iPod Good, iTunes Bad

If you have iTunes installed on Windows and you don't have an iPhone (even if you do), you may want to sit up and take notice; there's now an alternative called SongBird that mops the floor up with Steve Jobs' face. Admittedly, it's not new, but it's been out for a while and I never hear about it, so it must not be getting the press it deserves. First, a little backstory... there are a bunch of stupid little Windows services and programs that install themselves when you install iTunes (including that annoying Quicktime autoupdater thing) that really annoy the hell out of me, and they should annoy the hell out of you too, especially if you're trying to squeeze every ounce of performance (or get some back) from your aging XP installation. This Bonjour service, Apple Mobile Device Support service, QuickTime updater, and all the other random crap that's installed and checked off by default (seriously, what serious Windows XP user has Apple wireless speakers?) is enough to make you run and duck for cover, but you don't want to miss out on all of the cool shit that your iPod can do because it reports back to the mothership - iTunes. So, install this handy little program called SongBird (still in beta but running pretty well, nonetheless) and take back your precious little computing cycles. Oh yeah, you can download new add-ins and skins and everything else to make SongBird look and act pretty much like iTunes, without all the detritus.