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Alternative to iTunes for Mac

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Bruce Perrin:
Greetings from a Land Down Under! I'll try not to bore you with too many details. If you're interested, I can give you in-depth explanations why I need the following features - but later. I have two Apple Mac computers - iMac 21.5-inch, 16GB RAM, 1TB hard drive, running MAC OS 10.9.5 (Mavericks). Also MacBook laptop running MAC OS 10.10 (Yosemite). I work mainly on the former, but ultimately I want both computers to carry the same software, so I can work on one or the other. I have thousands of songs on iTunes; mostly backed up onto hundreds of CDs.

I remaster rock music for radio shows (and for us, and for friends who get me to make compilation CDs for them), using GarageBand 6.0.5 and iTunes 10.7. I know, they're both old, but that's what works for me. The crux of the matter is, iTunes 10.7 works OK on Mavericks, but not at all on Yosemite. (I'm going to be forced to upgrade the iMac to Yosemite eventually.) Later versions of iTunes have been getting worse and worse - especially in the areas of album art display, printing playlists, and burning playlists to blank CDs. That's why I'm looking for an alternative. I've been attracted to your software for several reasons, especially the level of technical support through all the online wikis, and the sound quality of your music player.

Because of my remastering work, I have several unusual requirements. I've only just come to you, so again apologies in advance if the answers to some of these questions already appear in your online wikis. Bearing in mind that iTunes 10.7 can do ALL of the following, I need (in no order of importance):

(1) To be able to import my playlists and track ratings from iTunes. There are YEARS of work wrapped up in these.
(2) Burn playlist to blank CD (gapless). (3) Gapless playback. (4) Print a playlist - fairly concisely, please!
(5) Copy album artwork from other websites (e.g. Album Art Exchange); then copy that into the other tracks from that same album.
(6) Display album artwork in large size: 1000x1000 preferred. (I've already had a look at your display. It's very good and I could live with it, but I prefer a straight view - like looking at the album cover - not with the bottom part reflected.)
(7) Display the average volume level of each track (e.g. -7.5 dB). This is crucial QC for me as I do the remastering process, as a double-check that I've done the right thing from one step to the next.
(8) iTunes has a brilliant "Get Info" screen. You call it "Tag". I don't need 103 options, but I DO need the following for each track:
(a) Name (b)Artist (c) Album (d) Composer (at least 50 characters) (e) Genre (f) Comments (at least 140 characters).
Is it possible for the user to design a Tag field for each track like that?
(9) Database Search. When you type into iTunes' Search field, it searches on (a) to (e) just above. I expect your Database Search would do the same thing. Would it be possible to expand the search function to include the Comments field as well?
If you can tell me how I can do all of the above using your software, you've got yourselves a customer. Thank you all for your time.

glynor:
I'm pretty sure MC could meet all of those needs.  I don't have time to respond in detail right now, but go ahead and download the version here on this board and install it.  The free trial is 30 days and is full-featured.  Use it and make sure it meets your needs before you buy.

Importing Playlists from iTunes it can certainly do.  I think importing ratings is a bit more fiddly, because iTunes stores ratings only in its proprietary database format, and not in the file tags, but I think there is a way.

blgentry:

--- Quote from: BP Super on August 28, 2015, 12:41:04 am ---Because of my remastering work, I have several unusual requirements. I've only just come to you, so again apologies in advance if the answers to some of these questions already appear in your online wikis. Bearing in mind that iTunes 10.7 can do ALL of the following, I need (in no order of importance):
--- End quote ---

This is a large list.  I'm going to give a really brief answer on each.  If you want help with any of these, we might break them out into individual threads or something.  Some of these are easy.  Others might require some work on your part.  With the amount of time you have invested, I'm sure you're not afraid to do a little extra work to build your new environment in a way that works for you.  Here we go...


--- Quote ---(1) To be able to import my playlists and track ratings from iTunes. There are YEARS of work wrapped up in these.
--- End quote ---

To get your main library into MC I'm pretty sure you just have to export all of your library files from itunes as ONE XML playlist and then import that into MC.  That will get your base library transferred over.  That *should* transfer star rating as well.  For your individual playlists, unfortunately, you'll have to export them one at a time and then import them into MC.  This step won't double up your files or anything.  It will just import the lists themselves.


