MediaMonkey 4.0 released....video support added.

[Marvin the Martian]

MusicBee is the new darling around here for many of our members, but I didn't go with it, since I already have plenty of music programs, including a lifetime "Gold" license for MediaMonkey. So what's new with MM 4? Apparently video support.....which I have not tried yet.

MediaMonkey 4.0 – Brings the ‘media’ to MediaMonkey

November 16th, 2011 MediaMonkey has long been known as a music manager for serious collectors. With today’s release, Ventis Media’s MediaMonkey 4.0 finally lives up to its moniker–managing video as well as music.
“One of the most commonly received requests we’ve had was to extend MediaMonkey’s music management, tagging, and organization tools to video. MediaMonkey 4 will provide serious video collectors with the tools they need to effectively manage their collections,” indicated Russell Samuels, VP Marketing.

The new version tags AVI, MP4, and WMV with support for MKV coming in the future. It can lookup album art and metadata, automatically rename and organize videos based on metadata, and convert between video formats. Additionally, it’s able to segment a library into ‘Collections’ so that home videos, music videos, movies, and tv shows can be managed independently.

“This is one of the most significant MediaMonkey releases to-date.” said Jiri Hajek, VP Engineering. “Although it adds a lot of new functionality, the new UI is even simpler than in previous versions of MediaMonkey. MediaMonkey 4 is accessible to the novice, but powerful enough for the most serious collector.”

The new version also improves devices synchronization for Android devices, adds library sharing over DLNA / UPnP, improved audio output via WASAPI, secure ripping for bit perfect CD rips, and portable mode to carry MediaMonkey on a USB stick.

http://www.mediamonkey.com/news/2011...o-mediamonkey/

And here is a summary of the changes....
http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/inde...%27s_New_in_V4

It will take a little time to get used to the changes, I'm sure, and I'll be curious to see how the video support is. If it plays all my existing videos well enough, then perhaps I'll be able to retire WMP12 for good (that's all I use it for now).

[CrowdAds]

[steinburger1109]

Well, Mr. Gold, I expect an in-depth review!

[WalkGood]

WMP12 meh, VLC media player blows it away for video, look forward to reading your review ...

[BigSigh]

I've loaded MM 4 on to a USB stick to allow me to download podcasts at work. I've not updated at home yet Ill see how my trial goes. First issue I see is that although it correctly sees and reports my Clip Zip it has no icon associated with it. Though If I use the d_WMDM.dll file from my previous version the icon is there? Anybody else loaded it?

[Marvin the Martian]

Well, I quickly tried playing a movie in .mkv, and it played just fine, and currently it's playing a 720p mp4 just fine. The image as shown here looks a little fuzzy, but it was shot from inside the audience and so the focus varies. The movie I played looked quite good.


And yes, it will do full screen as well.

[McDougal]

Hmmmm looks like a nice update. As of many others here I am currently switched to MusicBee, but would like to ditch WMP12 as well (I use it for videos).

It'd be nice to have one app for music playing, organizing, etc. plus videos. VLC works good for videos but IMO the interface sux.

I'll give it a go and see how it is.

Looking forward to your review as well !

[jiamenguk]

The fact that you have to now pay for the "Gold" (though they really just mean full) version to get auto-conversion for synching with devices ruined it for me

[Lagoo56]

I'll stick with VLC,MPC and Jetaudio(Which is VERY GOOD at playing most of my video files without any hiccups,if VLC doesn't play a video file properly then Jetaudio will do the job perfectly 99% of the time)

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by jiamenguk

The fact that you have to now pay for the "Gold" (though they really just mean full) version to get auto-conversion for synching with devices ruined it for me

I think it's always been like that.

[skip252]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I think it's always been like that.

It's been like that since I first used it. MediaMonkey will do most things in the free edition. It just takes more setup or having to wait longer because of slower ripping speeds and such.

I've been playing around with a beta of MM 4 for a month or so before the release. I didn't do a feature by feature comparo to the older version but nothing seemed real different.

