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[Deivit]

As per JimH recommendation, I am starting this thread just to let those of us Media Center users that mainly use it for MUSIC to post our opinions as to how successfully Media Center handles our needs for a music tool.

The scope ot this thread is to determine whether MC is good enough that you now use it routinely and don't need to use another tool for a specific purpose.  If not, why?

--------------------------------

I came to MediaJukebox looking mainly for a flexible database music management tool. I was at that time (last October 2002) a MusicMatch user and that product had to me two downsides:

- Inability to perform as a database product for searching, sorting and managing my music collection the way I wanted to.
- Inability to manage large collections fluently. My collection was at that time of circa 20.000 tracks and still had some 1000+ CDs to rip. Some other apps that I previously tested gave up at collections of circa 10.000 tracks and MusicMatch was showing some sort of fatigue at that point.

I installed Media Jukebox 8 in late October and soon realize that it could be what I was looking for. Not only the database management tools were impressive... also the sound quality was better. I discovered the smartlists and other features that made my musical experience more rewarding.

Also, this forum and the way that J River was giving shape to Media Center 9 while in beta, by listening to the users comments and suggestions, was a factor that made me decide to start using "non-tag" database fields such as Album Artist, which added a bunch of possibilities to how I handle my database (thanks CMagic for your suggestions at that point   ). I had been very reluctant to use non-tag fields before, since I had a very bad experience with RealJukebox some years ago realizing that all my database work on that software was lost when moving to a different one. I start using these "database-only" fields with Media Jukebox since I assumed that I could stick to this software for my music needs.

I upgraded to MC9 just last Monday when it was final release. My library is now of some 35.000 tracks, those 1000 CDs are still waiting to be ripped, and I do not see any sign of fatigue in MC  

I'm certain that J River will continue to enhance the software with new features in the months to come and if it only does it the way I've seen doing it with MC9 during these months, the result will be as impressive as it is now.

Having said all that, I have to tell you that there is a feature in MusicMatch that I'm still using and it's the only reason that I have not uninstalled that software. This feature is MusicMatch Super-Tagging and, as once Zevele said, it's something that makes MM worth the price I paid for the license.

Since Media Center studio tagging has much more features than MM, I hope that in a very near future MC will have something similar to "SuperTagging" that will allow me to uninstall MM and make MC the only software I would need to handle all my music needs.

Thank you.

[nila]

MC is nearly there for me.
I use it for pretty much everything to do with my music.
There are a couple of other tools I still use externally though.

When I'm going through my music and trying to sort out my physical mp3 collection I need to use another program as I like to keep a .m3u playlist of each album with the album. I use Helium2 as it lets me select the songs, right click and choose 'export to playlist'. MC is still lacking this feature which almost all the other jukebox programs have.

Another time I have to use other programs is when I'm checking the mp3's for errors. I use mp3 utility which works quite well to tell me if any of my mp3's are messed up and I'll also sometimes use helium2 for this task.

If I need to look at and modify individual tags (v1 or v2) as I sometimes have need to do for my mp3 player etc. I usually go to Dr Tag as it lets me choose which version tags to display really easily. I can make it show me just the v1 tags so I can see which ones I need to tag before I can use them in my player. I can also see if I need to adjust the text so that it fits into the v1 fields.

For encoding/converting I still mainly use RazorLame as it lets me totally tweak my mp3 encoding options before I encode the music. MC has a VERY limited set of options for encoding my music (I'm not a total mp3 boff who knows all the parameters off hand and can simply write the string myself and use external encoder). Razorlame also lets me save my settings and then switch and swap quickly and easily between presets that I create which is a feature I use a LOT.

For ripping I still use EAC as it lets me rip the whole album then have the encoding going on in the background well after I've removed the cd from the drive - it's the fastest way to rip an album then give the album back to someone.

[Bartabedian]

I'm one who is very tough to please in an all-in-one package. I have yet to find an acceptable all-in-one solution to anything, anywhere. That said, I certainly understand and admire the drive and dedication to squash the competition, but it has been the competition that proves there is always someone better at something.

