More > JRiver Media Center 33 for Windows

Why did you choose JRiver?

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glynor:
This isn't exactly the same question, Jim, but I thought it was worth answering.

Why do I pay for Media Center, when there are free alternatives available?

Well, I think MC is best at many functions.  But, even if you ignore all of that, the biggest reason I don't mind paying for MC?  Because now ten years have got behind me, and you're still here, still making it better every day.  The incremental improvements MC has made over the years have been nothing short of astounding.

But, to me, one of the biggest "features" of MC is actually the fact that you:
* Charge a fair price
* Are still around, and MC hasn't suddenly become something else, or disappeared.

Of the applications I was considering as alternatives when I settled on MC way back when (before iTunes got purchased by Apple, I'll note) none of them still exist at all anymore.  Seriously.  I can't think of one.  Winamp?  RealJukebox?  MusicMatch Jukebox?  All gone.  Even with more modern stuff, if they still exist in name, they bear essentially zero relation to the original product.  And you know what?  Most of them were free.

I like that I pay you, and you keep making good software, and keep making it better.  You improve MC incrementally, without the (marketing/investment-driven) need to "revolutionize" the interface every few years, or tear up and throw away the business model to embrace this years new fancy trend.  It doesn't get all mucked up with ads and malware and junk.  And the person running the open-source project doesn't decide to re-write the whole thing in node.js and then get distracted half-way through because "ooh something shiny over here".

We get cool toys, but more importantly, I've had a stable platform for what?  13 years? 14?  I don't even remember anymore.

Your sustainable business model where you do the "crazy" thing and build a nice product and charge a fair price for it is a beneficial to me as a user.  The price is a feature, not a bug.

6233638:
• Red October HQ: I can have a new system set up with madVR, LAV Filters, VideoClock(≈ReClock) in less than five minutes with Media Center.
  Even as an advanced user that tweaks things beyond your defaults, it's 95% of the way there out of the box. No messing around.
• Integrated Volume Leveling
• Built-in VST plug-in support and powerful DSP - and the fact that it all works with video playback too, rather than being limited to music playback
• It's one program that can manage my entire media library without feeling like a compromise in any of those areas
 
There are plenty of other reasons why I use MC in preference to anything else now (library management tools, split view & tabs interface, Zones, JRemote, ease of setting up client PCs) and why it's always what I recommend to people, but those are the reasons why I switched in the first place.
 
And while the majority of my use is on Windows, the fact that you're branching out into OS X/Linux support is a big deal.
I had to get some work done on a 9 year-old Mac earlier in the week, and in less than 60 seconds I was listening to music streamed to it from my main PC library.
It's fantastic, and that experience alone has made me change my mind from simply renewing my Windows license with the inevitable MC21, and planning to renew the master license instead.

stevemac:
The primary reason for looking at MC was its multiple zone capability.  My focus was on audio, however this changed very quickly once I started using it & now it manages all audio & video into 4 zones + handhelds

Steve

Castius:
There are certainly many reasons to buy jriver over the free alternatives.

Overall for me is that jriver is a true media center.
I can capture/organize/view just about any media.

What made it easy to buy jriver though. Was because of what i saw of the forum.
The development team was good at listening and communicating with it's users.

At first I payed for JRiver just to support the developers. Even before i switched to using it completely.

thecrow:
For me it is the class leading sound and picture quality combined with the ability to tweak everything to work exactly the way I want it.

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