What software would you like so see reviewed?

[Andreas]

Might pick up on some of the more playback-oriented applciations at a later point but as for now the last review will be J. River Media Jukebox. The reason is that the point of these initial reviews was the syncing part, since this is after all a MP3 player website. MediaMonkey, Media Jukebox, Windows media player etc are good applications for that purpose, but when you go on to applications that are not really made for the syncing part- such as winamp- there's really no way in hell they can compete with the bigger competitors. Therefor I'll move on to music stores such as amazon, emusic etc and maybe come back to do some music playback software at a later date as IMO music stores as more relevant for this site's purpose than dedicated PC side music players. If anyone know of any software that can match mediamonkey and media jukebox for music organizing on a DAP however, let me know.

[caz01]

Sorry for posting in the wrong section before, im still trying to get used to this forum

This is a pretty good Media Player, it's not free though. I still think it's worth reviewing, because people can download the free trial (30 days) and decide if they like it. It's called MP3 Toys.

http://www.mp3toys.net/

I took a couple of screenshots to convince you to check it out:
http://imgur.com/RHxqx.png
http://imgur.com/id1xN.jpg

Just download it and see for yourself how good the GUI is, it might not look like much but you'll take back any dubious thoughts in a heartbeat when you use it. Also note that you should configure album art settings in options before you add any music, or it could be a real pain in the arse getting it to organize stuff how you want it to. If you're careful enough with settings, this program is wonderful.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

http://www.jetaudio.com/download/

No love for the King of DAPs?

That program is so out of date for music management it ain't funny. For music and video conversion it's king though.

[Andreas]

mp3toys is out of the question due it to it costing money (trials dont count) and it not seeming to be made for organizing music on MP3 players.

[caz01]

Originally Posted by Cptnodegard

mp3toys is out of the question due it to it costing money (trials dont count) and it not seeming to be made for organizing music on MP3 players.

foobar2000?

okay, fair enough, freeware = good. but MP3Toys easily has the best interface out there, not everyone enjoys scrolling through a wall of text to get to their music. If you even own a collection of CDs (something we see less and less of these days) you'll know how much more organic it feels to sort through albums by the covers. I'm not saying MP3Toys is the only program that does this, but it sure is the best as far as i'm concerned.

I hate trial software as much as the next guy, but why be biased and only review the free stuff when there's a damn fine piece of mp3 organizing software out there with plenty of people willing to pay for it.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by caz01

foobar2000?

okay, fair enough, freeware = good. but MP3Toys easily has the best interface out there, not everyone enjoys scrolling through a wall of text to get to their music. If you even own a collection of CDs (something we see less and less of these days) you'll know how much more organic it feels to sort through albums by the covers. I'm not saying MP3Toys is the only program that does this, but it sure is the best as far as i'm concerned.

I hate trial software as much as the next guy, but why be biased and only review the free stuff when there's a damn fine piece of mp3 organizing software out there with plenty of people willing to pay for it.

Because why spend money on software when there's plenty of freeware out there that does the job as well or BETTER.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by caz01

foobar2000?

okay, fair enough, freeware = good. but MP3Toys easily has the best interface out there, not everyone enjoys scrolling through a wall of text to get to their music. If you even own a collection of CDs (something we see less and less of these days) you'll know how much more organic it feels to sort through albums by the covers. I'm not saying MP3Toys is the only program that does this, but it sure is the best as far as i'm concerned.

I hate trial software as much as the next guy, but why be biased and only review the free stuff when there's a damn fine piece of mp3 organizing software out there with plenty of people willing to pay for it.

As I wrote in the foobar review, it is the exception because it runs so much better on low performance devices such as MIDs (which are PMP sized) than all the other software, and I was already using it so it was less of a job to review than a brand new piece of software.

Not reviewing paid software isnt being biased, check the definition of the word. It's simply a matter of setting some ground rules for what will get it. MP3toys fails both the syncing criteria and the free criteria. I plan on doing paid software (or paid editions of the ree software reviewed) later on, but MP3toys will still fall short of the requirements due to not being a music organizing application.

Incidentally so will winamp, it already gave my one headache and I'm not planning on ever going near it again I'm thinking that I'll do the premium versions of j.river (free version review out tomorrow) and mediamonkey since they kick the shit out of the rest of the software.

