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iTunes Disables MusicMatch 582

spooza writes "If you own an iPod and use it with MusicMatch on a Windows machine and then install iTunes, strange things happen: after the installation, MusicMatch is unable to communicate or even find the iPod anymore. Of course this might be a coincidence or bad programming on the Apple side, but since MusicMatch also introduced a pay-per-download service it seems not too farfetched to suspect that Apple simply took the opportunity to knock out an opponent. The funny thing is, Apple and MusicMatch cooperated before, because Apple wanted to have software that was able to work with iPod and thus not lose potential customers that want to buy an iPod but have only Windows." MusicMatch recommends deleting, then downloading and reinstalling, the MusicMatch software to reenable it.
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iTunes Disables MusicMatch

Comments Filter:
  • Feature? (Score:2, Funny)

    by spankalee ( 598232 )
    I thought this was a feature...
  • As well as xplay... (Score:3, Informative)

    by MeanE ( 469971 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:11PM (#7398180) Homepage
    Even with the registry patch for xplay almost every time I fire up iTunes afterwards I get a blank xplay folder. EphPod seems to work fine no matter what. I wonder how they are able to overcome this.
  • They announced this (Score:5, Informative)

    by NeoSkandranon ( 515696 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:12PM (#7398190)
    Apple said fairly upfront that if you installed iTunes for windows, iTunes would be the only way to load your iPod anymore.

    I don't even have an iPod and yet i know this.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by LoadStar ( 532607 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:41PM (#7398526)
        Sure they may have told you, but the question is whether it's just that they didn't want to bother fixing something that was broken of if they did it intentionally to lock out the competition. One is just lazy, the other is pretty low.

        Are they really competition? I guess they sort of are... but then again, Apple WAS bundling MusicMatch with the iPod all along until they released iTunes.

        I guess the way I see it - they deliberately disabled what they considered an older version of the iPod software (MusicMatch) in favor of the newer version (iTunes).

    • by Anonymous Coward
      Gator/Claria has been pretty upfront that their software can be used to track information on the client computer.

      I don't even use Gator and yet I know this.
  • They go through several lengthy notices when you move to download iTunes, and then to install it, that if you are already on Windows your MusicMatch software will no longer function.

    MusicMatch was a bandaid for Apple when they did not have a Windows software client.

    Game on.
    • "Warning!
      You are now installing Windows XP. If you have previously installed any third-party Internet browsers or email programs, they may not function properly after the upgrade. Microsoft does not support the use of third-party Internet browsers and email programs. If you want to use those functions, you must use Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, or use an operating system not published by Microsoft.
      <I Understand and Agree>"

      It's kind of funny to see how Slashdotters race to the defense o

      • It's kind of funny to see how Slashdotters race to the defense of Apple when they start acting like a monopoly, but when MS does it, the sky is falling.

        Ok, on one hand you have a company a with ~5% OS marketshare writing software for another OS and specifically telling people it will disable certain other software on the system.

        On the other hand, you have a company with ~95% OS marketshare bundling apps (such as a web browser) with their OS in order to crush the competition by leveraging the power of the
        • Does this mean that everything rotten thing a company does is permissible UP TO the point they achieve market dominance (as long as they provide a helpful EULA)?

          If this is the case, I never again want to hear complaints about the terrible things Microsoft has done before they were actually convicted of monopolistic practices, nor the terrible things they have done in markets where they don't have monopoly status.

          Apple does this shit again and again, its despicable business practice, and I'm sick of people
      • Does Windows XP really have that warning? (I haven't used XP, so I really don't know.)

        If not, then this is a different situation--Apple's software DOES warn you.

        Besides, if I installed different software to access my USB printer/scanner, I'd expect the current software to stop working... *shrug*

        --RJ
      • It's kind of funny to see how Slashdotters race to the defense of Apple when they start acting like a monopoly, but when MS does it, the sky is falling. (Probable defense by Apple zealots: "Apple isn't anywhere near as bad as Microsoft." Problem with that defense: That doesn't justify defending Apple, that justifies criticizing them more selectively.)

