I know a lot of you out there are probably way to stuck up to consider iTunes, I use to be the same way. I felt that I may lose control over my music files or some other ridicules scare. But when I finally did try it, I absolutely loved it, as well as an accompanying iPod. But seeing that I am trying to move to Linux and Apple has yet to release iTunes for Linux, I would like some suggestions. I'M using Ubuntu. So what are some good media players out there for Ubuntu as well as some mp3 devices? I would love to hear some feedback on this, thanks.
lewashby
56
Junior Poster
JasonHippy
739
Practically a Master Poster
Personally I like to avoid the type of vendor lock-in imposed by the likes of Apple wherever possible. Plus there are a catalogue of problems I've had in the past with Apple and their products in particular, which I won't go into here.
Now, I'm not telling you to boycott Apple, or having a go at you for using 'em. I'm just saying because of what happened to me; I'm definitely not using any of their products again, be it hardware or software!
I'm probably lumped in with a very small, unfortunate minority of Apple users/customers/malcontents who've consistently recieved shoddy goods from them and also got shoddy support to boot. But it was enough to permanently turn me away from them. They've just lost all credibility with me!
Now, I'm sure they've probably improved their goods and services somewhat in the interceding years since those incidents, but I just don't want to take that chance any more or throw any more good money at 'em! But if you're having more luck with them, more power to ya! heh heh! :)
As far as I'm concerned Apple can shove their iMacs, iPhones and iPads up their collective aHoles! heh heh!
Anyway, getting back on topic; You'll probably think I'm some kind of luddite dinosaur or something, but I just use a cheap, generic mp3 player which I can plug straight into the USB port to copy music directly onto, before promptly rocking out! I don't even think I can remember the brand name or the model (it's long since rubbed off!), but it was about £15.00 or so for 2Gb..Bargain! But there's no need for any bloated, malfunctioning software or even any drivers..Just pure plug 'n play joy!
I don't download music via any online services or torrents/filesharing either (especially not iTunes! {spits!}). The only music I'll download is legal FREE music. Be it demos of friends bands or other artists providing free tracks.
But otherwise, I tend to buy my music on trusty ol' CD format and then rip 'em to mp3 myself (if they warrant ripping that is!).
My current cheapo mp3 player only supports playback of .mp3, .wav and .wma files, but I hope to eventually get one that has native .ogg support so I can convert most, if not all of my current mp3 collection to .ogg. Thus also freeing myself from having to use restricted/proprietary codecs.
Media player wise on *nix, there are quite a few different media players. Songbird is a fairly comprehensive (if bloated and bulky) media player, which apparently approaches the functionality in iTunes (never used it, but it's supposed to be quite good). But unfortunately it would seem that the developers are dropping the *nix version entirely, so the *nix version will not see any further development.
VLC is probably one of my favourite media players (on any platform!). That thing can deal with virtually any type of file thrown at it. On *nix I also tend to use Rhythmbox. Amarok seems to be the most popular player on KDE. So I think they're the main three of any note on *nix, VLC, Rhythmbox and Amarok. But there are several other media players available...Perhaps try installing several from your distros repository and see what takes your fancy!
Cheers for now,
Jas.
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