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I'm currently using an old PC originally running Windows 98SE, I've put a lot of work into keeping it running well its now dual booting Win 7 and ubuntu 10.4 and it runs great except for itunes which causes the entire system to come to a grinding halt. So I need a lightweight itunes alternative for windows or ubuntu. Preferably ubuntu because I had some difficulty getting drivers for the AC'97 audio, despite my best efforts every song sounds like its being sung by Alvin and the chipmunks. |
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I am currently using CopyTrans Manager, which is a simple but very lightweight alternative to iTunes. It manages my iphone 4s in a clean way and is pretty straight-forward. No frills here, you can add/remove/edit track data, playlists and apps, but hey if you want all the perks, you can always go back to blue-whale iTunes :) In the past I have used Media Monkey, but currently it is not compatible with iOS 5. |
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To be completely honest right now, I have to say that I like Rythmbox the most. I like the interface of it, and how easy it can read music off of an iPod. I haven't tried to put songs onto an iPod through Ubuntu, but it seems like it will do it well. |
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I would use Banshee for Linux (http://banshee.fm/) and Songbird (http://www.getsongbird.com/) for Windows (although i don't think the performance of Songbird is much better then iTunes). Although I use songbird myself, I find that it is "heavy" on resources. I do wish though that there is a much more lightweight alternative to Songbird for Windows. Is there? Banshee is pretty nice. |
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I can't believe you got Windows 7 running on that rig if it originally came with Windows 98 SE. I loved WIndows 98, and was disappointed to find that Apple never made a version of iTunes for it. Eventually I had to move on. Unfortunately there's no other way to communicate with iPods and other iDevices to full capacity without iTunes. I'm assuming you installed iTunes 9 on your Windows 7 partition. I suppose if you can upgrade your hardware, do so. Otherwise I would recommend getting hold of a machine that can run iTunes. However, it's ironic. I once got iTunes 8 running (slow, but running) on a 1GHz Pentium 3 computer running Windows Xp. Ah well. Yes, if you want the full "iTunes" experience, then find a way to use iTunes, but there are pieces of software that can communicate with the iPods. You have to do your research to see if your device is supported. System specs are: HDD Master: 160GB HDD Slave: 20GB (From my very first computer ever!) RAM: 768MB SD-RAM (Plus 512MB memory stick with page filing so it can be used as RAM) CPU: P4 1.5Ghz The RAM is hard to find and very expensive, I have tried to find a better CPU to fit it. I ordered a 3Ghz P4 in my local Cex but after 3 months I went back and was told they no longer sold them. >:( I think you would probably be able to find something on eBay. Here is one for $10: http://j.mp/dUUXVU wait, this p4 PC had windows 98 on it? |
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Are there any websites hosting old versions of itunes? Don't go with old versions. At least on Mac, it got much smoother on the latest update. I have never used any of these from this site, it claims that they have all the way back to version 4.1. http://www.oldapps.com/itunes.php |
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Are you looking for an alternate iPod manager or an alternate music player? Alternate iPod managers don't work well with some types of iPods. On Ubuntu, there's Rhythmbox, Banshee, and Amarok. On Windows, CoolPlayer is a great app, and there's also Winamp, Songbird and Amarok. |
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If you're looking for simply a program to play music on - and nothing more, Winamp is your best bet. Used it for years. If you really want a "fast" Winamp, go to "oldversion.com" and select Winamp Ver. 2.80. |
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Foobar2000. It prides itself on being lightweight and fast. I used it for years on a PIII 833Mhz with 384MB of RAM. It really is so incredibly fast compared to anything else. I did have a question.. why are you not running Windows XP? That PIII box I mentioned had XP on it, and it ran fine. Windows 7 seems a little resource heavy for what you're running it on. I'm sure you'd get much better performance if you were using XP. When I ran XP on the P3 box, I also had no trouble running iTunes (although it took forever to open compared to Foobar2000). |
