So, if I use JRiver I can bypass ITunes completely, right? There wouldn't really be any need for it? That would be nice, especially since I could still use my Ipad to select songs, etc. Would I still need Itunes to rip CDs? Sorry for these questions, but I used Amarra for many years and it used Itunes and I haven't played with anything else. What I'm looking for is something I can use to play my music from my external drive that I can control via my Ipad. I am hoping to bypass Itunes completely and still be able to rip CDs and of course, downloads into the external drive and get the artwork and meta data. I still want to store as AIFF, since all my music is already in that format.