***I LOVE MC! It's been a pure joy for many months now, and as a beta at that! But here is what else I use and why:

1. Tag&Rename 2.1.6 --- I actually have turned off tagging in MC, as for some reason on my system it is incredibly slow, especially on my Firewire drives. Turning off tagging is a great speed enhancement to MC. And T&R is just far and away more powerful as a tagging tool. This continues to prove my point, when you focus on something, you can do it really well, and that's all T&R does...tagging, period.

2. Nero Burning ROM 5.9.9  --- Basically for ISO Level 2 purposes of burning with 32 character file names, not just 8.3 as in MC. I have discussed this with JohnT and he feels confident they can add this feature in the near future (beta releases of MC9, like 9.1 maybe, hopefully, my fingers crossed ).

3. As Nila states, EAC and Razorlame, an unbeatable (so far) combination for rip\encode speed and quality.

4. Lastly, I use Encspot, you gotta know what condition your files are in. This will tell you.

[KingSparta]

Better Than Sex.

[xen-uno]

'peace > Basically for ISO Level 2 purposes of burning with 32 character file names

If your talking about LFN support within MC, it's here already. Upper limit is ~ 109 chars, plus it writes a SFN in 8.3 format

FYI: Nero 5.5 is up to 5.5.10.28 (paradoxically...I can't get LFN generation with either UDF or UDF/ISO formats...Nero always truncates to 64 chars)

10^-27

[Omni]

The only thing that is keeping MC from being my "all-in-one" solution for audio is its inability to add duplicate entries to a playlist.

I actually have a legitmate need for this, though I admit I am probably well in the minority, hence why my pleas for this have gone unheeded.

Oh, guess there is an other thing.  I will not use it to convert files.  It's like they spawn the process at high priority because my 3.0 GHz P4 machine grinds to a halt until it's done.

So my current set of tools are the following:

MC (95%)
WMP (2%) [for playlists with dups]
dBpowerAmp Music Converter (3%)

Omni

[lee269]

MC is pretty much there for me as a music tool in terms of functionality. Of course there are many extra little features I see requested, and which might be nice, but for ripping - organising - playing I find MC basically covers 99% of my needs. Ive only got my PC connected to my hifi and I use MC mainly for setting up dinner party background music/alone in the house loud personal taste music, using the wizard to create instant playlists. Since I got MC set up, my CD player has gathered dust. I dont use the more advanced zoning etc.

The only other tools I use are CoolEdit 2000 for recording and audio cleanup of LPs. I havent tried the equivalent MC apps at all so I couldnt even say whether they are insufficient for my needs.

I use MC for burning mp3 CDs for use in the car, but Nero for burning my LP 'masters' to audio CD. Force of habit more than anything else.

I think this thread and its companion could be very useful, and Id like to see a similar one for interface issues (sirshambling almost started one). JRiver need a break first though

[lukecro]

I could go on and on about how MC makes everything else pale in comparison . . . it's simply one of the products I use more than any other, and it's the only software I've been interested in downloading/testing Beta versions of within the last couple of years.

Of course -- as I've noted in various threads, and MC/JohnT are currently looking into -- I've had problems ripping and playing Cds ever since MJ8 . . . the MJ8 problems turned into downright disaster with MC9, where I can no longer play CDs digitally and all ripped files are terrible. With MJ7, I never had these problems -- although back then I used to use a different device to rip CDs for reasons of speed. Still, at least I was able to play CDs . . .

Anyway, the upshot of all this:  I use Audio Crusher 1.2 to rip/encode/play CDs. It's a small, simple, free program with somewhat limited options . . . but it has all of the options I need, and then some, really -- and it plays CDs without any hang-ups, which is nice. And I've never had a single bug/problem with it (okay, so once in a long long while it does hang on the last track of a CD, giving an error . . . but re-ripping the last track alone always fixes the problem and only takes a few seconds). And it's unintrusive (and yet free! Or at least mine was . . . from download.com). And it's been able to name/tag the albums/tracks of every single CD I've ever put into it . . . at a far better rate of accuracy than MC's yadb.