        "Acting" like a monopoly? Who cares if companies act like monopolies? More so, who cares if companies ARE monopolies? Only thing we care about is when compan
      • This isn't anti-competetive monopoly abuse. It is anti-competetive free-market tactics. Apple has a monopoly on MacOS based desktop systems. They might also have a monopoly on legal online music sales in the U.S., and/or portable mp3 players. I consider those to be part of the same market though. So no monopoly position is being abused to gain market share in a new market, rather to increase market share in the same market. If MS does something anti-competetive with Windows to gain market share in the Intel
      • xp is disabling third party applications with their own--hence the concept of a monopoly. if you install windows media player, the option of resetting your preferences to use this player for certain types of files is presented. likewise with most other media players, quicktime included... there is a distinction--though subtle--between the two types of applications mentioned. one is extending a monopoly, one is choice.

        additionally, my understanding is that music match still functions, though not with the ip

      • So, basically Apple is saying "If you buy our product it will only work with our other (free) product."

        That's like being pissed when someone says "If you buy our Linux database, it will only work with the (free) Linux OS." "WTF? What happned to choice? Since when is Linux a Monopoly? I WANNA RUN AIX & SOLARIS!" "Sorry, Linux only."

        (Probable defense by Apple zealots: "Apple isn't anywhere near as bad as Microsoft." Problem with that defense: That doesn't justify defending Apple, that justifies criticiz

  • by kerubi ( 144146 ) * on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:12PM (#7398193)
    At least it is not targeted at MusicMatch, just broadly to all competitors :)
  • by dreamt ( 14798 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:12PM (#7398194)
    Funny, I remember when installing iTunes on my laptop, it WARNED your that this would happen.

    While I see MusicMatch not being happy about this, it isn't like it wasn't an expected result of the iTunes installer.
  • Thank god! (Score:5, Funny)

    by lambadomy ( 160559 ) <lambadomy&diediedie,com> on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:13PM (#7398196)
    I had to use musicmatch for my ipod, and it was one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used. Musicmatch was kind enough to send me an e-mail alerting me that itunes would disable the musicmatch interaction with my ipod, unfortunately when I replied to the e-mail with "Thank god, your software is horrible" it didn't go to an actual person. Oh well.
    • by crawling_chaos ( 23007 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @02:35PM (#7399177) Homepage
      I did exactly the same. Funny how the fact that their reply-to address is just a bot saying "I can't do anything about this." Already that bot is 99% more effective than MusicMatch's Tech Support (motto: We put the "less" in Clueless) ever was.

      The disabling of MusicMatch was a bugfix, in my opinion.

  • Reminds me... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by orkysoft ( 93727 ) <orkysoft&myrealbox,com> on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:14PM (#7398214) Journal
    So Apple co-operated with MusicMatch, up and until it had its own software, and then used it to knock out its former partner.

    Reminds me of a certain big software company somewhere in the North West of the USA.
    • Come on - MusicMatch knew damn well they were just a stopgap solution. This isn't a loyalty thing. These kinds of deals are made all the time. I've worked at companies where we signed a short term agreement to cooperate with a competitor and use their software while we developed our own to do the same job. Both sides went in with eyes wide open, and the competitor profited during that time.

      If MusicMatch thought they were going to be a permanent partner with Apple, they're idiots. And I don't think they are
    • Re:Reminds me... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by GlassHeart ( 579618 )
      Reminds me of a certain big software company somewhere in the North West of the USA.

      Reminds me of every for-profit company. Do you imagine there are lasting alliances (much less true friendship) in business? If MusicMatch did not profit from its cooperation with Apple while it lasted, their stockholders should be upset at its management.

      I like and own Apple products, and I think they distinguish themselves in the marketplace by putting out polished products at a premium. However, I don't expect them

  • by stubear ( 130454 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:18PM (#7398258)
    You know, I would have thought this was simply another conspiracy theory on /. created to stir up controversy and debate. However, after reading this [thinksecret.com] and this [thinksecret.com] on Think Secret the other day I'm not so sure. This isn't the first not will it likely be the last transgression at this level pulled by Apple.
    • I wish we had an Apple store here.

      The closest Mac store is terrible. It's at a horrible location, it's grungy and dirty, and most of the hardware is used crap like 6100s. The software is often very old, and frequently mislabeled. The copy of Panther I bought from them was already opened, and they admitted they'd made copies of it for their own use (store and personal).

      Bring on the Apple store.

