Topic: Best Buy Version of Media Center (Read 14267 times)

JimH · « **on:** July 30, 2004, 01:45:32 pm »

In a few weeks, Best Buy will begin testing a modified version of JRiver Media Center. You'll be invited to participate.

The player will include movie and music download services.

If the test goes well, it may be rolled out in a wider test. If that test goes well, it may be let loose upon the world. It all depends on the results.

We've worked on this for about a year now. It made it difficult to do some of the things you've asked for, but I hope you'll appreciate how important the work is to the future of Media Center.

Feel free to speculate, but I can't tell you more of the details yet. When the test begins, we'll provide a link to it here.

And that's not all the good news. We have another similar agreement that we're also working on with another large company but one which I can't name yet. We have a couple more in the pipeline.

LonWar · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2004, 01:50:04 pm »

Congrats JRiver!!

I know it hasn't been easy, But in the end hopefully well worth it....

Again Congrats.

Omni · « **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2004, 01:58:09 pm »

Congrats, guys!

One small request: Like you did for this announcement, please be sure to post a link in the main MC forum when the testing begins.

I'm very interested in this, so I definitely would like to be involved in the test

, but since I never browse this forum, I would hate to miss the announcement.

bebop · « **Reply #3 on:** July 30, 2004, 06:26:31 pm »

Congrats...now I get the question...what is the big news of the day ! Again congrats.

BullishDad · « **Reply #4 on:** July 31, 2004, 06:00:23 am »

I'd like to add my congratulations as well. Way to go! Hope the test is a huge success.

elpaolo · « **Reply #5 on:** July 31, 2004, 12:57:21 pm »

Wow, Jim - two thumbs up. Way to get in there and fight it out. Down w/ Musicmatch as the de facto included-with-all-PCs jukebox software.

Galley · « **Reply #6 on:** July 31, 2004, 10:44:42 pm »

Cashflow is a beautiful thing!

DocLotus · « **Reply #7 on:** August 01, 2004, 02:55:00 pm »

FANTASTIC

Is this the BIG NEWS ?

JimH · « **Reply #8 on:** August 01, 2004, 05:15:05 pm »

Thanks, Doc. It's one of them. There are two so far.

DocLotus · « **Reply #9 on:** August 01, 2004, 05:28:56 pm »

Did I miss the other one ?

Valissystem · « **Reply #10 on:** August 01, 2004, 05:29:17 pm »

Well done guys. It sounds really good. I hope it goes well for you!

JimH · « **Reply #11 on:** August 01, 2004, 05:32:49 pm »

Quote from: DocLotus on August 01, 2004, 05:28:56 pm

Did I miss the other one ?

Not yet. Nothing has been announced.

DocLotus · « **Reply #12 on:** August 01, 2004, 06:14:18 pm »

Thanks for the info

And speaking of thanks...

THANKS FOR A GREAT PRODUCT

MC never fails to amaze me

Shelly · « **Reply #13 on:** August 01, 2004, 10:13:35 pm »

That's wonderful news, Jim! Thanks for sharing it with us and best of luck on the other projects.

Shelly

Bendra · « **Reply #14 on:** August 02, 2004, 10:08:32 am »

Excellent, Dudes,

It's nice to know I picked quality when I looked toward you and away from iTunes.

Now what will the Best Buy version have that we don't have?

Doc_Holiday · « **Reply #15 on:** August 02, 2004, 07:48:58 pm »

I am happy to hear the good news. It's too bad that Best Buy is such a shady company. They have ripped me off twice now and I will not buy from them again.

I know there a big company but keep an eye on them they are quickly getting a very bad rep. in customer service.

Alweb · « **Reply #16 on:** August 03, 2004, 08:51:05 am »

Congrats, Guys!
It's great!!!
I hope that the tests will be ok!!
Great News!!!
MC is the best and will be better!!

cct1 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 03, 2004, 11:19:06 am »

What file format does Best Buy use? Is it WMA or mp3?

bjsolem · « **Reply #18 on:** August 03, 2004, 11:22:03 am »

Quote from: cct1 on August 03, 2004, 11:19:06 am

What file format does Best Buy use? Is it WMA or mp3?

I think that you can count on it NOT being MP3. And I believe the protected AAC is exclusive to apple, so I guess that leaves WMA, as it will certainly be a protected format.

Warlock · « **Reply #19 on:** August 04, 2004, 08:28:53 pm »

I am hoping that there is a lossless option. Apes would really be great. The fact that all of the download services are in lossy formats has kept me from jumping in. My fingers are crossed that this service will be different.

pank2002 · « **Reply #20 on:** August 05, 2004, 09:05:40 am »

[web site removed].com has lossless files.

