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iTunes is a digital media player application that is used to organize and play digital music and video files while also interacting with the popular iPod and iPhone devices. iTunes also functions as a portal app for the iTunes Store via the the Internet to download and purchase music, music videos, television shows, iPod game, audiobooks, podcasts, films, movie rentals, and select college lectures. iTunes was originally released on January 9, 2001 and is available for free download for Mac OS X, and Windows Vista/XP. iTunes cannot be run natively on a Linux-based O/S, however, it can be run using Wine Windows compatiblity layer. 

iTunes
MSRP $0.00
Release date January, 2001
Brand Apple
love it
want it
have it
tag it
Pros & Cons30
Reviews44
Details
Buy It
Competitors7
Comments11
twitter

Pros & Cons

ProSCORE
39 reviews
56
negative
mixed
positive
15 positive
4 mixed
20 negative

[i] How is the ProSCORE calculated?

show me!

Pros:
Do you agree?
•
Easy-to-use synching with iPod device
+25agreedisagree

•
Clean, slick, easy to use interface.
+16agreedisagree

•
Excellent support for podcasts, mostly free podcast subscriptions.
+15agreedisagree

•
Available for both Mac and Windows
+14agreedisagree

•
Entire iTunes store catalog is now available in DRM-free format
+13agreedisagree

•
Easy to access music on other computers on home network
+12agreedisagree

•
Auto-tag MP3 rips on import.
+11agreedisagree

•
Built-in encoder allows you to convert files into AAC, MP3, AIFF or WAV formats
+11agreedisagree

•
Auto-import album artwork.
+10agreedisagree

•
Supports incremental backup - only tracks that have been added since last backup are saved, so uses less disk space.
+10agreedisagree

•
Manages media files automatically OR allows user to manage them manually.
+9agreedisagree

•
Excellent podcast, download and streaming support
+9agreedisagree

•
Tight integration with iTunes store makes buying music a snap
+9agreedisagree

•
Easy to stream music to other computers running iTunes as well as other devices
+7agreedisagree

•
Built-in backup function allows cross-platform backups of media library to optical media.
+6agreedisagree

•
Excellent internet radio support.
+5agreedisagree

•
The Genius-part to get custom playlists of similar music
+3agreedisagree

Cons:
Do you agree?
•
Installs many services and bloatware
+20agreedisagree

•
Slows down Windows
+18agreedisagree

•
High startup time on Windows
+12agreedisagree

•
No native support for Linux
+12agreedisagree

•
Annoying reminders pop-up to upgrade all the time
+10agreedisagree

•
Cover flow is very CPU / GPU intensive
+10agreedisagree

•
not at all modular, cannot expand usability or remove unused components
+8agreedisagree

•
part of a closed system - intended to keep users locked to Apple hardware (iPod), software and media outlets
+8agreedisagree

•
Links break if network media go down
+6agreedisagree

•
oversimplified, few options for power users
+6agreedisagree

•
built to promote a proprietary online music store
+4agreedisagree

•
No options to add codecs for other media formats. (like flac and ape)
+1agreedisagree

•
The manual file managment is jerky and repeats tracks on devices.
+1agreedisagree


44 people added to this review by submitting or voting on pros and cons. Add your say!
See individual votes »

Details

Features

  • Media file management
  • Library views: Cover Flow, Grid View
  • File format support (read/write/convert): MP3, AIFF, WAV, MPEG-4, AAC, and Apple Lossless
  • File metadata
  • Sound processing
  • Video support
  • iTunes Store
  • Podcasting
  • Synchronizing with iPod and iPhone
  • iPhone activation
  • iMix - user-created playlists published to the iTunes store
  • Internet radio
  • Plugins
  • Visualizers

What's new in 8.0

  • Genius Sidebar - recommends what you should buy based on listening habits
  • Genius playlists - creates automatic playlists based on listening habits
  • Grid View
  • HD TV shows
  • new default visualizater
  • support for the new iPod Touch and iPod Nano

What's new in 9.0

  • Improved file sharing across local network
  • LP--full album art (not just the covers)
  • Redesigned store
  • iTunes Extras
  • Genius Mixes
  • Improved syncing
  • Increased customization in Smart Lists
  • Store wish lists
  • Ringtones
  • App store for iPhone/iPod Touch
  • Eliminated DRM controles
  • Expanded offerings in iTunes U

Submit a link

This report was started November 15, 2007 at 10:56 am by Erik
with the last edit occurring Yesterday, 3:31 PM by Yale
This page has been viewed 1867 times, with 605 edits by 51 contributors.
See the full report history »