  • by terraformer ( 617565 ) <tpb@pervici.com> on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:19PM (#7398264) Journal
    ...then it only affects using MM to access the iPod and not totally disabling MM. Now MM sells music using WMA format which is incompatible with the iPod. There is no conspiracy here since the MM service is totally incompatible with the iPod and since disabling access to the iPod from within MM does nothing to lose the std mp3 files I am figuring this is just apple's way of simplifying the process of users "switching" (pun intended) to iTunes without having people utterly confused.

    This is classic Apple (as I type this from my 15" TiBook) and lets face it. Apple is used to controlling the environment it is in (why the hell freezing over joke was less of a joke than outsiders realize) and this only smacks of something any Apple user has known since they became an Apple user. That Apple takes care of the hard part and doesn't leave much control to the end user as a result. ie; It just works...

    FYI: I like that as much as I like the exact opposite with Linux, which I run on multilple machines so the above was not a dig.

    • That Apple takes care of the hard part and doesn't leave much control to the end user as a result. ie; It just works..

      So, would you and the current +4 moderators say the same thing if MS disabled Netscape for you and put IE in its place? How about disabling Winamp and forcing you to use WMP? What about automatically wiping out and replacing your boot manager?

      Let me rephrase your quote..

      That MS takes care of the hard part and doesn't leave much control to the end user as a result. ie; It just works..
      • If you understood my point you would have realized that I was saying that this is not a surprise they would do something like this, not that it was above board. However, nor do I believe it is Apple trying to dominate it's competition. They do not enjoy the numbers MS has nor do they have a direct vested interest in seeing MM not sell to their iPod customers since, as I stated, the two formats are incompatible. Their immediate and most pressing issue is trying to get MM out of the picture since the software
      • by buysse ( 5473 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @02:19PM (#7398984) Homepage

        That MS takes care of the hard part and doesn't leave much control to the end user as a result. ie; It just works..
        If only that were true... with a Macintosh, it usually is.</flamebait>

        It doesn't disable MusicMatch - it disables communication with the iPod from programs other than iTunes. Have you ever tried to get three different programs to sync with a PalmOS device? It's an interesting experiment. Make sure to back everything up with the original software first. The program is clear at install time that this will occur, it's not checking and removing it at startup, and by reinstalling MusicMatch, it works (and you are now unsupported by Apple).

        For your example, if MS disabled Netscape and replaced it with IE when you did a major upgrade, yes, I would be annoyed. If it disabled WinAMP's ability to talk to the (fictional) msPod when you installed WMP XP 1.2, sure, it'd be annoying, but I would say the same damned thing. Boot manager? That's a bloody support issue. Annoying? Yes. Would I do it if I were them? Yes, and I would not apologize -- operating as documented. Don't like it? Don't dual-boot.

        I'm not apologizing for Apple. I don't necessarily agree with the decision, but I don't know why that decision was made. If MusicMatch does something that's extremely incompatible with iTunes and damages data on the iPod, would you blame Apple for not warning you?

  • Obvious Choice (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mrpuffypants ( 444598 ) * <(moc.liamg) (ta) (stnapyffuprm)> on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:19PM (#7398271)
    If you have an iPod and had the choice of MusicMatch or iTunes what would you choose?

    MusicMatch:
    1) WMA-Crippled Music Downloads
    2) Pay more for more features
    3) Shit-poor interface

    iTunes
    1) AAC-crippled Music Downloads that play on the iPod
    2) Full features (ripping, smart playlists, etc) for free
    3) Great interface

    Sorry, no competition here. Move along.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      So what your saying is: this is some sort of great new iTunes feature! It removes software that isnt as great as itself from your system... or at least makes them funciton even more poorly. I hope more software starts integrating this feature (if it isnt patented). I can't wait for the day that open office decides to kill word off my computer, or maybe just make it so that it cant print.
    • Not so obvious (Score:2, Informative)

      by wayner9 ( 721762 )
      I prefer MusicMatch. Problems with iTunes: Will not downsample when moving to iPod - I ripped my MP3s at 256k, but I want them at 128k on my iPod. iTunes forces you to have song name in the first column of the library. I want artist - you cannot change this in iTunes. iTunes is slow at ripping MP3s - MusicMatch is 50% faster at ripping than iTunes. iTunes is SSSSSLLLLLLOOOOOOWWWW iTunes music store is unavailable to 95% of the population of planet earth. I live in Canada so I can't use this service.
    • Re:Obvious Choice (Score:3, Informative)

      by gosand ( 234100 )
      If you have an iPod and had the choice of MusicMatch or iTunes what would you choose? MusicMatch: 1) WMA-Crippled Music Downloads 2) Pay more for more features 3) Shit-poor interface iTunes 1) AAC-crippled Music Downloads that play on the iPod 2) Full features (ripping, smart playlists, etc) for free 3) Great interface Sorry, no competition here. Move along.

