Sound quality isn’t dead. Casual fans may be okay with a badly encoded MP3 streamed over a slideshow on YouTube, but if you’re really into your music, you want something better.
MediaMonkey is the media manager for serious collectors. It catalogs audio and video files, whether they're located on a hard drive or network, dividing them into different 'collections' (e.g. MediaMonkey Gold 4.1.9.1764 Crack + Serial Key Download For Windows + MAC allow news that is big to be segmented, customized and handled independently. As an example music that is traditional Jazz, Kids Music, Home videos, TV, etc. Can each configured with custom views and playback rules. MediaMonkey helps you navigate and manage A media player for serious collectors that can sync your collection between your phone and your Windows PC. November 14, 2018.
- ALAC vs FLAC: The Best for Listening to Lossless Music on Mac and iOS. ALAC vs FLAC: The Best for Listening to Lossless Music on Mac and iOS. Michael McConnell February 13, 2018 4 minutes. ALAC vs FLAC: The Best for Listening to Lossless Music on Mac and iOS. MediaMonkey is excellent music manager that plays FLAC.
- Popular free Alternatives to MediaMonkey for Windows, Android, Linux, Mac, Android Tablet and more. Explore 25+ apps like MediaMonkey, all suggested and ranked by the AlternativeTo user community.
- Is MediaMonkey the best music organizer in 2018? That’s what we are going to find out in this blog post which is a review of the free version of MediaMonkey.
There is FLAC, but that requires a whole new set of players and a new library. That’s where ALAC comes in: Apple’s lossless codec. It is compatible with iTunes and iOS, so you can change formats without changing your routine.
Lossless vs. Compressed Codecs
Whether it’s AAC or MP3, most of the music you’re buying/streaming is encoded using a lossy codec. That derives from how they compress dataHow Audio Compression Works, and Can You Really Tell the Difference?How Audio Compression Works, and Can You Really Tell the Difference?In this article, we'll take a look at how music compression works, and whether it has any real effect on how your music actually sounds.Read More. The codecs work by removing parts of the file overlapping with other frequencies.
Other targets for removal may be outside the average range of hearing. When you’re talking about classical, jazz, and other music with dynamic ranges you can end up with a muted sound.
Like most things when it comes to quality, this is subjective. However, if you notice that your music sounds cheap and tinny, you may want to switch to a lossless format.
While WAV files are completely uncompressed, they are huge. Lossless codecs like FLAC and ALAC compress by removing parts of the data that are identical. It isn’t going to get you as much space savings as MP3, but they are considerably smaller than raw WAV files.
For an extensive explainer, check out our article on understanding compression and codecsAll You Need to Know about Video Codecs, Containers, and CompressionAll You Need to Know about Video Codecs, Containers, and CompressionExplaining the difference between codecs and containers is relatively simple, but hard part is attempting to understand each format.Read More.
Why ALAC Instead of FLAC
The short answer is iTunes. The longer answer is iTunes and iOS. ALAC is excellent because you can still use iTunes to manage everything in your library. If you subscribe to Apple Music or iCloud Music library, dropping iTunes isn’t a choice. You can then slowly increase your library of lossless music. Most importantly, you don’t have to change how you manage your Mac’s music library.
Your iCloud Music Library will unfortunately still be made up of AAC files. So you’re not going to get the high-quality music everywhere. Though if you’re willing to put in a bit of work to set up a Plex serverYour Guide To Plex - The Awesome Media CenterYour Guide To Plex - The Awesome Media CenterIf you have a lot of locally-saved movies and TV shows, you need to install Plex. And this is the only guide to getting started with Plex you'll ever need to read.Read More, you can get your ALAC on your iPhone remotely. If you’re just copying over files, you can sync the ALAC files to your iPhone — just make sure you disable the option to shrink high bitrate files!
FLAC does edge out ALAC regarding sound quality. ALAC is 16-bit and FLAC is 24-bit encoding, and FLAC has a higher sampling rate. ALAC compares to CD quality, which is much better than most of your digital files. FLAC is closer to studio masters, according to the Society of Sound.