And if you hit the freedb button it will quickly change all of the (potential) tags on the tracks to other options, if available (for instance, the "sampler" CD I recently ripped was initially tagged as "various artists" in all of the "artist" tags . . . . but one click of the freedb button and the "various artist" tags where changed to the correct individual artists). Audio Crusher 1.2 also gives you some nice controls over VBR mp3 encoding, allowing you to choose the minimum and maximum encoding rates, as well as the overall quality.

Besides AudioCrusher -- newer versions of which I haven't tried or looked into, so I can't reccomend -- I don't need to use anything but MC9 . . . 'cause MC9 is just that good! Actually, even if MC9's ripping capability worked with my PC, I'd probably still use AudioCrusher to Rip, do to the freedb and the speed of the process . . . it's the inability to play CDs with MC9 that drives me crazy (and the fact that MC9 is also giving me a weird encoding problem now where it can't convert *.wav files to Mp3, even when MC9 is the program generating the Wave files int he first place)  . . . but like I said, they're working on it . . . and 99% of other users don't seem to have the problem.

Also, just a thought . . . MC9 makes for a far better Jukebox/database than MJ8 . . . but at $39.99 it's priced a bit steeply for those of us who really only use it for music, perhaps . . . I think I'm either going to stick with MC9 for a long time (before upgrading to another version), or I'm going to hope that we get a Media  JukeBox 9 that uses all the coolest organizational properties of Media Center 9 (like the new cover-art options, and the Most Recently Used capabilities, and the right-click options in general, etc., etc.), but does not have any video/imaging/TV capabilities (in exchange for a somewhat lower price). A larger customer-base could potentially be reached in this way. Or am I off base with this?

Anyway, Just a thought.    

[nila]

Luke,
Your right - I personally wouldn't pay $40 just to manage my files. I like it but not THAT much.
For those out there using it as part of systems that cost thousands sure it's no big deal.
For those of us just using it on a computer to manage our music its a lot.
I'm on mc9 for a while now I think as I'm going to have to pay to upgrade to mc10 and I'm not up for $40
$25 was around right for me, $40 is too much.

[Bartabedian]

'peace > Basically for ISO Level 2 purposes of burning with 32 character file names

If your talking about LFN support within MC, it's here already. Upper limit is ~ 109 chars, plus it writes a SFN in 8.3 format

xen, I have a stupid (but loveable) car MP3 player, the Kenwood Z919. It was the first of it's kind. Actually it gets the job done quite nicely, for over two years now. But, it will only read file names, not tags, and it's limitation is that it will do 32 character but only if the disc is burned ISO level 2.

Hence, Nero is the only app I've found that does this at all, but it has been very successful in giving me the desired effect.

[DocLotus]

One item still missing for me....

Better DVD playback!  The DVD feature set is very small compared to some other players.

I am still using Zoom Player for all my DVD palyback simply because it is Soooo much better with DVD's.

Until a much better DVD interface for MC comes along (with many more features) I will continue to use Zoom.

[JimH]

[moved olyar15's post from the "all media" thread]

I use MC solely as a music jukebox.  I haven't played with the image viewer much, since all my images are on the upstairs computer, not on my HTPC.  If I do want to view the images, I use IrfanView, a nice, free, viewer program, easy to use and designed for pictures.

For DVD playback, I use TheaterTek because of its interface:  it is designd for use on HTPC with a remote such as a Pronto.  Also, TT has excellent Aspect ratio controls, as well as a bunch of features that MC9 don't have.

For TV, I use SageTV.  For starters, it supports the WinTV PVR250 card, which MC9 doesn't.  Also, it has a very remote-firendly interface and is an excellent PVR solution with an integrated EPG.

I, for one, am somewhat concerned about the direction that MC9 is heading.  As a music jukebox it has no equal.  However, adding on these extra components seems to be making MC more bloated and difficult to use.  Listening to music needs a different interface than watching DVD or TV or looking at pictures, so trying to develop a single interface that can handle all these functions and at the same time keep it simple to use is a tough challenge.  I prefer to continue to use tools that are specifically designed for the job.

[DocLotus]

Jim;

Is that not why there was a thread some months ago about making two or more versions of MC (Advanced, Typical, Simple)?

Or, as many had suggested, a way to change MC to have two or more interfaces.

[mdlmn]

dvd needs improvement in the interface area. I need larger easy access buttons that can become transparent when not needed. I am considering buying a dvd player to get this. it would be nice to have it in MJ9.

