Do you ever feel like iTunes exists not for the user, but for the record and Apple executives? Well you’d be right, and I hope you aren’t surprised.

iTunes will most likely continue it’s Store integration until users get fed up, or they start using alternatives like Songbird.

Here are five reasons why Songbird is better:

  1. You can search The Hype Machine directly from Songbird and download music directly to Songbird. Best of all, this replaces the annoying music Store nags and integration that iTunes has.
  2. It’s available on all platforms, including Linux.
  3. You can still connect your beloved iPod, and Songbird will find all of your iTunes music.
  4. Using an excellent concert search algorithm called Songkick, it’ll find which of your artists are playing live. Its not completely accurate, but it is really helpful.
  5. It has Last.FM scrobbling built right in, and includes other add-ons, and even skins like Firefox.

It still has some kinks to work out, but with open and ongoing development, it’s sure to only go up from here. If you like what you read, you can give Songbird a try, and see for yourself.

- Kyle