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Looking for a good review between foobar and itunes.


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Specifically I try to find out how they handle large number of files. I not looking for peoples opinions I just looking for site that compares the two. Specially the strengths and weakness of each program... I would also like each program stress tested. Does any one know of a site that compares the two. The more recent the review the better.

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i use newest Foobar and it works perfectly fine. also works great for converting from FLAC to other formats like MPC/MP3/AAC(using Nero's codec)/OGG(Vorbis aoTuV).

to me ITunes is just not worth it. to much bloat as Foobar2000 is much lighter and gets to the point.

p.s. plus with the ABX extension for Foobar you can preform a double blind listening test to compare your lossy to the lossless to see if you can tell the difference. which can be good for trying to get the smallest possible file size without any loss in quality to your own ears etc. i personally find while trying to goto minimum file size without any noticeable loss in quality that q0.35 (i.e. 100kbps) works well for Nero's AAC codec (which once setup with Foobar is pretty easy to convert FLAC to AAC) ... although i generally use the MPC format on my Rockbox player since AAC is the least battery efficient on Rockbox DAP's. although for most other things with stock firmware like Zune or IPOD etc i would assume AAC is a overall better choice than MP3, especially at lower (i.e. 128kbps or less) bit rates.

Specifically I try to find out how they handle large number of files.

you can add separate tabs and loads up a ton of music in each tab if you want. can drag and drop folders into the tab window and it will add the music etc. and once you get your playlists setup you can export them for future use etc.

Foobar can load entire libraries in seconds.

Agreed. i tried loading a folder which has around 150-ish .m4a (AAC) files made with Nero's codec and it takes a few seconds and then they are there.

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Considering that both are free, why don't you simply download them both and try them out?

Thanks for the advice I don't really want to go and import my library into itunes only then to use foobar. I am just trying to see if anyones done the definitive review. If there are other music players people would recommmend that would also be helpful.

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You make it sound like it's a daunting task... don't you keep all your music in one place like a normal person? If so, then you do no work at all. The application does. I think Roadwarrior's suggestion is the best. Having said that, I think iTunes is absolute garbage, and I use Foobar myself.

If you think you will miss all the internet radio stations and feeds, automatic tag correction, and loads of other stuff which some people think is helpful and others think is bloat, then stick with iTunes. If you want an efficient, flexible, and minimalist player, then Foobar is for you. That's really what it comes down to.

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It is daunting task when you have a large percentage of your music in FLAC and then you have renecode to apple lossless. And then import into itunes. We are taking 200-300 Gigabytes. I am surprised that no one has reviewed itunes when having such a large database. I want to know people experiences, but I would like some-what reputable review so I can make a judgement. I have my music in central location and want to stream it to multiple places which I do. Based on the comments here everyone seems to bashing itunes. I just want to fined someone who has moved there entire gigantic library to itunes and is satisfied.

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I use iTunes and find it a get peice of software. And, as to the bloat just turn it off. iTunes allows you to adjust the way you want your library to work. The ability to do batch files or folders is nice. The good thing is people are also finding ways to skin iTunes so that you get the look you are looking for. At present I am using Silent Night which gives me a charrol look (very nice).

As to FLAC, you have to decide on that yourself. I use MP3s, and my iTunes library contains over 200 gigs of music, thus it is nice to be able to find any song without any problem (of course you should be able to do that with any good media player/library).

Like roadwarrior stated try both out yourself too see which one you would like the best. The one that does not meet what you are looking for can be easly removed. Good Luck. . . :)

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I going to say this one more time so people can understand. Why do people test Browsers and have reviews about browsers. After all you can just download each one and make your own decision. There should be no need for reviewers/benchamarks....Right? All I am asking for is review that compares different media players for storing music and streaming.

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I don't know how large you consider a large number of files to be, but here's my experience:

foobar2000 runs fine with 10k files on my current computer (fine meaning it never ever lags at all).

iTunes runs alright with 2k files on my old XP computer (alright meaning it runs good most of the time except for the random inexplicable lag spikes). foobar2000 does not lag on the same old XP computer.

I wanted to test iTunes on my current computer to provide a clear comparison, but I will never again willingly install that resource hungry piece of **** on any computer of mine, especially while it installs 3 (going from what it installed on my old PC) separate "helper" programs which are always running, without any confirmation.

Objective: Both are good media players, they can both handle fairly large numbers of files (depending on your definition of "large" of course).

My opinion: iTunes is ****, use foobar2000.

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It is daunting task when you have a large percentage of your music in FLAC and then you have renecode to apple lossless. And then import into itunes. We are taking 200-300 Gigabytes. I am surprised that no one has reviewed itunes when having such a large database. I want to know people experiences, but I would like some-what reputable review so I can make a judgement. I have my music in central location and want to stream it to multiple places which I do. Based on the comments here everyone seems to bashing itunes. I just want to fined someone who has moved there entire gigantic library to itunes and is satisfied.

Well Foobar supports FLAC, so is that enough of a reason to just go with Foobar? :p It would be for me.

And if you are looking to stream music, isn't VLC more what you want? That also supports FLAC OOB.

iTunes is really bloated, and has a whole bunch of nonsense that is useless if all you are looking to do is stream and listen to your local music collection, nothing else. Given that, not sure why you are even looking at iTunes, unless I am missing something.

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It is daunting task when you have a large percentage of your music in FLAC and then you have renecode to apple lossless. And then import into itunes. We are taking 200-300 Gigabytes. I am surprised that no one has reviewed itunes when having such a large database. I want to know people experiences, but I would like some-what reputable review so I can make a judgement. I have my music in central location and want to stream it to multiple places which I do. Based on the comments here everyone seems to bashing itunes. I just want to fined someone who has moved there entire gigantic library to itunes and is satisfied.

If your music is in FLAC, then there is no reason to use iTunes. Use foobar, and install the WASAPI plug in for it and you will have the best audio quality there is. The other option for streaming music and an excellent library manager / player is JRiver Media Center. But it's not free.

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Yes your right WASAPI plugin makes a huge difference in audio quality thanks! What I am going to settle on is foobar on a netbook and access my network shares controlled via my ipod touch. Its not perfect but getting closer.

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Here is a video I found doing some tests on each player that you might find worthwhile.

Personally, I use MediaMonkey - http://www.mediamonkey.com/. It handles my large library (almost 1TB) of music very well. I have a mix of mp3, m4a, wav, flac, aac, and some wma files. Works very well on my netbook (version 3 especially). With version 4, you can do a portable install so that can be handy at times. Also, v4 supports DLNA support so you can stream to other devices--but I haven't tried that feature out yet.

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