[MachineHead]

When I'm going through my music and trying to sort out my physical mp3 collection I need to use another program as I like to keep a .m3u playlist of each album with the album. I use Helium2 as it lets me select the songs, right click and choose 'export to playlist'. MC is still lacking this feature which almost all the other jukebox programs have.

MC can do this. Any time I rip with MC, I make one (.m3u) and stick it right in the same folder as the album.  

[phelt]

I still want the option to make Playing Now omnipresent in Mega-Me. Actually I want more than that, but it would be a nice start.

I use MP3 Tag Studio for tagging. The only tagging op that I perform in MC is Album Artist. All the processes are defined in the interface - not a lot of submenu digging.

I use EAC for ripping. I'm not content with it, but it does allow me to define the number of simultaneous compression threads and rips while compressing quite nicely. Looking forward to the pro version of PlexTools to replace it though. Never had much luck with MJ/MC for ripping - misidentified or unidentified discs, general slowness, not enough advanced options. Frankly I don't expect MC to match EAC or PlexTools.

I use MP3Gain because of album volume features. ReplayGain would be nice but I don't think it handles albums properly, nor does it work with my portables. Plus the 83db issue

That said, I have yet to find an app that comes close to MC for music.

[zevele10]

I use MC like a jukebox
And i am very happy that help files are  here now...

I use a lot my stereo to play CDs. If i play them in the computer ,i use MC to play them ,because of the very good sound.
But there is a price to pay : to use MC as a cd player is a pain in the ...

I have only few DVDs and all of them live concerts ,and for this MC is good for me - But i would not care if MC not playing DVDs ,i would use another program

I use MusicMatch SuperTag and i really like much better the MusicMatch tag interface- kind of MJ8 one- than the MC jungle.
But there is much less possibilitys in MM than in MC.

To be very fair if one day MM tags not MC compatible ,i may stop to use MC.

I use EAC if i rip to one format.
If ,like now i rip to lossless to convert to 2 formats ,i use dbPowerAmp plus who has a ton of DSP effects like remove silence and a trim -no matter how long the songs - fonction...BUT  Replay Gain is not yet present in dbPowerAmp.
The other thing i like is that i can get all infos about a song  and edit tags from inside Explorer.

I allmost never burn redbook cd and not often data cds.
Last time i burned cds data with MJ8 ,i had a lot of problems with long names.
If this problem is solve in MC , i will use MC as my burner.

I use Mp3Utility and EncSpot. It is great to be able to set them as external tools and to use them from inside MC.

MC Recorder is MUCH MUCH better than people think.
I mean it is a very good piece of software.. but still missing 'automatic volume settings' when ripping radio- Like TotalRecorder does.

I do not have WindowsMediaPlayer , never use MM to more than SuperTag. I do like RealOne - i'am an happy RealJukebox plus user who found MJ7. - but i never use it

I have only full albums on my drives and still listen to music by full albums--yes i am old ,but it is because ,before, they did shorter records than today and not full of s..-

I do not use around 80% of the organisation fonctions and most of the others.
For me ,MC is to much bloated and unfriendly to use.
All the fonctions i do not use are allways on my way to a fast use.
If a MJ9 out one day ,i would run to install it

Now , Replay Gain ,incomplete albums ,empty properties , no image are just fantastic features.
And look like King's plugin a total killer.

I put MC by  FAR FAR on the top of all jukebox i know.
But with MC as it is now ,i feel like having a Ferrari to go to buy my milk every morning.....
I just would like a very good car to do it ,not a very very top ,hard to drive one

[daven]

shn. shn. shn.

jim, can we get a definitive answer regarding shn support so i can stop harping about it?

[Doof]

For encoding/converting I still mainly use RazorLame as it lets me totally tweak my mp3 encoding options before I encode the music. MC has a VERY limited set of options for encoding my music (I'm not a total mp3 boff who knows all the parameters off hand and can simply write the string myself and use external encoder).

Nila> You do know that MC can use all of Lame's command line, options, right?

Just pick MP3 Encoder from the list of encoders, for Quality, choose Custom, then click the Advanced button. Then just enter in whatever commandline string you want.

