“Free iTunes Alternative” = “iTunes Alternative that doesn’t cost anything”

iTunes is free and worth every penny (but not a penny more!)

Someone said that WinAmp is 100% compatible with IPOD. Appreciate it if someone can tell me if it is also compatible with 6th generation IPOD classic and can handle photos, as well as video files. What about voice memo files?

Fully compatible, very light and fast. I love it!

Of course, totally FREE.

http://www.copytrans.net/manager.php

Thanks for the software recommendations, I use CCleaner to do my cleaning and it works perfectly. I’m glad you don’t have to use iTunes, as I am required to because of my iPod touch. I understand the points you have made, but after some tests I have done, iTunes indeed slows down my computer, even after cleaning the leftovers. I am still firm on my point that iTunes is unnecessarily bloated and I dread launching it.

I understand where you are coming from. Please note that after installing and testing iTunes, I have noticed that the total over all installation did grow to include several hundred MB of temp files (much like Nero does). Using a simple program call CleanUp! (by Steven Gould – and it is malware free and freeware) in its default settings allows for quick removal of the extra files that are no longer needed (bringing the installation back to around 80 MB). Yes, the files are scattered all over the hard drive but this is normal with any installation (including the initial installation of Windows (all flavors) hence the need for defragmentation software (insert your software of choice here) which will of course spread files all over the hard drive during installtion also.

As for the registry – there are a few programs available to defragment and clean the registry but I suggest using them with the greatest of caution (too much “cleaning” of the registry will cause as many problems as having a corrupted and “dirty” registry).

Services you say! Windows is full of unneeded and sometimes dangerous services. There is a fairly inexpensive program available (The Ultimate Troubleshooter from http://www.answersthatwork.com/) that lets you choose what starts up and what does not start up as well as letting you set what services run and what services do not run – it even lets you email unknown service information to the Answers That Work support team if you are not sure of what to do with a particular service. Suffice it to say that there are enough options available to even the average user so as to make 80 MB of used space not worth worrying about – even if you have to install some other software to make everything on your computer run the way you need it to.

As for iTunes – I no longer use it and not because it adds 80 MB extra to my hard drive. I found an alternative to iTunes that works better for me (Anapod Explorer from http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/).

Just my two cents worth…….

Needless to say, after all the modifications that the software does to your system, an 80 MB copy of iTunes will slow your computer down more than a 4 GIG movie you got stored on your hard drive, though it has a smaller file size.