How to Get ALAC Files
Despite being an Apple standard, iTunes does not sell ALAC files. Though their “Mastered for iTunes” is higher quality, it doesn’t come close to the quality of lossless. So you’re going to need to look elsewhereThe Internet Music Guide for the AudiophileThe Internet Music Guide for the AudiophileWe have uncovered the biggest sites for music fans in several categories. Whether you want to buy an album, stream songs, discover new music, or just learn more, these sites have it all.Read More.
Your Physical Media
If you still buy CD’s to rip them into your library, then you can make an easy switch over to ALAC. You can change the import settings for iTunes.
In the menubar, click on iTunes then select Preferences. Near the bottom of the dialog, click on Import Settings. Click the dropdown and select Apple Lossless. Finally, click OK for both dialogs and you’re all set. The next time you insert a CD, it will import as ALAC rather than AAC.
If you’re ripping vinyl, you need to set your file format to ALAC rather than AAC or MP3. ALAC support is in Audacity and other recording apps like Audio Hijack. You’ll want to check your specific app for where to change the export file format.
Buying ALAC Files
If you prefer to buy files rather than physical data you have a couple of options.
- HD Tracks: If you’re looking for the iTunes of high-quality audio, this is it. Like iTunes, there’s an extensive catalog from a variety of genres. It is heavy on the classic reissues, especially jazz. The pop new releases are here too, but not everything you might want. You’ll have to search around. It is also a bit more expensive. Instead of getting an album for about ten dollars; here most of them are closer to twenty dollars.
- Society of Sound: Run by the speaker/headphone company Bowers & WilkinsBose SoundLink II, Beats Studio, Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless Headphones ReviewBose SoundLink II, Beats Studio, Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless Headphones ReviewWe compare the Bose SoundLink II, Beats Studio Wireless and B&W P5 Wireless Bluetooth headphones.Read More, Society of Sound is not a store. Instead, it is a subscription service that gets you two albums to download a month. It looks to be a variety of genres, so if you have an eclectic taste, this might be worth checking out. It is $60 per year, but you get three months free for registering a Bowers & Wilkins product. There are also some stand-alone albums you can buy from the site as well.
- Bandcamp: This is the store where you can send your cash right to the band, or to their label in some cases. These days, it often isn’t clear who gets paid when you buy music. Bandcamp sets you up to pay the artist directly for their music, or at the very least their label. You aren’t going to find a lot of mainstream music here, but if you like underground and independent artists, they’re likely on Bandcamp. Everything varies in price based on the artist’s wishes, so you’ll have to shop around. However, all downloads are available in ALAC.
Staying in the Mac and iOS Ecosystem
The best benefit to ALAC is that it lets you move to lossless without having to change your entire workflow. If you’ve got a sizable iTunes libraryHow to Back Up and Restore Your Mac's iTunes & Photos LibraryHow to Back Up and Restore Your Mac's iTunes & Photos LibraryChances are if you've lost all your music, photos, and videos once, you'll make sure it never happens again.Read More, it might be intimidating to start from scratch.
Long-time Apple users might also have just learned to live with iTunes’s faults and don’t want to learn all the quirks of a new player. VLC is great, but it doesn’t have a great way to auto-manage your library the same way iTunes does.
Do you see the value in switching to lossless? Let us know in the comments.
Explore more about: Audiophiles, File Compression, iTunes.
While Android users are enjoying 990kbps/32bit with Bluetooth headphones and via streaming service :D
MediaMonkey is excellent music manager that plays FLAC. as an alternative ti iTunes or using VLC.
Paulr, only iTunes can be used with Apple Music, iTunes Match, or iCloud Music Library, as Michael pointed out. There are a lot of people who use these services believing they're stuck with 256 Kbps AAC, so Michael was trying to explain how ALAC is an option if they want hi-def music.
Nice little advert for the Apple ecosystem. No thanks.
The comment about ALAC being only 16 bit is false!! ALAC also supports hi res as I own several 24 bit albums in ALAC that I've downloaded from HDtracks & how do you claim that FLAC has better sound quality when both formats are lossless??