Magicland · « **Reply #21 on:** August 06, 2004, 10:50:57 pm »

Quote from: Doc_Holiday on August 02, 2004, 07:48:58 pm

I am happy to hear the good news. It's too bad that Best Buy is such a shady company. They have ripped me off twice now and I will not buy from them again.

I know there a big company but keep an eye on them they are quickly getting a very bad rep. in customer service.

I agree. It's great news for JRiver, but sad as well, as Best Buy are scum. I guess sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil if you wanna play... For those interested in exactly how and why Best Buy Sux, check out www.bestbuysux.org for horror stories from former employees and former customers. Hope Jim didn't have to walk back from the crossroads...

Galley · « **Reply #22 on:** August 06, 2004, 11:06:39 pm »

Quote from: bjsolem on August 03, 2004, 11:22:03 am

I think that you can count on it NOT being MP3. And I believe the protected AAC is exclusive to apple, so I guess that leaves WMA, as it will certainly be a protected format.

The RealPlayer Music Store offers 192Kbps AAC files, protected, of course.

Curtis · « **Reply #23 on:** August 09, 2004, 01:05:01 am »

Sounds very interesting. As a Rhapsody/Listen.com/Real subscriber, I hope there might be a deal in the works there too. As much as I love Media Center for my ripped CD collection, I spend more and more of my at-desk time streaming radio and albums from Rhapsody. If we get to the all point that all music is available for instant streaming, and we can stay connected to the Internet more and more through wireless and such, then it starts to be time-consuming, disk-consuming, and somewhat pointless to rip music to our hard disks. Especially if all that live streaming can be had for $10 a month, at a respectable 128k quality.
That said, the bummer with Rhapsody is that their player is *very* basic, with none of the visualizations, graphics equalizers, and DSP features of MC. Now if we could stream Rhapsody through MC with all its playback features, that would be awesome. By the way Napster would be okay as a distant second too, but IMHO it's music selection is nowhere near as good (nor its puny 96K live streaming).
If you need a tester, please let me know!

MarkCoutinho · « **Reply #24 on:** August 09, 2004, 02:51:43 am »

Never heard of Best Buy before.

I take it that this all means that one can legally download music from them?
Or is it something else?

What does it benefit to MC?

pank2002 · « **Reply #25 on:** August 09, 2004, 07:47:22 am »

BestBuy is like a HUGE consumer electronic company with outlets in every bigger city. They sell cds too as far as I remeber (I'm not in the states anymore...)

JimH · « **Reply #26 on:** August 09, 2004, 08:59:31 am »

Quote from: pank2002 on August 09, 2004, 07:47:22 am

BestBuy is like a HUGE consumer electronic company with outlets in every bigger city. They sell cds too as far as I remeber (I'm not in the states anymore...)

They have 750 stores and do $24 billion in annual sales. They sell CD's, DVD's, home theater equipment, PC's, TV's, digital cameras, car audio, and appliances. A very big toy store.

http://www.bestbuy.com

DocLotus · « **Reply #27 on:** August 09, 2004, 10:26:37 am »

I've always liked Best Buy; have bought a lot of things from them over the years.

A 3 or 4 years ago their return policy was getting to be totally ridiculous (only 7 days in some stores) but then they got new management and everything has improved for the better; better return policy, and more friendlier, courteous sales people.

But... I no longer buy from them; in fact I no longer buy from any local electronic store other then the occasional jaunt to Radio Shack for some connectors or cables.

The only exception is buying most of my computer parts from Directron
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/directronlist.html
which is only a few blocks down the street from me. Directron has over 10,000 computer parts in stock at all times. They have everything and sell it all at wholesale (but, I do have to pay taxes as they are local (Houston, Texas).

For the last two years I have done much of my electronic and appliance buying on line; much better selection, much better prices not to mention no taxes. The total savings on line is significant indeed.

I have also been very impressed with many of the on-line merchants such as Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama Photography, and many, many others. The return policies are very good; they stand behind the product, and have always provided me with very fast and extremely courteous service. I'm totally sold with on-line buying from large, reputable stores such as these.

ZipperHead · « **Reply #28 on:** August 09, 2004, 08:00:45 pm »

Hello JimH, and yall. I am very glad to hear this good news. I have been recomending MJ and MC to all those I know that are turning to digitized. All of them are happier with your product than those focus stealing progs.

Seeing your program on the store shelves will grab even more attention than before.

Congratulations.....

Robert,, TitaniumSkull..