[KeystoneCop]

First the good.(BEST).  The speed of a catalog of over 25,000 entries is the best I have seen. The editing of tags works better than any other program I have tried (lots of them suck).
The CD burning is now GREAT and FAST.  

Now for the it works but could use some help.
I like the find dupliucates, but would be nice to search on a range of duration.. say within 5 10 seconds.

and the BAD..

YADB is not working well for me. I had over 100 cds that were found with verrsion 8..  only 2 of them found with MC, and yeap I am to lazy to type them in.

The Track look up is poor compared to musicmatch.


but I LOVE the software and the support staff.

[nila]

How does MC do .m3u? Only way I know of is by first creating a playlist then exporting it.
I know of no method to select a bunch of songs and just instantly create a playlist from it without a bunch of inbetween steps.


Doof - I dont know the command line options which is why I mentioned that part in brackets.
Razorlame gives me a GUI to decide what options I want and to let me change them and play with them. I dont plan to learn them and I'm not going to open up Razorlame, get the command string then paste it into MC which will then loose it the next time I make changes.
Why go to all the hassle when Razorlame will do it all for me instantly.

[JimH]

Doug,
Please copy your post to a new thread.  WMP9 DRM is supported.

[MachineHead]

How does MC do .m3u? Only way I know of is by first creating a playlist then exporting it.
I know of no method to select a bunch of songs and just instantly create a playlist from it without a bunch of inbetween steps.

EAC style? No MC does not do that. I agree that MC should have this option for extraction. A simple checkmark in device options would do.

[whoeveryouare]

I keep two other music-related utilities around: Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and Winamp.

EAC because I have a Plextor drive, which caches audio data, and MC9 doesn't seem to know or care that digital secure mode is useless under those circumstances; and...

Winamp for those times when I want to play individual audio files, without dealing with MC9's slow loading times, or its bulk and complexity.

[iCamp]

I still use the following audio tools:

1.  MusicMatch - Only for SuperTagging.  It only tags the basics and it's the only think MM does well, IMO.  The whole industry should be scrambling to copy this feature.

2.  EAC - Used for ripping 'problem' CDs.  Also used because it has CDDB access and finds virtually all disc names and tracks correctly. (yes, I later submit to YADB)

3. Foobar 2000 - For AAC playback

4.  Nero - for AAC

5.  Quicktime & WMP 9 - for video playback

I love MC (though I only use it for audio).  I think MC (& MJ) need to be able to encode and play back ALL CURRENT AUDIO FORMATS to be the "ultimate" media centers.  

[JohnT]

... (and the fact that MC9 is also giving me a weird encoding problem now where it can't convert *.wav files to Mp3, even when MC9 is the program generating the Wave files int he first place)...  

Have you tried this recently? This was fixed a couple of builds ago. If you're still having problems, please give the details.

Thanks.

[Bartabedian]

When I'm going through my music and trying to sort out my physical mp3 collection I need to use another program as I like to keep a .m3u playlist of each album with the album.

Nila, doesn't AlbumView do this rather easily?

Right click an album, choose tools\create .m3u and there it is, <AlbumPath>\playlist.m3u.

[nila]

Yeah it does if the files I'm exporting all display as a full album and I might actually start doing it like that. Its a good idea - Thanks

MC however should support such a basic feature without the need for an external plugin.

[kcorbett]

From time to time I resort to using CDex to rip a bad CD track or two.

Q: What MC settings (if any) are equivalent to CDex "paranoid" mode?

/kmc

[whoeveryouare]

From time to time I resort to using CDex to rip a bad CD track or two.

Q: What MC settings (if any) are equivalent to CDex "paranoid" mode?

I don't use CDex, but I'm guessing that "paranoid" mode just does multiple reads (from 2 to 16), as does Exact Audio Copy.  If that's the case, then MC9's "digital secure" mode (Options > Device Settings > Advanced Ripping Settings > Copy mode) is the functional equivalent.

The only thing is, if CDex is smart enough to handle drives that cache audio data, as EAC is, it still has a big advantage over MC9.  Unless MC9 handles that situation, that is, which is something that would surprise me greatly.  (I'd actually be surprised if CDex handled it as well.)

