Topic: Media Center Popularity (Add your wanted ideas - Participate Plz) (Read 3897 times)

Pink Waters · « **on:** May 02, 2005, 11:00:40 pm »

Media Center now with its new version I find it a must have for any multimedia PC.
But as i check all important download services in the web, media center has no popularity in the downloads of the multimedia sections in their directory.. and olso is not contained in the popular downloads or even the top rated programs.

I wonder why is this althouth i see that media center is the best multimedia program exist on the market today.
So i thought to open this post to discuss that!. so anyone knows what may media center need to get on the rows? or what does the the most popular other programs have or present and media center don't ?
anyone knows how can j.river add to media center to make it the best ?

Thanks all for participation

Quote

(!) Please When Choosing "None of the above" Post your idea.

Usefull Posts:
Library Browser Enhancement
Media Center with tabs
Schedule Library Backups
CD Lookup Feature
Few suggestions for the future
MC11 Theater View & Playing now suggestion
Feature requests should be postponed until we've finished 11.0

Pink Waters · « **Reply #1 on:** May 03, 2005, 04:12:05 am »

I am with you... but not only people go for free players because you will fine :

MusicMatch Jukebox
RealPlayer Plus
A2 Media Player Pro
etc...
all of those not free

but i think MC is missing something unlike those others
for me i think:
enhanced media services integrated with the player!
enhanced radio service integrated well and managable in the player
maybe a toolbar view mode like the one in realplayer plus its amazing
mc should be speed enough more than now
another thing which is supporting the player to the connection and usage through the internet as it is localy great...

glynor · « **Reply #2 on:** May 03, 2005, 08:16:11 am »

Quote from: marko on May 03, 2005, 02:49:03 am

It's because it's not free.

I second that Marko. Those other apps may have "paid versions" as well as their free versions, but the "download" numbers you see on Download.com are all based on their free versions. If you limited your counting on those other apps to customers who actually paid for the "Gold" product, I wonder how it would then compare to the paid MC users numbers.

Plus ... What we (MC users) don't have in numbers, we make up for in enthusiasm. I don't think you can show me a user support community for any product that is as helpful, active, and welcoming as the Interact forums, much less any of those mentioned above.

ChrisRainman · « **Reply #3 on:** May 03, 2005, 09:30:26 am »

I don't think it's only because it's not free. I know a lot of people who would buy the licence if they can easily make use of it. And that's the main aspect I could critizise with MC11. It's just harder to feel comfortable with it because it requires some expertise. I love MC, but WinAmp, Itunes are much more easier to use for beginners.

For V12, focus on this aspect and I'm sure MC will become popular in a way it deserves it.
Why not offering a beginner's mode? (The party mode could be used for this with a more limited view) There are lots of approaches to make MC easier.

Of course, there are already a lot of great features included that makes handling easy. But I'm afraid it's not enough. Everytime I used MC11 to play music at parties nobody else was able to use MC - that's a clear sign for me that it should be much more intiutive (or they were too drunk).

Pink Waters · « **Reply #4 on:** May 03, 2005, 10:22:25 am »

i think using tabs would make it easier you know as the standard windows explorer tabs with the left section which has shortcuts for the available actions and wizards and informations

Tab · « **Reply #5 on:** May 04, 2005, 09:07:43 am »

I like the sound of starting with a beginners view. How to work software is so obvious to those that work with it daily, its easy to forget how clueless people are at first. I must make that mistake every single time (in another area, not software). Really nothing is inherently obvious, everything we learn.

Seems to me this is one of the biggest downfall areas of most or all software, that a complete newb will usually not know how to get it working.

Hence the proliferation of GUIs, start buttons, helpfiles, tips, wizards, more than one way to do each task and so on. But even with all these, people still struggle!

It matters because much software is dropped after failed attempts to get it going. Also MC has such a huge range of functions and features that we are all newbs to many of the faetures for a long time.

Solving the problem is pretty tough, but one good ground rule is offering more than one way to do every task. Starting with a beginners view might also help, I dont know. Plus a first-start wizard could help too.

There is actually a list of ways to tackle this, but those might all help. Ease of use is a big seller: look at windows.

Tab

LonWar · « **Reply #6 on:** May 04, 2005, 12:47:13 pm »

I was watching TechTv a while ago and they said that Media Jukebox/Media Center was the greatest thing that nowbody's ever heard of...

A catchier name and a advertising campaine will go a long way.

MGD_King · « **Reply #7 on:** May 05, 2005, 01:05:36 pm »

Quote from: imjustagamer on May 04, 2005, 12:47:13 pm

I was watching TechTv a while ago and they said that Media Jukebox/Media Center was the greatest thing that nowbody's ever heard of...

A catchier name and a advertising campaine will go a long way.

I agree. When asked what media player I use and I say "Media Center" people will say "Oh, you mean Media Player that comes with Windows, right?" I say, "No, it's made by JRiver." So a new name would go a long way I think. Something like MEDIA CONTROL or MEDIA FOR ALL or something not so simular as Media Player.

