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Top 4 iTunes Alternatives for Mac You Should Use

Updated on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Written by

Anna Yuan

Approved by

Connie Yang

English

iTunes is a good app for Apple users to organize and enjoy music, movies, and TV shows on Mac or iOS. However, Apple has phrased iTunes out of its products with macOS Catalina. Your music, TV shows, movies, podcasts, and audiobooks will transfer automatically to the Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Books apps in macOS Catalina and later.

If you have a Mac installing macOS Catalina and later but you don't want to use 4 separate apps to enjoy the favorite iTunes features, then an iTunes alternative for Mac is what you need. In this article, you will find the best 4 Mac iTunes alternatives.

Mac iTunes alternative: VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is an open-source multimedia player that is completely free to download and use. It has become one of the most popular third-party media players available for Mac, as well as PC, Android, iOS, and so on.

Due to its compatibility with a breathtaking number of audio and video files, you can even open a movie or album in a barely supported format that won't load in QuickTime Player or iTunes. Besides, you can use it to convert MOV to MP4 format.

In addition, this Mac iTunes alternative has a strong level of security. The developers behind VLC Media Player also maintain that their media players don't contain spyware, ads, or engage in user tracking.

  • Pros:
  • Simple interface
  • High Security
  • Rich functions and features
  • A wide range of file formats supported
  • Ad-free using experience
  • Cons:
  • Unable to customize the app's interface
  • Hard to find songs in your library

iTunes alternative for Mac: VOX Music Player

VOX Music Player is a fully functional iTunes alternative for Mac that is pretty popular. The common version of VOX is free to download while the VOX Premium player service charges $4.99 per month.

The Vox iTunes alternative for Mac can play many different common formats including MP3, APE, M4A, FLAC, and CUE, so it is a great option if you have songs in your library that are not all the same format. VOX can also playback HD Audio which is great if you create music or like high-quality audio.

In addition, the VOX player allows users to play music from a variety of sources, and not just from your old iTunes library. The VOX player supports audio from the following sources as well: Last.FM scrobbling, SoundCloud, YouTube, and even online radio (for VOX Premium subscribers).

  • Pros:
  • Simple UI
  • Various file formats supported
  • Unlimited music cloud storage
  • Diversified control settings and preferences
  • Seamless sync music between Mac and iPhone
  • Cons:
  • Aggressive about promoting VOX Premium
  • A bit slow when exporting songs

Mac iTunes alternative: Musique

Musique is another best iTunes alternative for Mac that is easy to use and free to download. Using Musique is completely straightforward. It featured clear buttons and keyboard shortcuts to accomplish any task.

Musique takes advantage of VLC on macOS and thus supports all common audio formats. In general, any format that can play on VLC should also work in Musique. If it doesn't, it's a bug, rather than a design. The app also allows you to organize your music in your own way. You can browse files by artist photos, album cover, genres, and folders.

  • Pros:
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Built-in lyrics finder
  • Multiple file formats supported
  • Cons:
  • Unable to extract lyrics consistently sometimes
  • Full of promotional ads

Best iTunes alternative: Spotify

Another best alternative to iTunes on Mac is Spotify. The free version of Spotify will give you access to a vast amount of music but you will have to listen to some advertisements between songs. If you sign up for Spotify Premium and pay $9.99 monthly for membership, you get access to all of the features ad-free and can save and download songs to play them off-line.

Spotify has strong compatibility with various platforms. Both Spotify free users and Premium subscription members can use the Spotify apps on Mac, and iPhone, or Android device.

Spotify also creates individualized playlists based on your listening habits. This feature can help you expand your musical horizons and keep your music library growing.

  • Pros:
  • Easy-to-use functions and features
  • Free and Premium Plan provided
  • High Compatibility
  • Powerful music player
  • Cons:
  • Frequent ad pop-ups
  • Higher price on Premium service

Final thoughts

After you've looked through the 4 above-mentioned iTunes alternatives for Mac, have you picked up which one suits you best? From my perspective, if you want a completely free Mac iTunes alternative without interruption of ads, choose the VLC media player.

If you are the type who enjoys rich features and functions on the Mac iTunes alternative, VOX has everything you are looking for. If you want an easy-to-use iTunes alternative, either Musique or Spotify is fine.