Correct. 'Apple Lossless supports up to 8 channels of audio at 16, 20, 24 and 32 bit depth with a maximum sample rate of 384kHz.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lossless I think even true audiophiles would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between ALAC and FLAC files encoded with the same parameters.
Before you go spending money on ALAC or FLAC (unless it costs the same, as on Bandcamp), make sure you can hear the difference. You need to have good enough audio equipment, including your ears. There are several websites where you can test whether you can hear the difference between lo-def and hi-def audio. I generally can't tell the difference above 128 Kbps. I can pack a lot more music on my devices!
Mac users can use X Lossless Decoder (XLD) to transcode from FLAC to ALAC.
It is possible to convert ALAC to FLAC files by dbPowerAmp.
yes, I use it to convert FLAC to ALAC in order to import to iTunes. I'm sure you can do the reverse order as well.
Are you an iTunes lover and want to enjoy your favorite songs on your system, but for some reasons, you can’t able to do it. So, In this case, you can use the iTunes alternatives besides the original one, then you are going to get similar features as of iTunes.
iTunes is one of the famed music player & universal manager as well. One of the main cause of using iTunes on Windows or Mac is iOS Devices. The developer of the iTunes itself is Apple, so the security is tight and we can’t do all the things on it. Right now, It is available on the two most known platforms, Windows & Mac. Though, There is no deficiency in the player but there are some reasons, for which we can’t use it. The most common cause is, the system requirements are high as of low-end specifications user can’t able to use it. Like, If you want to play 1080p video on your system then you need 2GB of RAM & a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor.
Well, the user interface of the iTunes is one of the impressive contrivances & the other most used stitch is users can easily manage the files and storage. The issues I hate about the iTunes are infelicitous reliability and laggy and sticky performance on some low-end devices. After looking into these issues, I decided to find the bestiTunes alternatives that can help you a lot in your day to day life.
1. WinX MediaTrans
WinX MediaTrans is one of the simplistic media player and media manager for most users. You can easily get it for your Device for free. It helps users to sync all the files in just seconds. No, matter your iOS version is latest but you can easily do all the things of iTunes on WinX MediaTrans. You can Transfer photos from your iOS device, manage contacts, music, videos, and much more. The best point about WinX MediaTrans is, you can run the full HD videos with any trouble on low-end specifications devices.
You can also export and import the videos to your iOS device. The User-Interface of MediaTrans is very much realistic and reliable for the iTunes users. It has a bonus feature, by which you can make your smartphone as your USB drive or Flash drive. We know that carrying the files on iPhone or any iOS device is not possible but with the help of WinX MediaTrans. If you want to carry the files on your iOS device make sure to try the MediaTrans on your system.
Platforms – Windows
2. CopyTrans Manager
CopyTrans Manager is a lightweight media manager with old lightweight user-interface. You can transfer the files from any iOS device like iPhone, iPad, and iPod. It allows you to manage all the files like photos, audio, video, apps etc. Import the files from iPhone to PC easily with the help of this manager. It is one of the easy and secure file transfer manager available for free on Windows OS.
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You can easily transfer the files without any security issues and re-write the original files. One of the cons of CopyTrans Manager is that you can’t enjoy this epic media manager on your Mac. This can only available for the Windows users for free. So, make sure to use the CopyTrans on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10.
Platforms: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10
3. MediaMonkey
I am sure, you’re thinking MediaMonkey is the old Windows media player. Yes, I have personally used it on my Windows in old days. This will also work like the iTunes alternatives and fulfill your all requirements. MediaMonkey is the provides impressive and reliable performance on both low-end and high-end specifications system. In this media player, you can manage both the audio files and video files together. It will also save your memory by notifying about the duplicate files.
MediaMonkey also helps you in running any kind of audio and video format (also work FLAC), you can also try the superabundance formats. The best thing about MediaMonkey media player is that it is “Free” but you can only use it on your Windows OS. No doubt iTunes user-interface is more impressive but you can’t only look at the user-interface if requirements are still not fulfilled. If you are on Windows OS, then you should definitely try this iTunes Alternative.