Also, a stripped down free version that only allows playing of certain file formats and ripping of those said formats at low speeds and bit rates wouldn't hurt either.

JustinChase · « **Reply #8 on:** May 05, 2005, 02:05:08 pm »

I sometimes like to look at things a little differently than most...

I kinda like the fact that MC has a small user base. It means our ideas get implemented in a timely fashion, and the guys at J River can stay on top of what's going on with their software.

Imagine if the user base doubled or tripled in a few months. All the repetetive newb user questions. I think interact might lose a lot of it's community feeling.

Just a different opinion.

Pink Waters · « **Reply #9 on:** May 05, 2005, 02:08:33 pm »

Quote from: JustinChase on May 05, 2005, 02:05:08 pm

I sometimes like to look at things a little differently than most...

I kinda like the fact that MC has a small user base. It means our ideas get implemented in a timely fashion, and the guys at J River can stay on top of what's going on with their software.

Imagine if the user base doubled or tripled in a few months. All the repetetive newb user questions. I think interact might lose a lot of it's community feeling.

Just a different opinion.

no problem of that i think... because at that time j river can make a newbie section in the interact

hit_ny · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2005, 02:28:59 pm »

Could it be lots of people don't need something as powerful. Lots of people prefer the simplicity of winamp.

The tipping point for me was when organising my collection in explorer got unwieldy. I heard about MC, but saw it as a playlist manager, then they introduced panes and it became much easier.

I think there is a correlation with large collections and a program that helps to manage it. So as times goes on and people's collection increases they hit barriers and they go searching for some thing better.

Cmagic · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2005, 02:44:21 pm »

Hi,

What MC really lacks and what would make it tremendously popular is, IMVHO an integrated coffee engine.
The ideal implementation would of course be that of a true coffee server. That way it would be possible to have fresh coffee from all my home networked computers.

I've been asking for this feature since MC 7.1 but I guess there is a problem with mastering this new technology at J River. I know Matt tried his best to implement a new C++ library dubbed SCL (Standard Coffee Library) but he spoiled three dozens of keyboards trying to pass the parameters inside the library.

So I'm serioulsy thinking of giving up MC if the coffee function does not make its way in MC12.

Maybe JRiver could contact University of Karlsruhe as they already made a MediaCup that could be the first piece of the Media Coffee project. http://www.teco.uni-karlsruhe.de/~michael/publication/mediacuphtml/

Well, I better grab a cup from the kitchen,

Cheers

Christian

Listening to: 'Selling The Gold' from 'Selling The Gold' by 'Elliott Murphy' on Media Center 10

Mastiff · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2005, 06:50:12 pm »

The worst part is that he ain't even joking...

datdude · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2005, 07:36:26 pm »

Quote from: JustinChase on May 05, 2005, 02:05:08 pm

I sometimes like to look at things a little differently than most...

I kinda like the fact that MC has a small user base. It means our ideas get implemented in a timely fashion, and the guys at J River can stay on top of what's going on with their software.

Imagine if the user base doubled or tripled in a few months. All the repetetive newb user questions. I think interact might lose a lot of it's community feeling.

Just a different opinion.

If that happens we need away to allow only posters with say at least a hundred posts or so into this community. Until they get to that point they can only read this community's posts and post in the noob board.

Pink Waters · « **Reply #14 on:** May 06, 2005, 12:09:50 am »

Quote from: datdude on May 05, 2005, 07:36:26 pm

If that happens we need away to allow only posters with say at least a hundred posts or so into this community. Until they get to that point they can only read this community's posts and post in the noob board.

that sounds really a working mind

datdude · « **Reply #15 on:** May 06, 2005, 12:58:15 am »

Quote from: Pink Waters on May 06, 2005, 12:09:50 am

that sounds really a working mind

didn't even see your post.

Cmagic · « **Reply #16 on:** May 06, 2005, 05:23:34 am »

Hi,

In february 2002, PeterS started a thread on the popularity of Media Jukebox (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=8990.0).
I took the opportunity to perform a simple google search on the names of the most popular music playing software of the time. The results were as follows:

#google pages found in february, 14th, 2002 (all languages)
"Media Jukebox": 887
"Winamp": 541,000
"Musicmatch": 76,300
"Sonique": 74,800

I decided to do it again now, just for fun. Here are the results:

#google pages found in may, 6th, 2005 (all languages)
"Media Jukebox" : 74,000 (84 x increase, 1st ranked jriver)
"Winamp" : 3,680,000 (7x increase)
"Sonique" : 969,000 (13x increase)
"MusicMatch" : 991,000 (13x increase)
"J River Media Center" : 27,200 (1st ranked jriver)
"Media Center": 20,700,000 (1st ranked is M$, jriver ranked 9th)
"Windows media player": 8,300,000

Media Jukebox has done well in the last 3 years. It seems Winamp is approaching the summit with an only 3x increase. I don't remember why I did not googled WMP at that time, maybe it was not a big player then ?
3 years ago the term "Media center" was not in fashion. Since then it has become a major buzz word in the community. And, well, MC is doing fine.

