Enjoy your iTunes music without iTunes
Sometimes you don't want all the bloated hassle that goes with iTunes. You just want to enjoy your music. That's where Ecoute comes in, as a lightweight application that allows you to access your music, including all its glorious cover art, without the need to even touch iTunes. Ecoute works via a small, expandable interface that allows you to browse your entire music library, podcasts, movies, and TV shows.
One of the standout features of Ecoute is its ability to instantly index your music, so you're ready to go as soon as it's installed. You can also search for music and integrate your Last.fm account with Ecoute. The play controls pop up as soon as you float the mouse over the cover art, which displays as soon as Ecoute starts playing.
However, one small drawback is that long track names aren't displayed properly. Despite this, Ecoute does support Growl alerts, so you can see exactly what's playing. Overall, Ecoute is an excellent, lightweight alternative to the increasingly bloated issues that you may have been having with iTunes.