      Umm, the point is that you shouldn't have to choose one over the other, you should be able to use both.

  • by gamgee5273 ( 410326 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:25PM (#7398338) Journal
    If you choose to use iTunes, use iTunes. If you choose to use Musicmatch, use Musicmatch. Just keep in mind that, if you download from Musicmatch that you won't be able to play WMA files on your iPod.

    This doesn't strike me as frontpage material, folks. It's kind of a no-brainer.

  • Yes, but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:26PM (#7398343)
    As the Apple Turns [appleturns.com] said it best:

    "And before you start lambasting Apple for pulling a stunt like this, c'mon... the people affected by this are Windows users-- they're used to this kind of treatment. Obviously they thrive on it, or they'd have ditched Microsoft years ago. Heck, crippling a competing product was probably the only way Apple could have gotten an ounce of respect from these folks in the first place. In fact, we think Apple probably missed a golden opportunity to win some serious admiration from the Windows community; instead of simply removing MusicMatch's ability to sync with the iPod, iTunes should also have deleted MusicMatch entirely, installed spyware, inexplicably disabled a random piece of system hardware, reformatted any writable volumes not containing iTunes itself, and then emailed itself to everyone in the user's Outlook address book. Oh, and it should have cost thirty bucks. More, with technical support."

    • The only reason most people put up with Windows is as of now, they're the dominant operating system. Apple isn't a dominant desktop operating system, and we here are trying hard not to have another Microsoft. One's already bad enough, and this story came out just around the time I was considering getting an Apple laptop, kinda make me want to reconsider it.
  • I think that iTunes updated how windows accessed the iPod, before installing iTunes I had three programs installed for working with the iPod now I only have on in the install list. Perhaps Musicmatch hasn't updated their software to work with the new method? Just a thought.
  • Workaround found (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:29PM (#7398382)
    If you want to use xpod or musicmatch with the ipod, you just have to terminate (kill) the iTunesHelper.exe process. That will allow xpod and musicmatch, and most likely any other ipod software to work.
  • by MightyTribble ( 126109 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:30PM (#7398393)
    See this discussion [infopop.net] over at Ars Technica for more details.

    Bottom line : iTunes or GEAR removes vital registry keys that prevent audio CDs from playing once you've uninstalled the software. I had to manually hack my registry to restore functionality.

    Bad Apple. No Cookie.
    • I'm not sure this is the case for everyone, I've installed iTunes on two W2k (SP4) machines and don't have any problem with my CD drives or using other player apps. Uninstalled it as well and everything is still working.
    • I have a Win2K machine (SP 4), and I didn't have this problem. It did the usual registry association of audio CDs with iTunes, but WinAmp gladly changed it back to WinAmp for me, if I asked. I can play audio CDs with either application. (Haven't tried Media Player, but I dislike it anyway).

      However, I wouldn't be surprised if this happened, because the GEAR software is crap. My gf had it on her computer because she used the Audible.com software for her audio books. It broke CD audio playing, and it al

  • ... that they did this in order to prevent TWO programs at the same time trying to get a hold of the iPod?

    If that's all it does it's okay. If it prevents MMJB from starting than it isn't quite that okay.

    M.
  • as much as i like, i still think that online music downloading is still in its infancy. i can never imagine putting a CD that i bought from BestBuy in a player than finding out that now it won't play other CDs. nevertheless, such is the case of online music purchase and only because they don't trust me (their customer).

    if they don't trust me, they should implement drm in transparent way. when CDs first came out, it was not possible for consumers to make copies. it means no drm and everything was fine.

    as m
  • does anyone know if iTunes disables ephpod as well?

    or xplay or whatever it's called?
  • Ephpod (Score:5, Informative)

    by hrath ( 5792 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:36PM (#7398472)
    I highly recommend using Ephpod (http://www.ephpod.com/) with an iPod under Windows. When my SO gave me my iPod as a present last year and I installed MusicMatch on my work laptop MM was dogslow and often didn't finish syncing with the iPod. The free alternative Ephpod is simple to use and has always worked perfectly for me.

    regards,

    Heiko
  • Data corruption (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ciannait ( 82722 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:40PM (#7398514)
    If you're a sysadmin nerd, it's sort of a given that if you have two sources accessing the same filesystem at the same time, you're going to clobber your data. (That is, unless special protection is used.)

