This should really merge with the iTunes thread one day but for now I wouldn't mind it having its won title.

I have had great success with Sharepod which saved my who iTunes library ofter a pc meltdown. Thank you.
However, it essentially treats the iPod like a hard drive & lacks a lot of features, so I don'use it for day to day stuff.

I am in the process of installing Songbird & will give it a whirl.
I use my iPod for listening to music & podcasts, nothing else.

iTunes is fine, but hogs so many resources & sees quite temperamental.
I also had the shits that when I bought a new pc despite following the instructions, it would not recognise my iPod so I had to do the reset & reload.

any experiences???

I found that disabling everything I don't use like the store, TV, etc. improved matters resourcewise considerably.

dumped songbird straightaway, no podcast support & too busy.
mediamonkey now, looks better.

Ooh! I'm gonna try that, thanks for the info! B)

did all that already, truth is that since I upgraded my pc, which runs Win7 iTunes works fine.
I have just had such a lo tof frustration with it as I moved everything over.

An no I don't want Quick Time with that!

I like iTunes. As a musical neatness obsessive, it's right up my street.

If anyone wants me to pimp their library, I am available at 250 guineas an hour.

well after a few grand experiments, completely f-ing up my music library I am back with itunes.
cumbersome & proprietary, yes, but zoot has a point.