As I own an iPod, I have the misfortune of using iTunes to sync my music collection from my PC to said iPod. Although this can be done using apps like Winamp, I've never really got on with it and it just generally irritates me.
However, now that this shiny new version of iTunes has been released, the newness of it being made apparent by a new icon and volume slider, has been released, I think I may start getting back into the habit of using good old Winamp, even if it's little systray app irritates the hell out of me which could probably solved if I could be arsed to untick boxes when installing.
Aside from the general dislike of iTunes as a Windows app, there are many other aspects of this software that I just do not like. First of which is the way that by default it places all your music in a sub-sub-folder of your music folder making it a pain when using other applications, the smattering of helper applications it insists on installing, the worst of which being Quicktime, which by any means is the bastard child of codec based runtimes.
The single worst new feature of iTunes 10 however is their attempt at Social Networking; Ping. This spam magnet of a feature has no use outside of the iTunes eco system as you can only use it within iTunes. It's as if they looked at last.fm, got as far as making it work within their own application then gave up adding the ability for it to interact with the outside world. The thing is intended essentially for fans of a band or artist to follow them and get the latest info on gigs, Single releases etc. Which is definitely nothing like twitter, facebook, myspace, bebo, last.fm or anything of that nature.
In my opinion it's time that iTunes goes the way that Real Player has and just become some little niche media player that no-one really uses or cares about.
This was originally posted to a previous version of marksuth.com in September 2010