Buy It

Competitors

iTunes is ranked 3rd among it's competitors.  See the top picks in Media Software »
Winamp

Winamp

MSRP  $0.00    Released  June, 1997
Pros
  • Extensive plugin support
  • Not a computer resource hog like WMP
  • Great UI, with easy to access library, playlist, EQ, visualization, etc.
Cons
  • Windows Only
  • default installation includes a lot of useless bloat
  • owned by AOL
ProSCORE
30 reviews
82
Vote! (28 votes)
vote iTunes 43% vs. vote Winamp 57%
foobar2000

foobar2000

MSRP  $0.00    Released  December, 2002
Pros
  • limited memory usage
  • highly customizable
  • Supports a wide range of audio codecs
  • Supports many tagging formats for metadata
Cons
  • Windows only
  • does not work with some media keyboards, or difficult to configure.
ProSCORE
12 reviews
82
Vote! (15 votes)
vote iTunes 47% vs. vote foobar2000 53%
Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player

MSRP  --    Released  --
Pros
  • Mini-player
  • has all the bells and whistles you would expect
  • Good for most videos.
Cons
  • Awful library management functions
  • Will not play licensed media without internet connection or licence
  • Bloatware
ProSCORE
19 reviews
22
Vote! (22 votes)
vote iTunes 59% vs. vote Windows Media Player 41%
MediaMonkey

MediaMonkey

MSRP  --    Released  January, 2006
Pros
  • Automatically tag and Album Art lookup
  • Auto volume leveling
  • Auto tagging
  • Audio CD ripping
Cons
  • PC Only
  • Separate for-pay "gold" version
ProSCORE
4 reviews
84
Vote! (9 votes)
vote iTunes 78% vs. vote MediaMonkey 22%
Songbird

Songbird

MSRP  $0.00    Released  December, 2008
Pros
  • expandable with extensions
  • cross-platform
  • stable
Cons
  • still missing many standard features
  • internal browser is somewhat useless
  • No PowerPC build for Mac
ProSCORE
2 reviews
60
Vote! (5 votes)
vote iTunes 80% vs. vote Songbird 20%
DivX Player

DivX Player

MSRP  $0.00    Released  January, 2007
Pros
  • Works with Advanced and Ultra DivX features
Cons
  • No Audio EQ
  • No Video Controls (Brightness, Color Balance, Etc.)
ProSCORE
2 reviews
33
Vote! (0 votes)
vote iTunes   vs. vote DivX Player  
Zune Player

Zune Player

MSRP  $0.00    Released  November, 2006
Pros
  • Manage the Zune
  • Simple to use
  • Has a store to buy music and rent movies
  • Stream to Xbox 360
Cons
  • Only on Windows
  • Consumes a lot of resources, even when lowering graphics quality
ProSCORE
3 reviews
88
Vote! (0 votes)
vote iTunes   vs. vote Zune Player  

Suggest a new competitor to add to the list of competing products.
If the product hasn't yet been added to ProductWiki, submitting it here will also start the product report.

Comments

24 taps
show more
1.  avatar Erik said:

To this day, I don't understand people's love affair with iTunes. I HATE IT. From the annoying background services and applications, to the automatic updates. All for what? A crappy media player attached to a store.

Winamp for me thanks. And i'll get my music from somewhere else.
Nov 17, 2007 11:10pm
2.  avatar Discordanian said:

It integrates so seemlessly with Mac OSX I'm not sure what else I'd contemplate using for keeping my music library in shape.

You can drag drop music files onto it and it imports them. Logical. I love smart playlists. I love syncing to my iPod.

I'm not that keen on using it for PDF or movie management.

The only thing I can't stand is the goofy xml file it uses to manage the entire thing. It's not easy to hand hack.
Jan 07, 2008 11:37am
3.  avatar GT-D said:

I won't even install quicktime due to the immense hassle it is - if it wasnt for quicktime alternative I just wouldn't watch anything in that format.

My wife had to install it to format her new iPod apparently and the stupid update popups were virtually impossible to stop - happened all the time even after itunes was uninstalled. Finally she found that the updater is a separately installed program.

With a music collection spanning some 25,000 files and about 150 gb, the only player that truly meets my organizational needs is Foobar2000 - I dropped winamp due to the immense loading time when I hit about 70gb some years ago, grabbed foobar, customized the UI to my liking and never looked back.

