With both programs, you can easily create playlists and add
to them by simply clicking and dragging the desired tracks. How the programs differ is that WMP has “auto
playlists” whereas iTunes has “smart playlists”. These are both self-generating playlists that
organize your music library based on criteria like the date you last heard a
track, the number of times you’ve played a track, or the number of stars you’ve
given a track (both programs let you rate songs on a 5 star scale), etc. You can create the same sorts of playlists
with both programs, but WMP comes with more of them. So iTunes requires a bit more tinkering if
personalizing the organization of your music is important to you.
Burning Cds
This is easy enough with both programs, but slightly more
intuitive with WMP. iTunes requires that
the CD you want to burn is its own playlist.
There is no immediately apparent “burn CD” option as there is with
WMP. And once you’ve burned a CD with
iTunes, you’re stuck with those annoying gaps in between the tracks.
Non-music media
WMP will also play streaming videos, DVDs, and all sorts of
digital video formats. iTunes is only
concerned with music playback. To be
fair, downloading iTunes will also give you the latest version of Quicktime,
which will handle all of your video files.
But WMP puts everything in one place; you only need to familiarize
yourself with one program to play all of your media.
Sharing and buying
Here is where iTunes finally has the upper hand. If you computer is on a network, iTunes will
adda “shared music” menu right above your playlists, and let you listen to any
of the tracks in the libraries of anyone on your network that is running
iTunes. This option is controllable of
course; you can limit access to your library if you want. Also, the iTunes music store is accessible directly
through the program, which is definitely a convenient way of buying new music
and adding to your own collection.