That's all folks,

C.

JaysonG · « **Reply #17 on:** May 06, 2005, 07:44:26 am »

A windows media player-esque way of tagging albums and finding album art.

Pink Waters · « **Reply #18 on:** May 06, 2005, 07:51:53 am »

Quote from: JaysonG on May 06, 2005, 07:44:26 am

A windows media player-esque way of tagging albums and finding album art.

that would be a great idea as an improvement

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #19 on:** May 06, 2005, 04:10:57 pm »

It's gotta come down to Advertising... or lack of!
I only found Media Center by doing a usenet search for decent media centers.
Most people I know don't even understand what usenet is....

Secondly. Website Address.
How do you get straight to it?
The only way i remember is to go to JRiver.com and then move to Media Center that way.
(Other than googling or something)...
Something more memorable perhaps.

More advertising....
I see Trillian Instant Messenger has set up a site called GoTrillian.com just to add to their promotion stuff, dunno if it will help but more more more!

Media Center is heaps and bounds better than anything else, but no one knows about it!

Failing all that, go open source, try not to go bankrupt(ie sell customer support that everyone needs at twice the price you sell the closed source product and free support for, and make everyone feel like they're getting a good deal....), and everyone will rave about it as if it's some totally different product.

(hriZ

hit_ny · « **Reply #20 on:** May 07, 2005, 01:37:24 am »

How about a different view ?

Instead of making MC cater to the least common denominator, how about giving the existing users what they want !!!

They are struggling with this, they try thier best and there's still a lot of requests left. People will search out MC when the need arises (or have it offered to them see below) and hopefully find that the rough edges have been smoothed down by those that went before them.

Less users or a gradual increase means bigger chance of getting pet features implemented than to compete with even more hordes wanting to dumb down the player that most of us have figured out (to some usable extent) by now anyway

I'm not so bothered whether MC becomes #1 player on download.com. The company seems to be doing ok and we all hope they continue to prosper for a long time. They have not bothered much with advertising, maybe they don't think they will get their return on it.

I think they are looking for some sort of bundling deal where they include a light version of their software with a popular tv card, cd-dvd burner, camera or some sort of audio appliance that can front end to the computer. Think EasyCD from Roxio, but with a heck of a lot better software. You got it free with your new burner.

OR even with any of the companies that are trying to compete with the iTunes store but don't have a media player to offer with it. Lots of options. They get much more out of this than going crazy adertising everywhere. I bet this is what Jim has in mind when he talks about some big deal going on

So there you go, i voted for none of the above

Pink Waters · « **Reply #21 on:** May 07, 2005, 01:45:23 am »

Hit_ny,
you words makes perfect sense to me.
but there is some ideas make it perfect it think like.
download.com sposor by j.river... so they will put it in the top of the downloads list.
another thing which they can include the trial version with mc with multimedia products bundled with special price for instance...
here you go:)

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #22 on:** May 07, 2005, 03:50:45 pm »

Quote from: hit_ny on May 07, 2005, 01:37:24 am

How about a different view ?

Instead of making MC cater to the least common denominator, how about giving the existing users what they want !!!

They are struggling with this, they try thier best and there's still a lot of requests left. People will search out MC when the need arises (or have it offered to them see below) and hopefully find that the rough edges have been smoothed down by those that went before them.

Less users or a gradual increase means bigger chance of getting pet features implemented than to compete with even more hordes wanting to dumb down the player that most of us have figured out (to some usable extent) by now anyway

I'm not so bothered whether MC becomes #1 player on download.com. The company seems to be doing ok and we all hope they continue to prosper for a long time. They have not bothered much with advertising, maybe they don't think they will get their return on it.

I think they are looking for some sort of bundling deal where they include a light version of their software with a popular tv card, cd-dvd burner, camera or some sort of audio appliance that can front end to the computer. Think EasyCD from Roxio, but with a heck of a lot better software. You got it free with your new burner.

OR even with any of the companies that are trying to compete with the iTunes store but don't have a media player to offer with it. Lots of options. They get much more out of this than going crazy adertising everywhere. I bet this is what Jim has in mind when he talks about some big deal going on

So there you go, i voted for none of the above

Can see where your coming from............
but I think Media Center gives most people more than they could ever possibly want already (till tomorrow), although no matter how much you've got they'll always want more.
Also why not make the most of the fact that they are so far ahead? How long can it stand this way? The likes of Apple, MS, Real, and the open source communitys see the money potential and will be funding very large development teams in comparrison to JRiver, eventually except for format, they'll probably start catching up.
Like the idea of shipping it with burners or something tho, as long as it shows the full potential of the product

INTERACT FORUM

Poll

What would improve MC poularity in your openion ?

Author Topic: Media Center Popularity (Add your wanted ideas - Participate Plz) (Read 3897 times)