With friends who went on and on about how amazing iTunes is I took a look but hated it. So bloated, and how it organizes your music seemed clearly aimed at users who have difficulty organizing music in a sensible folder/file structure and proper play lists. I want my music in the order I want it, not the order iTunes thinks I want it.
Apr 10, 2008 12:30pm
4.  avatar Howlsthunder said:

I have been a fan of iTunes for a long while. I don't care about the music store (I am a staunch CD purchaser ;) ) - I just like the way iTunes handles music. The first hurdle I originally had issues with is trying to manually organize my music folders that iTunes taps into. I found this creates a mess and that its actually much easier to let iTunes deal with the physical songs while I organize everything in the application itself. The drag-n-drop capabilities, wide variety of ways to organize things and label them, and smart playlists are huge time saver for me.
May 27, 2008 9:54pm
5.  avatar anon said:

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but on more than one computer the newer versions a few months ago would cause serious problems on Windows XP. One computer had to be formatted after updating itunes.

I love itunes, but I no longer update it because it seems they are trying to mess up my Windows based systems!
Sep 08, 2008 12:32pm
6.  avatar dialupinternetuser said:

What I don't get, is why people think that iTunes and Apple are god whenever they add a new feature, like the genius playlists, when AmaroK and Winamp could already do that...
Sep 13, 2008 9:18pm
7.  avatar Yale said:

Garbage software for tools. DRM, crappy music store, crappy code that crashes windows. Might be good on OSX, but I doubt it. There are many better alternatives - even ones that sync your ipod. ml_ipod (http://mlipod.sourceforge.net/) is SUPER superior to iTunes and Winamp's built in sync tools. If you're just listening to music, the simpler the better. Foobar or Winamp all the way!
Sep 15, 2008 5:52pm
8.  avatar DamienT98 said:

I really love Itunes, not sure what I would do without my regular stream of podcasts!
Oct 02, 2008 9:56am
9.  avatar dialupinternetuser said:

@DamienT98 You could subscribe to the Podcasts in Winamp, which work much better than iTunes. Streaming, download, or both. Organizes much better. Syncs with the rest of the music library, and it's possible to transfer only some of the podcast to a portable device instead of all, none, or unwatched.

I've had to use iTunes more recently because of poor iPod Touch/iPhone support in Winamp, and it's already bugging the crap out of me. I can't stand it. It has crappy on-the-fly playlist support, stupid playlist controls, for some reason you have to tell Apple what music you have for Genius to work, it tries to send you to the iTunes store constantly, it has horrible streaming support, and supports a measly three audio codecs, and three video codecs. It slows your computer, installs bloatware, screws with your music files, can't handle stuff very well if you keep it in multiple folders, has no folder scanning so you have to manually tell it when you add new music, and is in general, a total pain in the ass. But if you like DRM, no control, never add music except through CD's or the iTunes store, being stuck with the iTunes store, and only listen to one artist or album at a time, or only use the same playlist constantly, then iTunes is the perfect player for you.
Oct 15, 2008 8:53pm
10.  avatar vsaxena911 said:

I'm a bootlegging, illegal-hustlin' LimeWire fan. I get my songs for free and then upload them to the appropriate device. Quite easy to do and doesn't cost a cent. In the words of Yorgi (XXX), "Welcome to Anarchy Ninety-nine!"
Sep 23, 2009 6:44pm
11.  avatar listener said:

When I think about it, I don't know why I'm using iTunes.
- Other players do support more formats (now I'm switching to foobar2000 to play other formats all the time...)
- I only use the iTunes store for the covers and the genius mixes. (use last.fm to find new music)
- Don't have an iPod anymore

But:
- I'm using it for so long now...
- my library is in it including all my music and custom ratings and playlists etc.
- I do link the look and feel of it.

- Using iTunes Store file validator for a lot of the functions iTunes is missing. http://itsfv.sourceforge.net/
Oct 06, 2009 9:36am
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Reviews

Sort by: Most helpful  •  Newest  •  Most positive

dialupinternetuser

avatar
April 24, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
48
negative
mixed
positive
10 pros
11 cons
trustedtrusted
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device
  • Clean, slick, easy to use interface.
  • Excellent support for podcasts, mostly free podcast subscriptions.
  • Available for both Mac and Windows
  • Entire iTunes store catalog is now available in DRM-free format
  • Auto-tag MP3 rips on import.
  • Supports incremental backup - only tracks that have been added since last backup are saved, so uses less disk space.
  • Excellent podcast, download and streaming support
  • Easy to stream music to other computers running iTunes as well as other devices
  • Built-in backup function allows cross-platform backups of media library to optical media.

