Ever since iTunes 11, the Apple UX team has destroyed iTunes usability. Presently is is extremely hard to find audio files in large libraries. Previously you could search the entire library and subfolders handily via the filtering search methodology. Now this is entirely obliterated and I struggle finding things handily as before. I have complained to Apple several times now both on Radar and standard feedback, but it seems that they have no interest in listening to user feedback now.
Now with that rant out of the way, I have been searching for quite some time for an option to replace iTunes, but nothing has proven satisfactory. I had quite hoped for Vox to fill the space, but its iTunes library search function is broken and seems to not be able to recuperate over the last few updates. I have tried every other piece of software that I've seen on MacUpdate so far as well, but again nothing has filled the void.
What software are you finding fills the feature problems that the recent iTunes updates have created, if any? If everyone else is like me I believe I'm going to write an iTunes-like app that puts the functionality back whilst reading iTunes libraries.
Best Answer
I know this is not very pro-Apple of me, but I would definitely recommend Google Play. Unless you happen to have more than 20,000 songs, you can upload all your music to your own Google Play library, and then access it on any device. I had used iTunes previously because I wanted a service that allowed me to easily access my music on any device, but since Google released an iOS app that problem was solved.
Speaking of which the usability of the UI on the web front end and on the iOS app in my opinion is great and very intuitive. Searching is done almost instantly, and it also returns results from the google play store, which is super nice for me since I now have their streaming service. ($10 a month, otherwise Google Play is free)
Anyway, Google Play is a great replacement if you don't mind having your music pushed to the Google Cloud. It also serves as its own backup...
The only issue I had when switching was with some of Apple's old DRM from a very early version of iTunes... I can't remember how far back, but the issue was only with a very few amount of songs.