As someone who’s never used Apple devices I was a bit peeved when my car came with an iPod. I spent days trying out random 3rd party software because I refused to use iTunes. In the end, I settled for CopyTrans software.
You still need to have the iTunes services installed afaik, but you can use this program to put music on your device, pad out the meta info on the MP3 files and sync the playlists without having to open iTunes at all.
Maybe not entirely the answer you were looking for, but it was a workable solution for me after days of trial and error, so I’m hoping I can save you those troubles.
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