Cons

  • Installs many services and bloatware
  • Slows down Windows
  • High startup time on Windows
  • No native support for Linux
  • Annoying reminders pop-up to upgrade all the time
  • Cover flow is very CPU / GPU intensive
  • not at all modular, cannot expand usability or remove unused components
  • part of a closed system - intended to keep users locked to Apple hardware (iPod), software and media outlets
  • Links break if network media go down
  • oversimplified, few options for power users
  • built to promote a proprietary online music store

Comments

"What I don't get, is why people think that iTunes and Apple are god whenever they add a new feature, like the genius playlists, when AmaroK and Winamp could already do that..."
"@DamienT98 You could subscribe to the Podcasts in Winamp, which work much better than iTunes. Streaming, download, or both. Organizes much better. Syncs with the rest of the music library, and it's possible to transfer only some of the podcast to a portable device instead of all, none, or unwatched.

I've had to use iTunes more recently because of poor iPod Touch/iPhone support in Winamp, and it's already bugging the crap out of me. I can't stand it. It has crappy on-the-fly playlist support, stupid playlist controls, for some reason you have to tell Apple what music you have for Genius to work, it tries to send you to the iTunes store constantly, it has horrible streaming support, and supports a measly three audio codecs, and three video codecs. It slows your computer, installs bloatware, screws with your music files, can't handle stuff very well if you keep it in multiple folders, has no folder scanning so you have to manually tell it when you add new music, and is in general, a total pain in the ass. But if you like DRM, no control, never add music except through CD's or the iTunes store, being stuck with the iTunes store, and only listen to one artist or album at a time, or only use the same playlist constantly, then iTunes is the perfect player for you."

Competitors

dialupinternetuser prefers Winamp, MediaMonkey, foobar2000 over iTunes
dialupinternetuser prefers iTunes over Windows Media Player
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

fractalhorizon

avatar
October 11, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
94
negative
mixed
positive
17 pros
1 con
trustedtrusted
have ithave it
love itlove it
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device
  • Clean, slick, easy to use interface.
  • Excellent support for podcasts, mostly free podcast subscriptions.
  • Available for both Mac and Windows
  • Entire iTunes store catalog is now available in DRM-free format
  • Easy to access music on other computers on home network
  • Auto-tag MP3 rips on import.
  • Built-in encoder allows you to convert files into AAC, MP3, AIFF or WAV formats
  • Auto-import album artwork.
  • Supports incremental backup - only tracks that have been added since last backup are saved, so uses less disk space.
  • Manages media files automatically OR allows user to manage them manually.
  • Excellent podcast, download and streaming support
  • Tight integration with iTunes store makes buying music a snap
  • Easy to stream music to other computers running iTunes as well as other devices
  • Built-in backup function allows cross-platform backups of media library to optical media.
  • Excellent internet radio support.
  • The Genius-part to get custom playlists of similar music

Cons

  • No native support for Linux

Competitors

fractalhorizon prefers iTunes over foobar2000, Winamp, Windows Media Player, Songbird, MediaMonkey
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

Howlsthunder

avatar
April 1, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
100
negative
mixed
positive
14 pros
0 cons
trustedtrusted
love itlove it
have ithave it
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device
  • Clean, slick, easy to use interface.
  • Excellent support for podcasts, mostly free podcast subscriptions.
  • Available for both Mac and Windows
  • Entire iTunes store catalog is now available in DRM-free format
  • Easy to access music on other computers on home network
  • Auto-tag MP3 rips on import.
  • Built-in encoder allows you to convert files into AAC, MP3, AIFF or WAV formats
  • Manages media files automatically OR allows user to manage them manually.
  • Excellent podcast, download and streaming support
  • Tight integration with iTunes store makes buying music a snap
  • Easy to stream music to other computers running iTunes as well as other devices
  • Built-in backup function allows cross-platform backups of media library to optical media.
  • Excellent internet radio support.

Cons

Did not agree with any cons

Comments

"I have been a fan of iTunes for a long while. I don't care about the music store (I am a staunch CD purchaser ;) ) - I just like the way iTunes handles music. The first hurdle I originally had issues with is trying to manually organize my music folders that iTunes taps into. I found this creates a mess and that its actually much easier to let iTunes deal with the physical songs while I organize everything in the application itself. The drag-n-drop capabilities, wide variety of ways to organize things and label them, and smart playlists are huge time saver for me."