    Maybe Apple just wanted to prevent people from screwing up their iPods.

  • by Barbarian ( 9467 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:41PM (#7398537)
    "Why would you want to use Musicmatch when you have iTunes"
    "Musicmatch is a piece of crap, iTunes is much better"
    "There's nothing wrong with this, Musicmatch was a temporary solution until iTunes came out"

    The thing is, you ought to have the choice of using whatever program you want. Internet Explorer doesn't diddle the network settings of Mozilla or Netscape when it installs so that they will no longer be able to communicate with the www.
    • You had a choice! (Score:4, Informative)

      by NaugaHunter ( 639364 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @02:24PM (#7399050)
      iTunes warns during install that it will disable Musicmatch. You're choices are a) iTunes for the iPod with Musicmatch not using it, or b) Musicmatch only. And Explorer most definately "diddles" with default browser settings. Hell, I ran the Word demo on my new Powerbook and suddenly Explorer was my default browser and I had never even launched it.

      Just because you don't like the choices doesn't mean they aren't there. Since iTunes likely launches when an iPod is plugged in having Musicmatch also recognize it probably causes problems. While one might lament that Apple had somehow worked it out that you could choose each time, I'd argue that they had no real motivation to and from an ease-of-use point of view went for iTunes taking over the iPod completely.
    • > The thing is, you ought to have the choice of using whatever program you want.
      > Internet Explorer doesn't diddle the network settings of Mozilla or Netscape
      > when it installs so that they will no longer be able to communicate with the
      > www.

      Um, yes it does.
      Go install IE. It will change the windows settings to make IE the default.

      iTunes does the same, it installs a new driver that MM doesnt work with.

      When you install mozilla it does the same thing. Same as netscape.

      Slashdot really needs a
  • MusicMatch and XPlay (Score:5, Informative)

    by botono9 ( 199523 ) <forms@@@aaron-murray...net> on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @01:42PM (#7398542) Homepage
    Users of XPlay (third-party iPod software) may be familiar with a similar problem. If you have XPlay installed and then install the MusicMatch which comes with your iPod (I prefer XPlay to MusicMatch for interfacing with my iPod, but love MusicMatch's tagging utilities) XPlay will no longer see the iPod at all.

    Nothing really suprising here. There is only one driver for the iPod on the machine and when you install software that uses accesses the driver it will register itself as the default application.
  • Can you use ipod on Windows without using either iTunes, or MusicMatch?

    If so, why not at least use a different service, such as http://www.allofmp3.com

    Apple seems a weird mix right now, some areas are pro-Open Source, others seem to be almost the opposite...

    StarTux

  • My bias (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Unknown Kadath ( 685094 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @02:10PM (#7398859)
    When I first read this, I was thinking "big fat deal. Everyone knows Apple does proprietary stuff." Then I read some of the comments about how people would be attempting to storm the gates of Redmond if Microsoft pulled something like this, and realized that my attitude is hypocritical.

    And I still don't care.

    Apparently, my principles don't come into play when the software works seamlessly and efficiently and the UI is so pretty.

    This would bother me, but OSX is shiny and it's distracting me....

    -Carolyn
  • Here's why. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mellon ( 7048 ) * on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @02:42PM (#7399251) Homepage
    Lots of people have complained that if you have an iPod for Windows, and you have a Mac, when you plug the iPod into the Mac, the Mac wants to reformat it. And when you have an iPod for Mac and you plug it into your Windows machine, MusicMatch doesn't work with it without reformatting.

    This is because the iPod looks like a disk drive. On the Mac, it's formatted as an HFS volume. On Windows, it was formatted as a Windows volume.

    Now, with iTunes for Windows, you can share your iPod between Windows and Mac. This is because iTunes for Windows knows how to deal with HFS volumes. But unfortunately, MusicMatch for Windows does not know how to do this.

