If you are an iPod owner, you know one of the most annoying things about your mp3 player is having to use iTunes. Besides general functionality issues, you can only sync your iPod with one copy of iTunes. So, for example, if you want to maintain your music library on your work computer and your home computer, you would have to load your CDs manually on both devices, instead of transferring from one to the other with your iPod. Also, you can only add songs to your iPod from one computer.

Winamp is more user-friendly and doesn't wed you to one device, but until now it was incompatible with iPods. On Monday a new plug-in, ml_iPod, was released allowing iPod users to bypass iTunes and manage their music with Winamp.

Some feedback on the plug-in from a Wired article:

"A lot of the feedback I get is people thanking me for freeing them from iTunes," said Fisher [the developer]. "It shows the dissatisfaction people have with iTunes."

"iTunes takes up a lot of resources on the computer. Winamp is a lot faster," Fisher said. "Indeed, a lot of our users are still using Windows 98, which iTunes doesn't work on."

"Everything is a breeze and the interface is even easier to use than iTunes," wrote Doug Sheffer on a Winamp message board.

"Using it with third-gen iPod and Windows ME," wrote Brian Cape in the Winamp forum. "Absolutely superb, no problems at all. Congratulations and thanks -- I thought I was going to have to upgrade my PC to XP in order to use the iPod."