Competitors

Howlsthunder prefers iTunes over Windows Media Player, foobar2000, Winamp, MediaMonkey
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

Omar

avatar
March 16, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
54
negative
mixed
positive
7 pros
6 cons
trustedtrusted
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device
  • Excellent support for podcasts, mostly free podcast subscriptions.
  • Available for both Mac and Windows
  • Easy to access music on other computers on home network
  • Auto-import album artwork.
  • Supports incremental backup - only tracks that have been added since last backup are saved, so uses less disk space.
  • Tight integration with iTunes store makes buying music a snap

Cons

  • Installs many services and bloatware
  • Slows down Windows
  • High startup time on Windows
  • Annoying reminders pop-up to upgrade all the time
  • Cover flow is very CPU / GPU intensive
  • part of a closed system - intended to keep users locked to Apple hardware (iPod), software and media outlets

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

Yale

avatar
March 16, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
12
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
7 cons
trustedtrusted
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device

Cons

  • Installs many services and bloatware
  • Slows down Windows
  • High startup time on Windows
  • not at all modular, cannot expand usability or remove unused components
  • part of a closed system - intended to keep users locked to Apple hardware (iPod), software and media outlets
  • oversimplified, few options for power users
  • built to promote a proprietary online music store

Comments

"Garbage software for tools. DRM, crappy music store, crappy code that crashes windows. Might be good on OSX, but I doubt it. There are many better alternatives - even ones that sync your ipod. ml_ipod (http://mlipod.sourceforge.net/) is SUPER superior to iTunes and Winamp's built in sync tools. If you're just listening to music, the simpler the better. Foobar or Winamp all the way!"

Competitors

Yale prefers foobar2000, Winamp, Songbird over iTunes
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

Manzabar

avatar
November 4, 2008
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
20
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
4 cons
trustedtrusted
have ithave it
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device

Cons

  • Installs many services and bloatware
  • No native support for Linux
  • Cover flow is very CPU / GPU intensive
  • Links break if network media go down

Competitors

Manzabar prefers iTunes over Winamp, foobar2000, Windows Media Player, MediaMonkey
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

listener

avatar
October 6, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
54
negative
mixed
positive
7 pros
6 cons
have ithave it
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Clean, slick, easy to use interface.
  • Entire iTunes store catalog is now available in DRM-free format
  • Auto-tag MP3 rips on import.
  • Built-in encoder allows you to convert files into AAC, MP3, AIFF or WAV formats
  • Auto-import album artwork.
  • Manages media files automatically OR allows user to manage them manually.
  • The Genius-part to get custom playlists of similar music

Cons

  • Installs many services and bloatware
  • High startup time on Windows
  • part of a closed system - intended to keep users locked to Apple hardware (iPod), software and media outlets
  • oversimplified, few options for power users
  • built to promote a proprietary online music store
  • No options to add codecs for other media formats. (like flac and ape)

Comments

"When I think about it, I don't know why I'm using iTunes.
- Other players do support more formats (now I'm switching to foobar2000 to play other formats all the time...)
- I only use the iTunes store for the covers and the genius mixes. (use last.fm to find new music)
- Don't have an iPod anymore

But:
- I'm using it for so long now...
- my library is in it including all my music and custom ratings and playlists etc.
- I do link the look and feel of it.

- Using iTunes Store file validator for a lot of the functions iTunes is missing. http://itsfv.sourceforge.net/"

Competitors

listener prefers iTunes over Windows Media Player, foobar2000
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

LINUZ

avatar
March 24, 2009
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
78
negative
mixed
positive
7 pros
2 cons
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Clean, slick, easy to use interface.
  • Excellent support for podcasts, mostly free podcast subscriptions.
  • Easy to access music on other computers on home network
  • Built-in encoder allows you to convert files into AAC, MP3, AIFF or WAV formats
  • Auto-import album artwork.
  • Manages media files automatically OR allows user to manage them manually.
  • Tight integration with iTunes store makes buying music a snap

Cons

  • not at all modular, cannot expand usability or remove unused components
  • part of a closed system - intended to keep users locked to Apple hardware (iPod), software and media outlets

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

Erik

avatar
September 12, 2008
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
20
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
4 cons
have ithave it
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device

Cons

  • Installs many services and bloatware
  • No native support for Linux
  • Annoying reminders pop-up to upgrade all the time
  • Cover flow is very CPU / GPU intensive

Comments

"To this day, I don't understand people's love affair with iTunes. I HATE IT. From the annoying background services and applications, to the automatic updates. All for what? A crappy media player attached to a store.

Winamp for me thanks. And i'll get my music from somewhere else."

Competitors

Erik prefers Winamp, Windows Media Player over iTunes
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No

Plasmarobo

avatar
May 18, 2008
approved
reviewer
ProSCORE
33
negative
mixed
positive
1 pro
2 cons
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use synching with iPod device

Cons

  • Installs many services and bloatware
  • Links break if network media go down

Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
 / 
No
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