Replace iTunes with Floola

Martin Brinkmann
Feb 6, 2007
Updated • May 29, 2013
Software, Windows software
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13

Floola is a multi-platform freeware replacement for Apple's iTunes software that offers features that iTunes does not make available at the time of writing.

Before you can use Floola you need to prepare your iPod and enable it to work as a portable hard drive. A good walkthrough of the different steps can be found on the official Apple website. When that is done you need to configure iTunes to manages songs and playlists manually.

Floola has some major advantages over iTunes - it is faster and more responsive, can copy music to and from the iPod and  your computer, can be run right from the iPod to use it on any system you connect your iPod to,can fix certain defects, and enables you to search for files and duplicates.

The major disadvantage is of course the missing link to the iTunes music store, if you never use it - like I do - you won't miss it. If you have troubles using Floola download the user guide which explains the basic features thoroughly.

Update: The latest version of Floola supports all major operating systems including the most recent versions of Windows, Mac OS X and various Linux distributions. The feature set has been improved significantly ever since our initial review. Here is a short rundown of new features that are now supported by Floola:

  • Lyrics support for all devices
  • Option to search for duplicates and lost files
  • Add artwork to your files
  • Videos and web videos can be added to iPods
  • You can now convert audio and video formats
  • Google Calendar can now be synchronized with the iPod
  • Support for Growl (Mac) and Snarl (Windows) to display desktop notifications

Floola is still actively developed, the latest version has been released this year. You can download the latest version if the program from the official project website.

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Comments

  1. i said on October 3, 2011 at 7:44 pm
    Reply

    As one of the thousands who found itunes horrible to use, Floola was a godsend. Bottom line is, Apple designed itunes/ipods to get them more money without caring about ease of use for their customers. Floola brilliantly fixes this allowing multiple ipods (with different owners) to be used on the same computer with ease.

    Floola destroys itunes IMHO.

  2. jeremy palmer said on September 16, 2009 at 9:26 pm
    Reply

    can you download your music from your computer to your ipod as well?

  3. Richard_Stallman said on April 11, 2009 at 10:56 pm
    Reply

    Floola 5 is cool. I can completely manage every aspect of my ipod better, and quicker than iTunes. It even automatically converts my videos that I drag and drop into it to mp4.
    Songbird 1.1.1 + Floola 5 = iTunes replacement.

  4. TheMancunian said on February 6, 2007 at 9:43 pm
    Reply

    Couldn’t get used to Floola…

    but on my travels i did come across a tool quite handy for any MAC & PC owners out there!

    http://desktopecho.com/tsclientx/

    Terminal Services Client for MAC so you can remote to Windows based PC. Quite useful i think :P

  5. DemonLlama said on February 6, 2007 at 3:33 pm
    Reply

    Looks really promising but when I try to run it my PC hangs. It’s hogging 75% of my CPU (p4 3.0) and about 250MB of RAM.

    I’ll try it on my home PC instead and see what happens.

  6. silly_milly said on February 6, 2007 at 10:01 am
    Reply

    The only thing that iTunes doesn’t have it an instant playlist generator – or thematic shuffle and I find that The Filter works really well for that.

    If I was going to swap media players it would be to Songbird.

    1. TheMancunian said on February 6, 2007 at 11:34 am
      Reply

      Thanks sully_milly – that looks very interesting indeed =)

      will be trying that out this week!

      1. TheMancunian said on February 6, 2007 at 11:34 am
        Reply

        silly_milly*

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