[Diverdown1964]

I came to MediaCentre from MP3 Collector (via Media Jukebox . My primary need was cataloging, although once I saw the playback options, I startwed using MC exclusively.

The database is amazingly fast, and it does an incredible job of automatically organizing my music. It very easily lets me play and sort music exactly how I wish. I also can't say enough good things about the "right pane" editing options, new in MC9.

Tagging files is a snap, and the playlist handling is unparalleled. I'd use MC for its playlist alone.

XML is also a strong draw, although I feel this area needs improvement. A user definable export schema would be very cool.

I do keep MP3 Collector around though. Why? Because it is quite strong when it comes to filling tags from a filename. If MC allowed me to overwrite existing data fields, and incorporate all of the masking options that MP3 Collector does, I could ditch it altogether.


My $.02

John

[Bartabedian]

Yeah it does if the files I'm exporting all display as a full album and I might actually start doing it like that. Its a good idea - Thanks

MC however should support such a basic feature without the need for an external plugin.

Agreed.

[NoCodeUK]

funny guy,

What does MP3 collector do in terms of renaming using masks that MC doesn't?  You can rename a file using any tags as a amask and you can fill in tags from a filename using any part of it as a mask for a particular tag...  I can't see how MC could improve in this area...

Adam

[GHammer]

What I Use:

MusicMatch Jukebox 7.5
Solely for the Super Tagging lookups.
MC 9 isn't even close. I have even done a lookup on titles I have submitted. Some are found, some are not.

MP3Gain
Does a better job on albums.
I'm also unsure if my portables will use the MC9 info.

mp3Trim
To repair first/last frame problems.
To trim silence or excessive applause from songs.

Audiotools 4.40 i2
To record streaming audio.
I only see a way to record the soundcard from MC 9
Plus Audiotools uses the song title/artist info from the stream for naming and tags. Very nice.

Audiograbber v1.82 b2
For ripping. Does a great job for me. Uses all the codecs I am interested in. May not have your favorites.

TagScan 4.71
Simply for its HTML output. I haven't found anything else as easy to use or that has as nice/configurable output.


What do I like best in MC 9?
The Auto Smartlists! Best thing since sliced bread for me.


Informational:
I have had several people download and install MC 9. They all say it is the best all around tool they have used. Then they go look at the price and stay with the tools they already have.
Most folks I know are strictly audio. MC 9 needs an audio only cousin at an audio only price.

[TURBO]

Is not better than Sxxx. But I managed to syncronize an exact wave algorithm tonality with my precious ears. I stopped the madness of burning Cds. So I dont care if can burn CDs or not. Besides that, I stopped encoding to other formats. Right now I just play, organize my library and record optically via my toslink cable from my optoplay optical sound card to my Sony Minidisc (Real Time) with MC. Digital Minidisc Sound quality is better than anything I heard before. I do have the M-audio revolution for playing in the pc and the optoplay sound card (49.99usd at CompUsa) for optical recordings.  http://www.audiotrak.net/optoplay.htm
I just ordered an Sharp Dr7(From Japan), So I will leave one Miinidisc for recording and the other for life enjoyment. http://www.minidisct.com/products/sharp_dr7.html

Now my life is simpler and more productive. Congrats to MC and Minidisc Technology!!

[zevele10]

I do not get your story  concerning the Sony mini-disc.
You do not have to use the Sony format?

[TURBO]

Posted by: zevele Posted on: May 11th, 2003, 11:44pm
I do not get your story  concerning the Sony mini-disc.
You do not have to use the Sony format?  
---------------------------------------------------------
Yes, you do have to use Sony Format. When you play music (Insane mpcs) straight via the toslink cable from your pc (MC) to the minidisc, the minidic transcodes internally to Atrac realtime, but the quality is like 192kbps mp3 with some kind of enhancement. I dont use the software that comes with it. If you transfer music using their software, the quality is not the same. Is difficult to explain. You can hear every single sound from the instruments, clear and neat. In other words awesome!

[zevele10]

In this case which software are you using?

I understand you 'tape' your music on the minidisc as you do wih a tape :one hour music= one hour needed to tape.

