Best Music Organizer for Windows XP?

[Grateful11]

Okay here's something I never thought I'd do, I bought a Windows XP equipped computer. It's a long story anyway I figure you guys can answer this question better than a regular computer forum. What's the best music organizer, player, ripper and burning software available for Windows XP? I've been using iTunes ever since it came out for the Mac but what about Windows? Preferably free software. I've got iTunes latest version downloaded already but is it Windows friendly?

Thanks,

Grateful

[darkpark]

what do you consider windows friendly? itunes was designed for windows 2000 and XP. i've tried itunes, but i didn't care for it. it's too bloated for my tastes.

if you consider yourself an advanced computer user you could try using Foobar2000.

get it from here: http://foobar2000.blogsite.org/

not only does it contain the program but additional plug-ins/add-ons that

you might find useful. and you can get some help from the following forum:

http://forums.foobar2000.org

[soundsol]

I have both Windows media player and Real Player....the latest edition of which replaced the need to have both the older version of real player and then adding real jukebox later. I have perhaps 1900 or so songs on my computer. I DON'T like windows media player for the obnoxious way it assumes any music you have is illegal and bars you from playing it. Here was my exact problem .I had recorded hundreds of songs from dozens of purchased CD's ....mostly I originally recorded them on real player/real jukebox on an older computer. Subsequently my old computer got fried but I was able to salvage all the music files and copy them to my new computer...which took hours since it was about 7 gigs of music....anyway on the new computer I had windows media player preinstalled .....it would not let me play the songs I LEGALLY recorded from cd's saying there was some sort of license problem!....it was because they weren't originally recorded on windows media player but recorded on real player or real jukebox. To me....microsoft doing that is ILLEGAL.Just because I didn't use windows media player to originally record them...that means they are punishing me for having the gall to have used real jukebox to record music...that is also punishing "real" for having the gall to "invent" the software necessary to record music in the first place!

To make matters worse.....150 or so CD's were stolen out of my car so I couldn't even rerecord them on my computer at all......thus making it "legal" in microsoft's eyes...!

So I downloaded real player and made it my default player and use it to play the darn music. It does everything windows media player does as far as i can see and organizes the music a little better also. The weird thing about this whole scenario is that the "legal" music I have on my computer won't play on windows media player but the "illegal" music will play. Also the stuff i originally recorded on real jukebox still wont play since microsoft's windows media player wopn't let me change it into a real player file. Way to go microsoft.....you got it backwards! Frankly someone should start a class action suit against microsoft for this behavior...it is obnoxious and against the Sherman antitrust act et al....

by the way....Canada has declared file sharing "legal" so all the "music police" and litigators of 10 year olds downloading music on their grandpa's computer can't be sued in Canada or even threatened to be sued in Canada without reprisal from the Canadian government itself!.

My feeling about the whole legal, illegal music scenario is this...if I buy the damn music...it is mine....there was never any squabble about rerecording cassettes or recording plastic and vinyl.....now greed by the recording artists and their army of litigators has made little kids into criminals....so sad....