    So you lose something, and you get something. Depending on what you want, you may prefer one solution or the other. If you prefer MusicMatch, stick with it. If you prefer iTunes, stick with it.

    The point is that this was not just an arbitrary attempt to shut MusicMatch out of the business. It was done for a good reason. If MusicMatch wants to maintain iPod compatiblity after you install iTunes, this is doable, because HFS+ is a documented standard, and the source code to read and write HFS+ filesystems is available from Apple - it's part of Darwin, which is open source.

    So yes, Apple did make an incompatible change. And it sucks for people who really like MusicMatch. But there was a good reason for making the change, and I personally think the end result is a significant improvement. YMMV.
    • Re:Here's why. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by asparagus ( 29121 )
      It's slightly simpler than that...the Windows version of the iPod/iTunes uses Fat32 as a disk format. Not HFS+.

      If you get a new iPod and want to use it across both platforms, format it for PC. Then you can use it on either system interchangeably. Best way to go, as it makes it into a nifty portable external hard drive as well. It's how I've got mine set up.

      -Brett
    • Re:Here's why. (Score:4, Informative)

      by kennylives ( 27274 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @04:02PM (#7400099) Journal
      You got it backward:

      Now, with iTunes for Windows, you can share your iPod between Windows and Mac. This is because iTunes for Windows knows how to deal with HFS volumes. But unfortunately, MusicMatch for Windows does not know how to do this.

      iTunes for Mac can deal with a FAT32 iPod, but iTunes for Windows cannot deal with an HFS iPod. This is true even if you've got XPlay installed, which includes the HFS driver. iTunes/Win requires a Windows formatted iPod. Period.

      I know this because until that fateful Thursday, I had a Mac iPod and used XPlay to use it on Windows, and felt all sick and dirty having to reformat my precious to FAT32... My Macs (running OSX 10.2.6/10.3) were all perfectly happy with a FAT32 iPod after the reformat, BTW.

      Disclaimer: I never installed MM, so I don't know what fun bits it added to the equation here, but I doubt it does anything interesting. AFAIK, MM needs a FAT32 iPod (no HFS drivers included).

  • by chaeron ( 128155 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @04:38PM (#7400538) Homepage
    This is the email I sent to MM after receiving their whiny "notice" that MM would stop talking to my iPod if I installed iTunes. I did install iTunes....but MM don't work because I shitcanned it. ;-)

    Sirs:

    Hmmm...iTunes is faster at ripping, has better integration with my iPod, has a cleaner, more intuitive interface with less of the glitzy crap that MM comes with. iTunes also starts faster, only uses a single window on my desktop and integrates with Apples music store and proprietary music formats. I also don't use either for playing music on my PC, prefering the QCD player.

    Apple didn't make the choice...I did. I uninstalled MusicMatch and have no intentions to go back to your bloated, cumbersome, slow, unreliable package when iTunes does everything I need and more.

    The only reason I used MM was because it was the only option on a Windows box. Now that iTunes is here....MM is history as far as I am concerned.

    After living with MM for about 6 months, I can truly say that I do "get the best possible experience when managing your MP3 collection and transferring music to your iPod" to quote your words. By using iTunes for Windows.

    Your implication that MM is better than iTunes is both insulting and incorrect based on my experience.

  • by jemenake ( 595948 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @05:53PM (#7401368)
    Of course this might be a coincidence or bad programming on the Apple side...
    If you want to talk about bad programming, feast on this. When I used to sync my iPod with MusicMatch, it would promptly gobble up about 700MB of ram as it scanned through about 5,000 mp3's.

    I could watch it in the Task Manager's "Performance" tab, as my memory consumption gradually went from about 250MB to 1GB until the sync finished.

    Then I found EphPod, which is better than MusicMatch *or* iTunes....
  • by goldcd ( 587052 ) * on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @06:01PM (#7401475) Homepage
    MusicMatch was a completely awful program. I'm reasonably computer literate and I just gave up on it half an hour after buying my iPod and found Ephpod. For my own personal needs, synching correctly filed MP3s with my iPod, Ephpod was perfect and as I don't want yet another 'media centre' is still better than iTunes. iTunes and Ephpod work quite happily together though so I use both. Disabling Musicmatch is boon to all.

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