I have a Sony minidisc somewhere ,but i was so upset by they format and ,first of all , by the fact i was not able to upload the 7" i ripped with it to my computer that i just stoped to use it after few days.

I may buy an EAC mini disc player ,only player ,but you can burn mp3 on the disc and the player read it

Concerning sound ,i assume that you mean that a Sony format sounds better than a MP3 ,more or less the same size
But not that Sony format sounds better than mpc insane

[rocketsauce]

I use Media Center primarily for organizing and playing music files. I think this is where it really surpasses pretty much any other similar software. There are some music-related features that I've never used, though, because I either don't have any need for them or I still use other programs for those tasks.

Ripping/Encoding/Converting: MJ/MC has always worked fine for ripping. However, on my Win98SE system, the encoding/converting end of things has always been a little crashy. The method that works best for me with MC is to rip a bunch of CDs to .wav and then do a batch conversion later. Currently, since I have a Plextor CD-RW drive, I am using Plextools for ripping. I believe it reliably uses C2 error correction (only) with Plextor drives, so I get ripping speeds of about 15x to 30x. With MC secure digital mode, I get rips at about 8x. I then batch convert to .mpc using Speek's Multi Frontend with mppenc.exe and Case's Tag.

Recording/Editing: I have never been able to use MJ/MC for line-in recording because it doesn't recognize my Echo Audio MIA soundcard as a recording device. Also, since I have a "paid-for" copy of Cool Edit 2000, that's what I use for both recording and .wav editing.

Burning: Actually, I have never burned a CD-R with MJ or MC. I guess I should give it a try. Currently, for audio CDs I use Feurio!, for a couple of reasons. First, since most of the discs I burn are compilations of tracks from CDs that I already own, I almost never burn a CD-R using compressed audio as a source. I always rip a fresh .wav file, even if it's something that is already in my MC library. Second, once you get used to the interface, Feurio!'s method of managing burn projects is really much better than any other burning software. Currently, I have 18 projects in various states of readiness waiting to be burned. To burn data discs, I use Sony CD Extreme because it has a lot of options when it comes to retaining long filenames.

Streaming/Media Server: I don't listen to streaming audio or web radio. Media Server sounds really cool, but I've just never had a chance to use it since I don't have another computer to install MC on in order to give it a try.

Tagging: I use MC for tagging all the time. It's great! My library consists mostly of .mpc files. Sometimes, though, when I rip a CD, I will also make .mp3s for some friends. In those cases, I still use Tag&Rename so that I don't have to import the .mp3s into MC just to tag them.

Finally, I do still have Winamp 2.91 on my system. It is set as my default player for all music formats. I use it primarily for quickly previewing tracks in Windows Explorer and music clips at Amazon.com. Also, with the Tara and Vidamp plugins, it is my default player for Real Media and Quicktime video.

Rob




Media Center Registered 9.0.172 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 98 SE
Intel Pentium III 731 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 261 MB, Free - 112 MB
Resource Info: System - 51 %, GDI - 59 %, User - 51 %

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 4.72.3812.600
wnaspi32.dll: 4.60 (1021) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1999 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: N/A

Ripping /   Drive E:   Copy mode:ModeSecure   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive F:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: No /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: No  

Burning /  Drive E: PLEXTOR  CD-R   PX-W1210A   Addr: 0:0:0  Speed:12  MaxSpeed:12  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[Warlock]

Every day I find a new feature in MC that "I didn't know I needed," but now I can't live without.  There are two programs I doubt I will ever replace:  

EAC for ripping, because I know it so well and it just always seems to work with my problem disks.

Foobar for playing FLAC files.  I am hoping MC will get a plugin for these and I can rely on MC exclusively.

[LisaRCT]

When I was just a little girl simply playing music on my PC, I sought a better player and was rewarded with MC9.
Now I am all grow'd up, and have become obsessed with my MP3 collection (16,000 files and growing daily . . .  watch out King LOL )
As this change took place (partly due to the power and quality of MC9) I began to find more uses for the program. . . .  well it seems we have created a monster!
I have become so nuts about this music collection that I seem to have outgrown some of MC9's abilities.

