http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45978-2003Jul11.htmlMEDIA JUKEBOX
8.0 PLUS, JRiver
In the crowded field of do-everything media players, Media Jukebox 8.0 stands apart by doing more with less clutter. It plays all the important media formats -- including MP3, Windows Media, QuickTime, RealAudio/RealVideo and Ogg Vorbis -- and most of the unimportant ones. Although you still need to keep a few competing media players installed for Media Jukebox to play some proprietary formats, at least you can boot their shortcuts off the desktop and Start menu. Media Jukebox's interface is also blissfully free of the promotional junk that litters the Microsoft and Real players; links to online music sites and stores appear only when requested. The program's media-management tools allow static artist/album/genre sorting and the ability to group songs and playlists according to what was recently played or imported and what you've listened to most often. Media Jukebox also plays Internet radio and streaming video; a mini-player option offers just the essential playback tools, leaving the rest of your desktop free. Media Jukebox also rips MP3 from your CDs, burns compilation discs, sends tunes to many -- but not all -- portable digital-music players and records from your PC's analog inputs. All features are free to try; after 30 days, a $25 registration keeps MP3 encoding and full-speed CD burning.
-- Daniel Greenberg
Win 95 or newer/Win NT 4 or newer, $25 at
www.musicex.com/mediajukebox