Comparison of iPod managers

Different Managers

This article is about alternative software applications (besides iTunes) to manage iPods. Although according to Apple, iTunes is supposed to be the primary manager of all iPods and iPhones, other software has been created that can be used to sync or update iPods and iPhones with different media, 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 reinstalling the operating system).

General

Manager	Creator(s)	First public release date	Latest stable version	Free?	Software license	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	Homepage
Amarok	Mark Kretschmann	2003-06-23	Template:Latest stable release/Amarok	Yes	GPL	Experimental	Experimental (leopard)	Yes	[1]
Anapod Explorer	Red Chair Software	?	9.0.6 (2007-08-05)	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[2]
Banshee	Aaron Bockover	2005-08	Template:Latest stable release/Banshee	Yes	MIT	No	Experimental	Yes	[3]
CopyTrans Manager	WindSolutions	2007-06-05	0.879 (2010-01-29)	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[4]
CopyTrans	WindSolutions	?	4.042 (2010-01-29)	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[5]
EphPod	Joseph Masters	2001-12	?	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[6]
Floola	Tomas Camin	?	5.3.1	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	Yes	[7]
foo_dop (for foobar2000)	?	2006-05-30	0.6.6.4	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	[8]
gnupod	Adrian Ulrich	2002-09-29	0.99.7	Yes	GPL	No	Yes	Yes	[9]
gtkpod	Jorg Schuler	?	0.99.12	Yes	GPL	No	No	Yes	[10]
iMPware	?	2008-01-01	1.13	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[11]
iPod/iPhone Transfer	Cucusoft	2008-01-01	5.4.0 (2009)	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[12]
iPod Access	Findley Designs	?	4.2.6	No	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No	[13]
iPodRip	The Little App Factory	2003-09	1.2.5	No	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No	[14]
iPodRobot	iPodRobot.com	2009-03-10	4.3.0	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[15]
iTunes	Apple Inc.	2001-01-08	9.0 (70)	Yes	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No	[16]
Media Center	J. River	2003-07	Template:Latest stable release/Media Center	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	?
MediaChest	Dmitriy Rogatkin	2004-07-03	1.7.1	Yes	BSD	Yes	Yes	Yes	[17]
Mediamonkey	Ventis Media Inc.	2003-08-25	Template:Latest stable release/MediaMonkey	Yes (Standard)	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	?
MediaWidget	Bootstrap Development, LLC	2007-02-15	5.0	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[18]
ml iPod (for Winamp)	?	2004-03-31	3.08	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	[19]
piTunes	Pavel Petrenko & LebedzTek	2009-01-06	1.000	Yes	?	?	?	?	?
Pod to Mac	myPod Apps	2009-03	1.0 beta 3	No	Proprietary	No	Yes	No	[20]
Pod to PC	myPod Apps	2008-08	2.51	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[21]
Rhythmbox	Colin Walters	2004-04	Template:Latest stable release/Rhythmbox	Yes	GPL	No	No	Yes	[22]
Senuti	FadingRed	?	0.50.5	No	?	No	Yes	No	?
SharePod	Jeff Harris	?	3.8.9	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	[23]
TouchCopy	TouchCopy.com	2007-09-06	9.34	No	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No	[24]
TuneAid	DigiDNA	2008-10-17	3.07	No	Proprietary	Yes	Yes	No	[25]
Winamp native	Nullsoft	1997-06	Template:Latest stable release/Winamp	Yes (Bundle and full. Not lite)	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[26]
XPlay	Mediafour	2002-06-24	3.1.4	No	Proprietary	Yes	No	No	[27]
Yamipod	Tomas Camin	?	1.7	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	[28]
Manager	Creator(s)	First public release date	Latest stable version	Free?	Software license	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	Homepage