What I am saying is, when I started out on the MC9 BETA test a few months ago, the program exceeded my needs, as it will for MOST users.  However, it also encourages growth as a media collector, which causes one to become somewhat more than an 'average PC user'.  When that happens, we begin to expect more from the software.
I WAS content with MC9's abilities, until I developed more skills and interests in media.  Now I find myself trying to improve things by trying alternatives such EAC, EncSpot, RazorLame, and Tag&Rename.
Is it that MC9 falls short? Or simply that we continue to outgrow it?
MC9 is my MediaPlayer, nothing else comes close.  For the general user, it far exceeds all their needs.
For us obsessed fanatics . .  well, will we ever be satisfied?

[naven_r_johnson]

These "...How successful..." threads have been very interesting.  Some very clear and thoughtful answers from some knowledgeable people.  They are to be commended for taking the time and effort.  And JRiver is to be commended for asking the questions.  (One of the reasons i like JR so much.)  There is great information here, which i am bettinga will be put to good use by the MC team.

My personal answer to the question is: Yes! Very successful!  I am so happy to have found MJ/MC after painful years of struggling with other programs. The moment i tried MJ (then MC), i knew this was the tool i'd been looking for.   Like most of the others in this thread, what i wanted was to be able to manage, organize, and access my music, simply and with flexibility. No other program i researched comes close. Unless absolutely forced to do otherwise, MC is the only music program i use. It handles nearly all my music related tasks at least adequately. I don't mind that another program rips or burns faster. . The bottom line for me is management of, and access to, the music. With it's tagging and file handling, along with it's custom view schemes and custom smart lists, Media Center has profoundly enriched my music experience. Where other programs were a frustration, MC is a joy. As a result, i have been able to explore my musical tastes and moods as never before. (Plus the TV is off much more often.) I also appreciate and often use Media Server.

There are areas of weakness, which i hope and expect JRiver to continue improving. To that end, and for purely selfish reasons, what i most want right now is for Media Center to be successful. (To both justify and finance continued development.)  

Good luck JRiver, and keep it up!

[Tolga]

I there is only one organization feature is missing in MC:

It is not easy to select individual songs as it is easy to select full albums.

Album view was a very important improvement. MC is excellent to add whole albums to your playlist. Unfortunately, if you prepare a playlist of mixed songs, the album view is not very useful. There should be some method to be able to select individual songs from an album, once you have visually located the album in album view.

[Ken Brookings]

I used Microsoft's Media Center, then sampled most of the offerings on the market before buying Media Jukebox/Media Center.

I've been using MC9 for a few months now.  This product is without doubt one of the finest pieces of software I've ever used.  I get more value and pleasure from this inexpensive product than many things for which I've paid many times more.  

I'm not not a power computer user but not a programmer or data base wiz.  So for me the functionality is all there.  I think for some computer jocks integrating third party programs for specific functionality may make sense, but for the rest of us MC9 is easy to use, complete and awesome.  

I do use CoolEdit however, for converting and cleaning up my old LPs.

Ken

[Cmagic]

MC9 Impact on Music ?

123 years later (almost day to day), the best thing that happened to Music since :

[JimH]

This brings tears to my eyes.

What is the significance of 123?

[Cmagic]

What is the significance of 123?

I find it funny that next sunday is the 123 rd anniversary of the invention of the phonograph when mp3 is about ten years old and microcomputer something about 25 years.

Bonne journée,
C.

[whoeveryouare]

Don't get out much?  

(Do any of us?)

[ThomasB]

I use following additional audio tools:

1. Sonic Foundry Sound Forge/Noise Reduction/Batch Converter for vinyl restauration. There is imho no other tool out that does a comparable job.

2. Feurio for vinyl recording. Because I'm used to it and it's very easy to handle. A good and easy audio editor. Also Feurio is still used for burning of audio CDs.  

3. EAC for ripping and encoding to mp3. Yes, MC can also do this, but YADB is still far behind CDDB and FreeDB.

4. CATraxx for generation of reports, database listings, etc. Does a really great job. MC lacks on report generation on album level.

I stopped using MP3collector because MC does the same job.

However, MC is a great music box and I don't know another product that does a similar job.  

rgds, Thomas