Future of iTunes and the .ltl file

[Wavertonwood]

I was listening to the a podcast, from the Next Track team, on the future of iTunes. The discussion made sense to me about the future and hopefully it comes to pass.  Particularly on the music downloads.

 

My usage of iTunes is a just music player, I don't use Apple Music, the store or the iCloud Match service. Just regular ALAC files to playback (mostly ripped from CD).  At present I am a satisfied customer/user of iTunes and it does everything I need (e.g. Airplay to speakers). However the podcast got me thinking "What if there was a dramatic change that meant iTunes went pure streaming for Music?".

 

The question I cannot seem to find on the web is there an alternative media player that could access the the .itl  library file if the worse would come to the worse that would keep the original library information such as artwork, play counts etc. and also allows Airplay?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Wavertonwood - Great question. There are tons of alternatives available and you can almost always download the trial to test if you're happy. And, they are non-destructive to your iTunes library if the new apps don't work out.

 

Some popular apps around here are Audirvana+, JRiver Media Center, and Roon. I'm sure I left out too many but this is a start.

[PeterG]

23 minutes ago, Wavertonwood said:

The question I cannot seem to find on the web is there an alternative media player that could access the the .itl  library file if the worse would come to the worse that would keep the original library information such as artwork, play counts etc. and also allows Airplay?

 

I switched from ripped CDs on iTunes/Amarra to the Naim Uniti Core.  It was a breeze, though I needed an inexpensive third party program to recover the artwork.  The name escapes me, but Naim referred me to it.  I lost play count (and I don't use Airplay), but that seems trivial.

 

On a related less happy note, I understand it is very difficult to switch from iTunes to Aurender, but perhaps others have more experience here.

[kirkmc]

An alternative app wouldn't be able to access the .itl file, but rather that .xml file, if you have the setting to create it turned on (Advanced prefs).

 

Worst case, you simply point a player at your iTunes Music folder; it will read the folder structure and the metadata. You'll lose personal metadata - plays, ratings, etc. - and playlists, but nothing else. 

[Ralf11]

3 hours ago, PeterG said:

 

I switched from ripped CDs on iTunes/Amarra to the Naim Uniti Core.  It was a breeze, though I needed an inexpensive third party program to recover the artwork.  The name escapes me, but Naim referred me to it.  I lost play count (and I don't use Airplay), but that seems trivial.

 

On a related less happy note, I understand it is very difficult to switch from iTunes to Aurender, but perhaps others have more experience here.

 

did you do any listening comparisons?

 

ergonomic or aesthetic considerations?

[PeterG]

5 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

did you do any listening comparisons?

 

ergonomic or aesthetic considerations?

 

The Naim with a Nordost Blue Heaven SPDIF cable was smoother and more open than my Mac Mini with SSD, Amarra, Intona, and Audioquest Carbon USB.  Surprisingly (at least for me), the choice of cable for the Naim made a huge difference--when I substituted a more expensive Goldmund SPDIF for the Blue Heaven, I was very disappointed compared with both the Naim/Nordost and the Mac.  

 

My primary impetus for switching was that the Mac setup was failing on multiple fronts, driving me bonkers, and convincing me that trade up was only a matter of time.  Most alarmingly, iTunes was regularly losing files--often, but not always, finding them later.  

 

My Mac served me well for years, but I basically agree with other posters who have noted that the added expense and hassle of improving its sound whittles away the cost differential rapidly.  I love my Naim Uniti Core--sound, software interface, ease of CD ripping, and stability are all excellent.  I was not surprised at all when Chris named its stablemate to the CASH list.

[RobertinMn]

On 6/14/2018 at 10:09 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hi Wavertonwood - Great question. There are tons of alternatives available and you can almost always download the trial to test if you're happy. And, they are non-destructive to your iTunes library if the new apps don't work out.

 

Some popular apps around here are Audirvana+, JRiver Media Center, and Roon. I'm sure I left out too many but this is a start.

Pure Music

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, RobertinMn said:

Pure Music

Didn't even know that was still in development. 

[RobertinMn]

7 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Didn't even know that was still in development. 

 

It's still out there. I prefer it in some ways over Audirvana--easier to use the itunes interface than Audir. It's been updated for all but the very latest version of HS--but it runs on it just fine.

[DavidL]

On 6/14/2018 at 5:21 PM, kirkmc said:

An alternative app wouldn't be able to access the .itl file, but rather that .xml file, if you have the setting to create it turned on (Advanced prefs).

 

Worst case, you simply point a player at your iTunes Music folder; it will read the folder structure and the metadata. You'll lose personal metadata - plays, ratings, etc. - and playlists, but nothing else. 

 

I've done this for years without any problems. If like me you are not really interested in personal metadata I'd therefore strongly recommend this approach.

[Bob Stern]

On 6/25/2018 at 4:33 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

Didn't even know that [Pure Music] was still in development. 

 

Pure Music is very much alive.  Development appears limited to fixing minor bugs and compatibility with new versions of iTunes and MacOS rather than adding features.  The application was last updated 8 months ago.  The developer's FAQ includes an April 2018 post confirming High Sierra compatibility and a promise this month to release a 64-bit version for compatibility with upcoming MacOS 10.14.

 

http://www.channld.com/support-troubleshooting.html