Alternative to iTunes on a Mac

[Paul S4]

I have a MacMini on which I have been using iTunes for about 6 years in all it's guises. I have transferred all my CDs onto iTunes, and bought several downloaded Albums via iTunes and also Amazon.

Before folk wade in and tell me how marvellous iTunes is, and that it is "OperatorError"/being lazy etc if I don't like it .... !! I just want a 'simple to use' music setup, preferably free (!) in order to do the following:

Easily transfer albums/tracks from my Mac computer onto a USB stick so that I can play music in my car via the Fiat OEM system, and also on my Kenwood head unit on my other car.

Burn Playlists to a CD quickly, also to play in the car.

Please note : I am not a computer geek, I would much rather spend time on the car !

[GCH]

If the music you have ripped/ downloaded is on your Mac, just drag and drop whatever you want from your iTunes music folder to the usb stick.

[NDA]

I have a song library of over 15,000 files...... but I am slowly becoming a Spotify convert as Amazon Music have decided to close their music locker subscription service. I am giving Google Play a whirl, but it seems a bit clunky. I am still resisting the whole notion of not 'owning' music any more - particularly as my love is jazz and it's sometimes too obscure for Spotify.

None of which is particularly helpful to you. Other than suggesting you could play songs from your phone into your car (via bluetooth or USB or headphone out) and use Spotify. Spotify will allow you to download songs and playlists into your phone so that tunes will work with our without any data signal.

[Paul S4]

Thanks for the replies.

I too am a bit resistant to using Spotify, for the same reason: I like to 'own' music that I have paid for.

I have done as has been suggested above ie transferred music tracks across to a USB via Drag & Drop in the past with no problems, but it seems that the latest version of iTunes has removed the option to convert to mp3 files, which would explain why my Fiat Grande Punto 130 Sporting Media Player will not recognise the music at all.

The latter issue, if indeed that is why I cannot play tracks in the Fiat, is one more reason to try & find an alternative Music Player on my Mac.

I have tried Media Monkey but that would seem to be for Windows PCs. Which may well work if I could find the software for Windows Parallels that I bough but has been lost during 2 house moves !!

[NDA]

The import settings on my iTunes still show MP3 as the converter..... I have the latest version - although I don't actually use iTunes for music management.

You could also simply build a music file for your MP3's to have on a USB stick - you don't need iTunes for that.

[B17NNS]

It's not cheap. In fact it's rather spendy. But it's the absolute best music player available.

Try the free trial.

https://roonlabs.com

Free alternatives worth a look are Emby and Plex. Server is free. App is a fiver.

JRiver is extremely powerful but I gave up with it in the end. Felt like a permanent beta tester. Roon just works.

Edited by B17NNS on Sunday 27th May 16:47