Comparison of iPod managers

This article is about alternative software applications (besides iTunes) to manage iPod contents. This includes the transferring of music, photos, and videos between an iPod and a computer.

iTunes is the official manager of all iPods, but other software has been created that can be used to update iPods with different content, often to work around restrictions in iTunes. For example, if a user transfers music to an iPod using iTunes they cannot transfer the music from the iPod to another computer (or even the same computer after re-installing the operating system).

General

Manager	Creator(s)	First public release date	Latest stable version	Downloadable without paying?	Software license	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux
Amarok	Mark Kretschmann	2003-06-23	2.5  (December 20, 2011 (2011-12-20))	Yes	GPL	Experimental	Experimental (leopard)	Yes
Banshee	Aaron Bockover	2005-08	2.2.1  (November 1, 2011 (2011-11-01))	Yes	MIT	Experimental	Experimental	Yes
Clementine	David Sansome, John Maguire	February 2010	1.0  (December 27, 2011 (2011-12-27))	Yes	GPL v3	Yes	Yes	Yes
DoubleTwist	Monique Farantzos & Jon Lech Johansen	?	1.0b15 r2806 for Mac 2.7.0.3282 for Windows	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No
EphPod	Joseph Masters	2001-12	?	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	No	No
iPod Manager for foobar2000 (aka "foo_dop")	MusicMusic	before 2006-06-15	iPod Manager 0.6.8.8 (Dec 8, 2010), foobar2000 1.1.10  (2 December 2011 (2011-12-02))	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	No	No
gtkpod	Jorg Schuler	?	2.1 (Aug 7, 2011)	Yes	GPL	No	No	Yes
iRip	The Little App Factory	2003-09	1.2.5	No	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No
iTunes	Apple Inc.	2001-01-08	10.5.3  (January 19, 2012 (2012-01-19))	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No
Media Center	J. River	2003-07	16.0.181  (October 29, 2011 (2011-10-29))	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No
Mediamonkey	Ventis Media Inc.	2003-08-25	4.0.2.1462  (December 25, 2011 (2011-12-25))	Yes (Standard)	Proprietary	Yes	No	No
Rhythmbox	Colin Walters	2004-04	0.13.3  (January 16, 2011 (2011-01-16))	Yes	GPL	No	No	Yes
Senuti	FadingRed	2006-04-26	1.1.7 (Oct 6, 2009)	Yes (limited trial)	Proprietary	No	Yes	No
Winamp native	Nullsoft	1997-06	5.623  (December 9, 2011 (2011-12-09))	Yes (Bundle & Full)	Proprietary	Yes	No	No
XPlay	Mediafour	2002-06-24	3.5.0 (Dec 30, 2009)	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No
Manager	Creator(s)	First public release date	Latest stable version	Downloadable without paying?	Software license	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux

Media organization and transfer features

Manager	Copy Music	Copy Videos	Copy Smart Playlists	Copy Album Artwork	Extract DRM-Free Music	Extract DRM-Free Videos	Extract Playcounts	Extract Playlists	Copy Content to iPod
Amarok	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
Banshee	Yes	?	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?
Clementine	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
DoubleTwist	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes, PC only
EphPod	Yes	?	Yes	No	Yes	No	?	?	?
iPod Manager for foobar2000 (aka "foo_dop")	Yes	Partial6	Yes	Yes	via foo_fileops	Partial6	via foo_playcount)	?	?
gtkpod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iRip	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
iTunes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes, Mac only	Yes, Mac only	Yes
Media Center	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?	?	?
Mediamonkey	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rhythmbox	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Senuti	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
Winamp native	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
XPlay	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Manager	Copy Music	Copy Videos	Copy Smart Playlists	Copy Album Artwork	Extract DRM-Free Music	Extract DRM-Free Videos	Extract Playcounts	Extract Playlists	Copy Content to iPod

iPod syncing and maintenance features

Manager	Download Podcasts	Rebuild iPod Database	Portable	6th Gen. Firmware	5th Gen. nano Firmware	shuffle3G Firmware	iPod touch / iPhone support	Photo support	Supports Gapless Metadata
Amarok	Yes	?	?	Yes	?	No	Yes4	?	?
Banshee	Yes	Yes	?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
Clementine	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
DoubleTwist	Yes	Yes	No	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes	No
EphPod	No	Yes	?	?	No	No	No	No	No
iPod Manager for foobar2000 (aka "foo_dop")	via foo_podcatcher	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes *limited	No	Yes
gtkpod	No	?	?	Yes2	Yes4	Yes4	Yes, jailbroken only	?	Yes
iRip	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iTunes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Media Center	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Mediamonkey	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Rhythmbox	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	No	Yes4	No	No
Senuti	No	?	?	?	?	?	Yes	?	?
Winamp native	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
XPlay	No	Yes	No	?	?	?	?	Yes	?
Manager	Download Podcasts	Rebuild iPod Database	Portable	6th Gen. Firmware	5th Gen. nano Firmware	shuffle3G Firmware	iPod touch / iPhone support	Photo support	Supports Gapless Metadata

Note 2: gtkpod developers have found a workaround [1].

Note 3: As of Version 3.02 [2].

Note 4: Support arrived with libgpod >= 0.7.90 due to the use of libimobiledevice.

iPhone & iPod Touch compatibility

Manager	iPod touch / iPhone Firmware up to 1.1.4	iPod touch / iPhone FW 2.x	iPod touch / iPhone FW 3.0	iPod touch / iPhone FW 3.1	iPod touch / iPhone FW 4.0.2	iPod touch / iPhone FW 5.0.x
Amarok	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes, Read-only	Yes, Read-only
Banshee	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes, Read-only	Yes, Read-only
Clementine	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
DoubleTwist	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	No	?
EphPod	No	No	No	No	No	No
iPod Manager for foobar2000 (aka "foo_dop")	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	Yes, PC only	No
gtkpod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
iRip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iTunes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Media Center	No	No	No	No	No	No
Mediamonkey	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Rhythmbox	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Senuti	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	?
Winamp native	No	No	No	No	No	No
XPlay	Yes	Yes, Read only	Yes, Read only	Yes, Read only	Yes, Read only	Yes, Read only
Manager	iPod touch / iPhone Firmware up to 1.1.4	iPod touch / iPhone FW 2.x	iPod touch / iPhone FW 3.0	iPod touch / iPhone FW 3.1	iPod touch / iPhone FW 4.0.2	iPod touch / iPhone FW 5.0.x

See also

• iPod
• iTunes
• iPhone