ZipperHead · « **Reply #29 on:** August 09, 2004, 08:01:56 pm »

OH MY GOD, I have been away so long I am a tenderfoot again. LOL

DocLotus · « **Reply #30 on:** August 09, 2004, 08:56:19 pm »

Welcome Back... Tenderfoot

MarkCoutinho · « **Reply #31 on:** August 10, 2004, 01:36:29 am »

Call me a stupid Dutchman, but STILL I don't understand what Best Buy and MC will do together?
Best Buy's gonna sell MC?
Music downloads?

JimH · « **Reply #32 on:** August 10, 2004, 07:08:48 am »

We can't say yet.

equalizer · « **Reply #33 on:** August 13, 2004, 01:11:01 pm »

I work at this store. It's good to see that you guys got a great deal. Good for me, cuz i have been using this program since version 7, and grew up with it. So you have yourself a great sales person here.

P.S. - Congrats JRiver!!!

JimH · « **Reply #34 on:** August 13, 2004, 04:44:41 pm »

Quote from: equalizer on August 13, 2004, 01:11:01 pm

It's good to see that you guys got a great deal. Good for me, cuz i have been using this program since version 7, and grew up with it. So you have yourself a great sales person here.

Thanks! We consider the work a privilege.

bjsolem · « **Reply #35 on:** August 17, 2004, 02:47:23 pm »

It's been a few weeks. Any updates to report? Is there a new timeframe for releasing the BB version?

And what do we call it? I propose JRMCBB.

JimH · « **Reply #36 on:** August 17, 2004, 03:13:13 pm »

It should be out the end of this week or next. It's called Entertainment Connection Media Manager.

bjsolem · « **Reply #37 on:** August 17, 2004, 03:48:31 pm »

Forgive me, I'm a nerd.

I shortened it to it's inevitable acronym, and then I noticed that it looked a lot like a similar collection of letters and I came up with this:

E=CM²

JimH · « **Reply #38 on:** August 17, 2004, 03:57:24 pm »

Good one! E = Media Center Squared.

Luigi1943 · « **Reply #39 on:** August 20, 2004, 03:50:41 am »

More than good, excellent!

I'm both a mathematician aged 61 (in faithful love with Relativity since teenager) and a music lover (in faithful love with MC, whose license I bought at Rel 7 time and updated till now, and participated actively for a while in beta testing and hints, most of which sooner or later implemented).

This E=m(c)2... sorry, I can't find square 2 on this interact tool) shows the absolute relativity of producers (JRiver and Microsoft, for instance) as compared to products (MC and WMP, for instance)...

Congrats again, Jim and staff
Luigi

P.S. I'm wondering why your product is so unknown in Italy (how many licenses come from Italy?), music lovers country... of course because it's not advertised (not even on specialised magazines nor in forums), but also because it is not localised... and I'm thinking of the possibility to volunteer some help.... it's not a promise but just a wishful thinking... is there any localisation tool available?... are you planning one? how does it work? where can I find more about this?

JimH · « **Reply #40 on:** August 24, 2004, 08:44:05 am »

Hi (again) Luigi,
I answered this last week, but there was a problem with the forum and my post was lost. Sorry for the delay.

There is a new language.txt file in MC11. It can be translated and saved in the Custom directory (otherwise it gets over-written on new installs). Here's Jaguu's thread on a German version.

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=22438;start=msg156334#msg156334

We'd love to have an active proponent in Italy. BTW, I spent a nice month or so in Italy in 1964 when I had a $300 used Vespa that topped out at 60Km/hour. The hill towns in the south of Italy were my favorite. I always meant to go back on a new motorcycle but here I sit at my desk.

JimH · « **Reply #41 on:** August 26, 2004, 11:10:26 am »

The Best Buy beta test is scheduled to begin tomorrow. I'm trying to coordinate participation by our own forum users. It will be a closed beta so we don't have as much flexibility as we usually do.

kcorbett · « **Reply #42 on:** August 28, 2004, 02:52:48 pm »

Quote from: JimH on August 26, 2004, 11:10:26 am

The Best Buy beta test is scheduled to begin tomorrow. I'm trying to coordinate participation by our own forum users. It will be a closed beta so we don't have as much flexibility as we usually do.

I don't see a more recent announcement, so I guess this is delayed?

/kmc

JimH · « **Reply #43 on:** September 01, 2004, 09:27:01 am »

The beta is running now. It's by invitation only. Please see my first post in this thread:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=20686

Roger_the_Shrubber · « **Reply #44 on:** September 08, 2004, 03:44:32 am »

Have I also been purged a la Tenderfoot???

The new shrubbery is almost ready for Sir Robin.........

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Best Buy Version of Media Center (Read 14267 times)