put all your music into it and scan. It's automatic.

Coverscout is automatic. You can manualy add missing covers too.

And after that your iTunes library is clean, all cds have correct tags, all have covers, it looks nice overall.

I syncr is an app to sync itunes library with your android. It works pretty good. You just select a playlist form iTunes (just make one called Android for example)
And your music is synced with a folder on sd card of your adnroid device.

Poweramp just lets you choose your music library. So just select isyncr folder.

And after syncr you have your music in Android with covers clean and nice. You want to change cds on android...just change playlist in iTunes, and click syncr. And it's done. Much easier and faster then copying music album by album.

Musicbrainz and coverscout are not obligatory. Depends form your library. And your needs. And even with Alac music it's good to try it. But if your library is correct with cover you just convert in xld and push it into isyncr.

Just try it I use it for a year now. And when i get a new Flac album it takes me 1 minute to make it Alac and clean with tags. Those apps are really userfriendly.

Maybe I'm missing something but as I mentioned before android is not able to play ALAC, at least not the most popular music players

 

[Pudlo]

Poweramp is one of the most popular and one of the best and good looking players and it supports ALAC with no problem at all

I'm writing all of this just because three years ago i was looking (just like you) for a good osx flac player (checked all swinisian, vox and other stuff) and trust me, converting and keeping your music in ALAC format and syncing it with android device is the best option here. You keep lossless quality, and with isync it's eas to sync your library with android device. I use this apps for like 3 years and it works. You just keep your whole library on osx device (i'm using external hdd on my macbook pro) and once in a while i just change my android playlist, sync it with my phone and it's all done

 

[chad.petree]

Poweramp is one of the most popular and one of the best and good looking players and it supports ALAC with no problem at all

I'm writing all of this just because three years ago i was looking (just like you) for a good osx flac player (checked all swinisian, vox and other stuff) and trust me, converting and keeping your music in ALAC format and syncing it with android device is the best option here. You keep lossless quality, and with isync it's eas to sync your library with android device. I use this apps for like 3 years and it works. You just keep your whole library on osx device (i'm using external hdd on my macbook pro) and once in a while i just change my android playlist, sync it with my phone and it's all done

I don't to be rude specially since you're taking the time to write in this thread, but I find poweramp very ugly and dated , too 90's , vox is lightweight but it sucks when you want to look for music inside your collection, it's not really user friendly, and since I deleted my itunes collection in order to have my music on a single folder, it sucks even more since the only way to tell vox to choose from a collection, is making it import your itunes collection, I feel trapped

I didn't know itunes was a prison on mac os , maybe I'll pay for swimsian and hope that they update the looks of their app to be more in touch with yosemite, but 20 euros for a music player is a bit much ...