The same type of holding back on the absolute best features but still giving decent results is what I found. An example is that the free version rips but Accuraterip verification is part of the paid package. If I try to play anything but .wmv video it fails saying I need to get the codec pack. You get enough for it to be functional, not premium.

The basics it did nicely before it still does in my limited use. Podcasts, library organization, syncing, tagging , metadata lookup and playlists all worked the same when I tried them. I don't think I'll have a problem continuing to suggest MM as a good way to step up from WMP.

[kredig]

i've been using MM4 since it got to the status of a release candidate. the main new feature (video function) does not satisfy me at all. the videos are not really sharp at all and has chunks all over the picture (i'll post a comparison when i am at my own computer) and the worst thing is that you have to pay for a codec pack for (which is not included in the gold license) i.e. aac playback.

for black friday sale there was a 15$ offer for MM4 which was really kind. but i am not sure if it is worth it for only a few new features since MM3 (accurate rip, editing collections which is a step back from MM3 and some other small features) and for tons of bugs. hopefully they will be banished in the feature releases.

[skip252]

I can't think of a software that complex that doesn't have some bugs. Do any of them prevent MM from performing basic functions in your experience?

[kredig]

yep, only two things of my concern though: sometimes MM won't shut down at all and i have to terminate the process via task manager or just try to use the ASIO-output. the player will just freeze instantly and sometimes even windows crashes. at some point of the development it worked but for some reason it does not function now. it is avaible at the newly addon page.
apropos website: i wonder when the website will be updated. maybe with the 4.1 release?

and here are the screenshots of the video. i tried to shoot the same scene (from into the wild):
MM4:


ZOOM Player:

[Adub]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

WMP12 meh, VLC media player blows it away for video, look forward to reading your review ...

Indeed! Even more so if you have a smartphone and the VLC remote app. Since getting my netbook my laptop is now my TV slave and using remote desktop and VLC makes it awesome. On a similar note the itunes remote app makes itunes pretty damn badass as well, i hate the software, but being able to change the music over wifi from across the house is awesome.

[jiamenguk]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I think it's always been like that.

Wait, what? I've been only been using Media Monkey since the blog-post, and I've always been able to use the auto convert, and I'm pretty sure that I was using the standard version (for years) :S

[kredig]

for anyone who is interested in MM4 god, the black friday offer still works (40% discount):
http://www.mediamonkey.com/blackfriday

maybe there are a few members who do not have the gold version yet (silly)

[eightbitsprite]

I certainly don't. But I'm saving my money for Christmas gifts. :P

Also, I'm finally upgrading from MM3.

[campdavid]

Originally Posted by kredig

for anyone who is interested in MM4 god, the black friday offer still works (40% discount):
http://www.mediamonkey.com/blackfriday

maybe there are a few members who do not have the gold version yet (silly)

Thanks for the tip! It still works - I am finally in the gold club.

[medion]

Just "upgraded" to MM4. The interface will take only a little adjusting as not much as changed. However, I was looking forward to their video playback so that I could consolidate software. My God, I didn't know that video could look this bad! To say video was thrown in as an afterthought is being too generous! It's like there's a permanent Youtube filter applied to ever video to make it look low res!

[McDougal]

I tried MM4 a while ago and I was disappointed. It was slow and I didn't like the interface change. I didn't play around too much with the video but I find VLC and WMP12 work perfectly for videos.

Call me crazy....but I've only got foobar2000 and iTunes on my computer now for music playback/management . I use foobar2000 to rip to FLAC and as a basic but great music player (my favorite, in fact), and honestly iTunes isn't as terrible as it used to be. Opens in about 5 sec. on my system and is perfectly stable.

So, for my media stuff: WMP12 w/Shark007 codec pack or VLC for video, latest iTunes and foobar2000 for music, Mp3tag for tagging, xrecode II (older unregistered version) for my conversions from FLAC to MP3. Works fine for me .