alternatives to media module?
Have you check the Scald module?
This is a real alternative in active development.


  Scald is a different take on how to handle media (audio, video, image or otherwise) in Drupal and beyond. It is a platform designed to make it extremely easy to implement the social features which are so essential -- and so unique -- to web communities. Additionally, Scald -- in tandem with the DnD module -- provides a novel and natural way for users to compose complex posts.


Feel free to ask me for details, or to put a issue in the module issue queue.