Platform: Windows
4. Ecoute
Another simplest media player, but It is only the media player you can’t do the media manager tasks on Ecoute media player. We can say this is the perfect iTunes alternative because the user-interface of the Ecoute is much similar to iTunes. It lets automatically detect the songs available in the library and make a playlist. If you are not having high-end workstation or PC you must try the Ecoute.
It will automatically create the playlist for you by detecting the music from the library. Ecoute also syncs the music from your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm). You can download the Ecoute on your Mac or iOS system for free, but you can’t use it on Windows OS.
Platform: Mac
Note: Some of the iTunes alternatives are only the media players not the media manager so make sure to read the description carefully and then download according to your requirements.
5. Clementine
If you are looking to use the iOS media manager on Unix or Linux system then Clementine comes at the first. It is one of the best media players for Linux, it also works on Windows & MacOS. Clementine looks similar to the VLC media player, so if you are a fan of VLC make sure to try this on your system. It is the perfect iTunes alternative for any Operating System user.
Clementine helps to support any kind of audio format and runs it flawlessly. So if you are looking for the best iTunes alternative with Audio file support and the efficient player, then Clementine is one of my favorite choices.
Platform: Mac, Linux, & Windows
6. Wondershare TunesGo
If you are looking for the similar user-interface like iTunes then Wondershare TunesGo takes the charm. Yes, this is very much similar to the original iTunes. But, it has more features than iTunes, it comes with some add-ons and additional services. You can manage every kind of files with help of Wondershare TunesGo. You can import and export photos, audio, videos, contacts, and mother files from your iPhone or iPad to PC.
The best part about this iTunes alternative is you can use it on Windows & Mac for free. It can also sync all the data from your phone to pc. It also detects the media files from the library and makes a playlist for you. So make sure you can take a look at Wondershare TunesGo.
Platform: Mac & Windows
7. PodTrans
PodTrans is also the best iTunes alternative because it helps you to manage the media files. It has a simplistic and elegant media player come manager. You can easily manage your storage by exporting or importing the files (audio, video, photos, big files, documents, etc.). PodTrans helps you to transfer the files from PC to iOS in just seconds.
The worst thing about this iTunes alternatives is that you can sync the files on the paid version only. While you can sync the data in free version, but the stability is not good. Like others, this player also automatically produce the playlist. So, try the free version on your system.
Platform: Mac & Windows
8. SynciOS
It is also the media manager, not only the media player, from the name we can guess that it syncs the data flawlessly from smartphone to PC. SynciOS helps to sync all the data at no cost. Yes, this iTunes alternative helps you freely use iTunes features on your system. This suite helps you to manage the music and other data easily.
You can also take backup of every kind of files (such as images, songs, videos, contacts, messages, emails, etc.) from your iOS device. While, it is available on both Windows & Mac Platform, so if you want to backup the files then try the SynciOS for free.
Platform: Windows & Mac
9. Vox
Vox is one of the stylish and elegant media player. It is one of my favorite media players because it integrates with SoundCloud and last.fm. It provides the high-fidelity sounds and shows the high-quality songs in search results. All the things about the Vox media player all not cool and true.
Yes, Vox media player is available at $4.99/month. Also, Vox media player is only available for the Mac OS. You can’t use it on Windows OS. But it has features which make the player one of the iTunes alternatives.
Platform: Mac
10. Swinsian
Swinsian is also the another iTunes alternatives, which looks similar to iTunes. But this one only focuses on the media segment, you can’t manage the files with help of this alternative. Also, it has integrated with social accounts like SoundCloud and last.fm for synchronization. You can also use airplay to connect Swinsian to your iOS device.
Swinsian also helps you to edit the media files, this is also the most used feature of this media player. This is also only available for the Mac OS, and unfortunately, Swinsian is also a paid media player.
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Platform: Mac
Conclusion
Mediamonkey
This was our list of Best iTunes Alternatives. If you haven’t tried any of the alternatives, then try the WinX MediaTrans or MediaMonkey and then move to the other players or manager. All these are the top and the most used/tested software, so no need to worry about anything and start testing your favorite. That’s all from my side. Enjoy iTunes Alternatives.
Music Manager For Mac
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