Okay, so the newest version of iTunes died on me WEEKS ago and repeated attempts to resuscitate it by re-installing, re-starting, clearing caches and repairing permissions have all failed. I've only been surviving by listening the songs that were already on my iPod... I had already spent so much money on building my music library, but now I can't even listen to it on iTunes! This is depressing, folks! 🤢 And Apple Support hasn't been much help, either - I've posted on their forums and contacted them directly but so far their suggestions haven't worked. And even if they DO end up working eventually, I'm just so sick of iTunes that I really don't want to use it anymore... It's like a years-long marriage that has gone sour, lol. That old dame iTunes, she just don't put out no more. 😔

So I thought I'll just ask the smart folks here at Baka-Updates for an alternative to iTunes! Please help me cheat on my software spouse. 😛

I want an alternative to the iTunes application that will allow me to listen to music I had purchased on iTunes AND will let me burn that music onto an audio CD. Given DRM protection and all that, is this even possible? Does Apple have some other software that can do this for me legally? Or does anyone else have other (legal) ways to do this?

I have just downloaded Songbird which is otherwise great, but it seems CD burning isn't an option. 🙁

Info about my system: Mac OS X 10.4.11. Please don't recommend Windows applications to me, lol. I won't be able to do anything with them. 😉

Addendum: I originally posted this in the Music forum since it's about music, but since it's also about technology, the mods are welcome to move it to Chatterbox or any other forum they feel is best. Thank y'all kindly.

Couldn't you just install an older version of iTunes that actually worked for you? Or is that not an option for Macs....

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."

• Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain

I've heard tell of winamp being used as an alternative to itunes. It lets you synch to your ipod. Should play drm too.

Sarcasm just doesn't work over the internet.

@true_grave_unit, the problem is that older versions of iTunes no longer work with my new library, since the upgrade to the most recent version has changed my library too. 🙁

@silent killer, I'll give it a try thanks! But will I be able to burn DRM music onto a CD?

I know winamp has the ability to burn cd's, but I always used a separate burning program, so I wouldn't know.

Sarcasm just doesn't work over the internet.

Quote from tartufo

@true_grave_unit, the problem is that older versions of iTunes no longer work with my new library, since the upgrade to the most recent version has changed my library too. 🙁

here:
[url]http://technicallyeasy.net/2009/03/restoring-a-previous-version-of-your-itunes-library/[/url]

If you want, you could try this, though the instructions seem to be for PC and am not sure if this can apply to macs as well.

Here's a link for the location of the library on macs (as well as older versions of your library)
[url]http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660[/url]

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."

• Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain

Both of you have been very kind - thank you so much! <3