--- Quote ---(2) Burn playlist to blank CD (gapless).
--- End quote ---

As far as I know MC for Mac can not burn discs.  You can use an external program like Burn for OSX to do this.


--- Quote ---(3) Gapless playback.
--- End quote ---

Finally an easy one!  No problem.  Just set the gapless playback option under:
Tools > Options > Audio > Track Change > Use gapless for sequential album tracks.


--- Quote ---(4) Print a playlist - fairly concisely, please!
--- End quote ---

I don't think there's an easy way to do this yet.  Perhaps the same program you choose to burn CDs will have a facility to print easily.  I'm assuming these are related.


--- Quote ---(5) Copy album artwork from other websites (e.g. Album Art Exchange); then copy that into the other tracks from that same album.
--- End quote ---

You can look up album art automatically for any track/album/group with <right click> Cover Art > Get from Internet.  This will give you numerous choices.  You can also paste in cover art that you find externally on that same menu.  It will paste from the clipboard either as a link, or as a full clipboard image copy.  Easy!  Album art handling is REALLY nice in MC.  It's very fast to find good album art and save it.


--- Quote ---(6) Display album artwork in large size: 1000x1000 preferred. (I've already had a look at your display. It's very good and I could live with it, but I prefer a straight view - like looking at the album cover - not with the bottom part reflected.)
--- End quote ---

Playing Now is where you manage and view the songs you are listening to.  The current song has a resizable pane with the Album Art in it.  You can choose a full size display, or to scale that art to the size of the display pane.  Just right click on the art.  You'll also get options for "regular", drop shadow, etc.


--- Quote ---(7) Display the average volume level of each track (e.g. -7.5 dB). This is crucial QC for me as I do the remastering process, as a double-check that I've done the right thing from one step to the next.
--- End quote ---

MC has a very powerful Audio Analysis facility.  It's can do this analysis automatically on import, or you can choose a group of files and do it manually.  It analyzes for both a "regular" volume level and dynamic range as well as a set of measurements using the new(ish) R128 volume leveling standard.  Here's what's really cool:  In any view anywhere in MC, you can configure what columns are shown and you can choose ANY of them in any position.  Including all of the various Volume measurements.  I show Dynamic Range in several of my views because that measurement is interesting and important to me.  You could choose any of these to show in whatever views you want.


--- Quote ---(8) iTunes has a brilliant "Get Info" screen. You call it "Tag". I don't need 103 options, but I DO need the following for each track:
(a) Name (b)Artist (c) Album (d) Composer (at least 50 characters) (e) Genre (f) Comments (at least 140 characters).
Is it possible for the user to design a Tag field for each track like that?
--- End quote ---

Sure.  Click the upper left corner of the Tagging Pane and choose from it's menu.  You might like that one that shows a tag for every column in your current view.  Or you might want to use the "also show" menu to add individual fields until you get all the ones you want.


--- Quote ---(9) Database Search. When you type into iTunes' Search field, it searches on (a) to (e) just above. I expect your Database Search would do the same thing. Would it be possible to expand the search function to include the Comments field as well?
--- End quote ---

MC's search is very powerful and very well thought out.  By default it searches in a bunch of fields, including Comment.  You can easily isolate a search to a single field if you know that's what you're looking for, or a combo.  Quickie example:


--- Code: ---[Name]=Love [Artist]=sade
--- End code ---

You can type that directly into the search box and get only songs with "love" in their name, by the Artist Sade.


--- Quote ---If you can tell me how I can do all of the above using your software, you've got yourselves a customer. Thank you all for your time.

--- End quote ---

Like I said, it's a big list and we might need to break some of this out into other topics.  I hope I've given you a good place to start.

Brian.

glynor:
I thought Burning was now enabled on Mac?  I know John worked hard on it, anyway. Did they never ship it?

I can't remember the last time I needed to burn an optical disc, and one of my Macs doesn't even have a drive, so I don't know for sure.

blgentry:
^ I just tried it again to make sure, using MC21.  I can't find the menu or the interface element if it's there.  I even put in a blank CD in case that triggered something that's otherwise hidden.

Brian.

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