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	?	?	?
Anapod Explorer	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	Yes
Banshee	Yes	?	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?
CopyTrans Manager	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes
CopyTrans	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
EphPod	Yes	?	Yes	No	Yes	No	?	?	?
Floola	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
foo_dop (for foobar2000)	Yes	Partial6	Yes	Yes	via foo_fileops	Partial6	via foo_playcount)	?	?
gnupod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
gtkpod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iMPware	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
iPod/iPhone Transfer	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes
iPod Access	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	No
iPodRip	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
iPodRobot	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	No
iTunes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
Media Center	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?	?	?
MediaChest	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mediamonkey	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?	?
MediaWidget	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ml iPod (for Winamp)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
piTunes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Pod to PC	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pod to Mac	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rhythmbox	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Senuti	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
SharePod	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	Yes
TouchCopy	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
TuneAid	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	?
Winamp native	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
XPlay	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Yamipod	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

Miscellaneous features

Manager	Download Podcasts	Rebuild iPod Database	Portable	6th Gen. Firmware	iPod touch / iPhone support	Photo support	Supports Gapless Metadata
Amarok	Yes	?	?	Yes	No	?	?
Anapod Explorer	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?
Banshee	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	?	?
CopyTrans Manager	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	via CopyTrans Photo	Yes
CopyTrans	No	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	via CopyTrans Photo	Yes
EphPod	No	Yes	?	?	No	?	?
Floola	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
foo_dop (for foobar2000)	via foo_podcatcher	?	Yes	Yes	Yes *limited	No	Yes
gnupod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
gtkpod	No	?	?	Yes2	?	?	Yes
iMPware	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iPod/iPhone Transfer	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iPod Access	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	via iPod Access Photo	?
iPodRip	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
iPodRobot	No	No	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
iTunes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Media Center	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?
MediaChest	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	No	Yes
Mediamonkey	Yes	Yes	No	?	Yes	No	?
MediaWidget	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ml iPod (for Winamp)	Yes	Yes	?	Yes3	Partial (2.x firmware read only)	Yes	?
piTunes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Pod to Mac	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No
Pod to PC	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Requires Pod Photo Transfer	No
Rhythmbox	Yes	?	?	?	?	No	No
Senuti	No	?	?	?	Yes	?	?
SharePod	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
TouchCopy	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TuneAid	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Winamp native	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?
XPlay	No	Yes	No	?	?	Yes	?
Yamipod	?	?	Yes	?	No	?	?
Manager	Download Podcasts	Rebuild iPod Database	Portable	6th Gen. Firmware	iPod touch / iPhone support	Photo support	Supports Gapless Metadata

Note 2: gtkpod developers have found a workaround [29].

Note 3: As of Version 3.02 [30].

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
Amarok	No	No	No	No
Anapod Explorer	No	No	No	No
Banshee	No	No	No	No
CopyTrans Manager	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CopyTrans	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
EphPod	No	No	No	No
Floola	No	No	No	No
foo_dop (for foobar2000)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
gnupod	Yes	No	No	No
gtkpod	Yes	Yes	No
iMPware	Yes	No	?	?
iPod/iPhone Transfer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iPod Access	Yes	?	No	No
iPodRip	Yes	Yes	No	No
iPodRobot	Yes	Yes	No	No
iTunes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Media Center	?	?	?	?
MediaChest	?	?	?	?
Mediamonkey	Yes	Yes	No	No
MediaWidget	Yes	Yes Read only	Yes Read only	Yes Read only
ml iPod (for Winamp)	Yes	Yes	No	No
piTunes	?	?	?	?
Pod to Mac	Yes	Yes	No	No
Pod to PC	Yes	Yes	No	No
Rhythmbox	?	?	?	?
Senuti	Yes	Yes	No	No
SharePod	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TouchCopy	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TuneAid	Yes	Yes	No	No
Winamp native	No	No	No	No
XPlay	Yes	Yes Read only	Yes Read only	Yes Read only
Yamipod	No	No	No	No
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

See also

• iPod
• iTunes
• iPhone