As TDS said, there are good software out there for free, which is also why I won't do jetaudio etc (at least not now). Reviewing inferior apps like winamp reminds me of the stick player reviews I've done over the years; none of the competitors to the sansa clip come half near beating it at anything on top of being more expensive or equally priced, so the reviews just end up being lists of what it doesnt do as well as the competitor. When you have a product with absolutely nothing to show for itself compared to the competitors, it's pretty much time to throw in the towel.

[kasrhp]

Loved the reviews so far. They have been very informative. I will say, I got MediaMonkey pro for free while signing up for that trial pay program they offer. You can sign up for Netflix of Blockbuster(and others, but these are media related), and get version 3, and subsequent upgrades for free. It was good for me.

Well, that was my public service announcement.

I would like to see iTunes get reviewed. I know this is ABI, but it would be nice to see an unbiased review from an author that isnt talking about how great it works with all of their Apple ipods and laptops, etc. I know we all have our opinions on iTunes. I think it does some things well, but has some serious issues. But, a review would help point our thoughts in the right direction!!

[Attreides]

I would also say you should review iTunes. Yes, I know, it only syncs with an iPod and the GUI is a bit wierd BUT it's by far the best program I found when it comes to audiobooks (especially from Audible) or podcasts. Beside that it's still a decent media player.

And if you point out the weaknesses (QuickTime, Apple Store, no WMA, no syncing with non-iPods, slow startup, did I allreaddy mention QuickTime^^) we have something to show to the Apple Fanboys. Something like the objective comparison between Shuffle and Clip.

[Andreas]

iTunes review is already done and queued for release. However it's a review of the music store as well as a mention of the podcast ability, and not of the music organizing abilities (which dont work with non ipods anyways). I use iTunes for my iPhone and its a nice application but you do need an ipod. Some of the features, such as the ability to back up the device, categorize videos into music videos/tv shows/movies/podcasts/etc and audiobook/podcast/Etc for music, auto-delete listened podcast etc are very nice features I would have loved to see implemented on other devices, but no such standards exist for f.ex MTP players, and the companies that make the players - with the exception of microsoft - dont seem to spend much time developing the software. The ipod is a poor music player in many ways, but there are some major advantages that come with having a standarized software application for all devices and a big market share.

[Marvin the Martian]

MediaMonkey 3.2 is out.
http://www.mediamonkey.com/news/2009...latest-phones/

Ventis Media is proud to announce a major new release of MediaMonkey. The new version syncs with some of the most popular smartphones, including the iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre, and Android phones, as well as with all of the latest iPods including the iPod Nano 5G, and iPod Touch 3G. This should prove especially useful to Palm Pre and Android phone owners who are unable to sync their devices with the latest versions of iTunes.
In addition to the new sync capabilities, the new version:
- adds support for new Windows 7 features such as Aeropeek and jumplists
- automatically monitors directories for changes so that music can be automatically added to the library (in the free version!)
- includes close to 200 other minor improvements including numerous CD playback / burning fixes and compatibility with the latest version of iTunes

[quintets_man]

foobar2000 1.0 beta 1 is out
http://www.foobar2000.org/download

foobar2000 1.0 Release Notes
Menu layout changes
A new Context Menu structure has been introduced along with a reworked context menu preferences page.
Holding down shift while opening a menu - with both context and main menu - will bring up menu commands that are normally hidden, so you no longer need to go through the preferences page to access obscure commands that are hidden by default.
Reworked Preferences
Various standard Preferences pages have been reworked. The Preferences dialog now has OK, Apply and Cancel buttons. Existing components need to be updated to utilize the new Preferences functionality.
New Edit Menu behavior
With Default User Interface, the Edit Menu commands operate on currently selected items, not just on the currently active playlist. This allows - for an example - to use the Copy command on Album List selection.
This feature currently does not work with third party user interfaces - Edit Menu commands operate on the active playlist just like in old foobar2000 versions; relevant components will need to be updated to comply.
Custom cover art filename patterns
You can now set custom filename patterns and paths for front cover, back cover, artist and disc artwork. You also have the ability to set a stub image for each of these.
New configuration file format
Configuration of individual components is now stored in separate files. Reading of old configuration files is still supported so your settings will be preserved while upgrading from older versions; however you will not be able to downgrade back to older 0.9.x releases without losing your settings.
Built-in support for Windows Media streaming
Buggy third party components are no longer required to play ASX/MMS/RTSP streams. It's recommended to uninstall relevant components.
Time limit in beta versions
To prevent people from running outdated beta versions, every beta version now expires after four weeks from the original release.