Fast Developing iTunes Alternative

If you don't already know, theres a new media player in development that looks like it could be pretty good new competition for Apple's iTunes.

The player is called "SongBird" which is currently releasing a beta of the media player on their site songbirdnest.com

You can currently download the "developer preview" of songbird v0.2.5 or the "nightly" build v0.3



Probably the most interesting thing about this media player is it uses a similar coding structure as the net browser Firefox.

Theres an abundance of features such as:
-Cross-Platform Support for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
-Songbird Extensions (like firefox extensions)
-itunes library importer & ipod/mp3 player support
-integrated browser
-and many more

More information can be found on the site or you can watch the Songbird "Screen Cast" here





I think this media player has very good potential as it has a familiar feel of Firefox and a wide array of features. Also, being developed under the constant scrutiny of its users, there are daily suggestions & bug fixes on the site that should lead this media player to a very stable/effeicent end product when it reaches the release of version 1.0

 

It's a very nice idea, but at the moment, I just prefer Firefox with FoxyTunes.

 

I prefer Windows Media Player 11. Still.

 

this is cool...

 

I prefer Foobar2000..

 

www.musikcube.com

 

Yes, it does look interesting

But I still use Foobar as it instantly starts, low mem use and I have customised it with plugins I need along with bit-perfect playback through my Edirol UA-25. Plus if I ever get an iPod, I won't do it without RockBox support

 

I used to use WMP11 but then it started crashing my system, now I use creative media player but I'm looking for a new media player

 

Wow, thanks for the link. Forget iTunes, I'll be using this for my music . . . it plays protected .mp4s and has iPod support.

 

It's open source, which warrants it as a try in my book. It looks pretty nice too. I'm currently using Exaile which is actually really nice, but AFAIK it's Linux only.

 

I remember reading about Songbird early last year... It's nice to see that it has progressed quite well since then. One thing most linux users aren't starved for are media players.... I kinda like the idea behind Quod Libet, but maybe it's because I'm addicted to regexes.

 

My favorite is still WMP11

 

iTunes 7 right now, but this is certainly something I'll try when I get around to it

 

Pretty neat. I have tried it out a bit. Definitely some things to smooth out but overall it left a great impression. I'll definitely keep using it. Has anyone else tried it? It sure does eat up a good chunk of memory, and the memory usage seems to rise steadily during extended use. Anyone else experiencing this? Very cool overall though, great way to find interesting music.

 

:] I think ive used it!

haha, but yeah the memory usage is better than it was a while ago and im sure they'll widdle it down more as they finish adding features to it and when they get closer to its full v1.0 release.

 

well i tried it... i don't like its looks.... and i don't audio enhancement features (maybe i haven't search)... but it's still not a final version so who knows it may be the next generation player...

 

I've been using it for about a day now, so far I like it. Needs some stuff though:
-Tabs - I'd use it as a web browser, but it is sort of awkward switching back and forth between the music library and the web page you were viewing.
-When I drag the window, my music skips sometimes. iTunes doesn't do that.
-Feels too much like iTunes. I'd like to see it make use of the Aero interface on Vista.

 

I'm still a WinAMP user. I just don't see the need to load up my entire collection when I listen to maybe 1/5th of it regularly. Besides, WA has a better shuffle and I make better mixes on it.

 

This looks pretty nice and promising.

winamp has ipod support, so if you've used this for years(like me), it was a welcomed added addition to good software.

http://www.mlipod.com/

However, I think I'm going to go for an archos if I buy another portable player.