A good option to consider if you don't like iTunes

On this very snowy Sunday morning, after making a fluffy omelette and while sipping on my coffee, I find myself here at the computer listening to some music. I personally use iTunes, not for the iTunes Store, but for the software -- partly because I have an iPod, partly because it links up seamlessly with my Airport Express router to stream tunes live to my stereo, wirelessly. (True, I could use Airfoil, but it's just an added hassle to load up a separate little program to stream the audio.) However, if you have no iPod to sync to your computer, there is no big reason to use iTunes. I've found an excellent alternative called MediaMonkey. It's completely free, it looks nice (the default skin looks suspiciously iTunes-like in fact), has all sorts of playlist options and supports song ratings. However, the big deal is that it can very easily be customised with all sorts of scripts, most are user-submitted and can be found in the forums. One that I came across, for example, converts old MusicMatch song ratings; very useful since MusicMatch doesn't work anymore under Windows Vista (for you poor souls that decided to upgrade!).