Itunes Alternatives?

[BobbyBubby]

So I've  finally had it with Itunes.  I thought I'd try a month trial for apple music.  It asked me to turn my ICloud on, which I usually have off.  I decided to cancel the apple music trial before being charged, turned my icloud back off, and it then deleted random songs (I have a lot of music, but I think it was mostly from playlists) off of my hard drive.  Not just from itunes, but from the actual PC (and they're nowhere to be found in the recycle bin).  I was able to turn the icloud back on and get most of the songs back (still a few missing, I think).  I was able to download them back to the harddrive, but now they're in an itunes folder and not in their original folder with the rest of the albums they belong to.  After this nonsense, I'm done with Itunes.

Long way to getting to my question, sorry! I'm looking for an Itunes alternative that will allow me to update my Ipod regularly.  I was looking at Music Bee.  A bit overwhelmed by all the choices, and I've used Itunes for so long, I'm just not aware of what else is out there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I'm just done with this cloud nonsense and Itunes deleting stuff from my hard drive was the last straw.

 

 

[dramamama611]

I'm not terribly "hip" with music sites, but I use Amazon Music.   You have all your music in your account, and choose what to have on your phone itself.  When using it, you can choose between listening from the device or using wifi.   All my music plays on my echo devices, and any computer I log into

[luvcaroline]

I really like Tidal. It also allows you to download all the albums/songs that you want on your phone and/or computer, while still allowing unlimited streaming. It’s the only music service that features bit-perfect uncompressed downloads, just like listening to the CD (not MP3s). The difference in sound quality is noticeable. They also have a large selection of videos, concerts, short films, and the like. Apparently Tidal is having financial problems and so their long term future is uncertain, but I’m sticking with them until the end (they have a great selection of cast albums, if that’s important).

[Mr Kelly]

I also stopped using itunes recently, and am a fan of Spotify. It is fairly cheap per month and if you buy a year upfront it is even cheaper. Lots of theatre stuff which I am enjoying. 

[spiderdj82]

I, too, use Spotify and I love it. 

[BobbyBubby]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody!

I’m still clinging on to downloaded music. My collection is so massive that I just can’t give it up. I may bite the bullet eventually.

[Broadway Joe]

This might not be a popular take but go "download" your music. Artists see next to nothing financially from any of these services anyway. Buy a ticket to their concert or merchandise at a concert from your favorite artist/group instead if you really want to support them.

[brdlwyr]

I like amazon.  I also have samsung music on phone.  Pandora is good for dinner music.

[brdlwyr]

I like amazon.  I also have samsung music on phone.  Pandora is good for dinner music.

[Islander_fan]

Broadway Joe said: "This might not be a popular take but go "download" your music. Artists see next to nothing financially from any of these services anyway. Buy a ticket to their concert or merchandise at a concert from your favorite artist/group instead if you really want to support them."

That's not totally accurate. For the longest time Spotify gave artists next to nothing in royalties. That changed when Apple Music came into the picture.A good, not to distant example would be Taylor Swift. She openly said that she would only allow her music to be streamed via apple music, and didn't allow her music to be on Spotify because she got a decent amount in royalties from Apple than Spotify. Keep in mind, that, in addition to allowing people to stream music in apple music, the artists get money from that plus sales as well.

Also, there is a feature on Spotify that allows you to upload your music (regardless of how you got it) and create playlists to share publicly. The artists get jack in royalties from that too. Another reason why some artists don't want their music on Spotify.