[Mikeb]

As reported yesterday in my earlier post JRiver Media Jukebox 12 is now available as a free download from the JRiver site, this is a full unrestricted version of Media12 without the video and photographic parts, there is no time/use limit restriction, the software is suitable for music playback as per Foobar, it has ASIO, 44 to 192 khz sampling/upsampling, 16 to 32 bits, plus full speed burning facilities. Soundwise they are very similar, appearance wise I think JRiver is better particularly with the album artwork, Windows task manager shows CPU use is very similar with perhaps the JRiver slightly lower. I would be interested in what others think of this software when compared to Foobar particularly regarding the sound quality.

 

[vegaman]

As long as neither programs have any bugs, and they're not applying any DSP, the sound quality will be identical. Exactly the same data will come out.

 

[ford2]

Reason they are giving it away is because it was not worth buying.
There are quite a few free players out there many with asio support.
Foobar if you know what you are doing does everything and more.

Ford2.

 

[phheld]

folks, is there a way to get J River to play Apple Lossless files. It must be via a plug in - quick advice on how to make this work? thanks in advance.

 

[FasterThanEver]

phheld> is there a way to get J River to play Apple Lossless files.

Search for ALAC on the J. River forum and on their Wiki.

ford2> Reason they are giving it away is because it was not
> worth buying.

Feel the need to defend your choice? Do you actually have any experience with MC 12 or Media Jukebox? Or do simply KNOW that Foobar is the only choice?

> Foobar if you know what you are doing does everything
> and more.

Does more than everything! I'm impressed.

Bill

 

[skeptic]

The interface looks nice, but the v12 forum is a solid string of complaint posts and bug reports.

Has it actually worked well for you thus far?

I'm pretty happy with WinAmp ASIO for the time being - which is another reasonable Foobar alternative.

 

[scompton]

I don't get the at last in the title. There have been plenty of free players for years.

 

[FasterThanEver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skeptic /img/forum/go_quote.gif The interface looks nice, but the v12 forum is a solid string of complaint posts and bug reports.

The forum is the way users communicate with J.River. You are seeing all the traffic that would otherwise go to the support people via email. I'd guess that 40-50% isn't bugs at all but new users describing something they don't understand as a bug.

J. River posts a new minor revision every few days. You can track those closely or just use the stable version that is available via the "Check for updates" menu command. Very little drama to using J. River if you install the stable version and just use it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skeptic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Has it actually worked well for you thus far?

I've used the not-for-free version for about 2 years. (Not much difference from the free version.) It has given me no grief. I have a library of about 2500 CDs, about 60% classical. MC 12 and MJ let me use the tags and database fields I want and build several view schemes for browsing my collection; most other players I examined just didn't cut it for classical music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skeptic /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm pretty happy with WinAmp ASIO for the time being - which is another reasonable Foobar alternative.

Nothing wrong with that. Pick the feature set you want.

Bill

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I thought I'd give it a shot, but its taking forever to add my songs to the library. It has been going for about half hour now and is still not even half way done. Foobar usually takes a couple of minutes to do the whole thing. So far, not impressed. But I will just let it run and see if things get better.

EDIT : Still taking like a second or so per song, just unacceptable. I tried to start using the player while auto import runs in the background and it hung and closed itself 5 minutes later. Also I dont see any options for customizable global keyboard hot keys, which is a huge plus for me in foobar. So I guess foobar wins, atleast for me.

 

[FasterThanEver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought I'd give it a shot, but its taking forever to add my songs to the library. It has been going for about half hour now and is still not even half way done. Foobar usually takes a couple of minutes to do the whole thing. So far, not impressed. But I will just let it run and see if things get better. EDIT : Still taking like a second or so per song, just unacceptable. I tried to start using the player while auto import runs in the background and it hung and closed itself 5 minutes later. Also I dont see any options for customizable global keyboard hot keys, which is a huge plus for me in foobar. So I guess foobar wins, atleast for me.

You didn't say how large your library was. I often re-scan a secondary library of 4600 files in about 10 secs.

Did you use Auto-import or the Tools/Import Folder command? What folder(s) did you specify to scan? If you didn't specify a folder, MC is probably scanning your entire hard disk.

It is also possible that MC is analyzing each file it finds to find the peak audio level. I don't use volume leveling so I don't know whether MC does this when importing or just when rippings CDs. Try the Player/Playback Options/DSP Studio command and uncheck "Volume leveling".

If you still have any interest, ask your questions on the MC forums.

Bill

 

[FasterThanEver]

jilgiljongiljing

I did a bit more checking in the J.River MC menus. Look at Tools/Auto-import Options and click on "options". You might want to

Check "Run auto-import in background"

and uncheck "Analyze Audio".

You might also uncheck "Build thumbnails" and "Get cover art".

If "Analyze Audio" is checked, MC has to read every audio file from beginning to end to find the peak level.

MC 12 has a lot of features. Some things are not obvious but the J. River forums are quite helpful.

Bill

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I was trying to import around 25000 files. But it slowed down tremendously after around 7000. Till 7000 it was fairly quick, so it was reading each file, it shouldve taken the same amount of time to reach 7000.

I have all my music in a specific folder and I made sure that it was scanning only that folder.

I don't think it was analysing anything cos as I said before it did the first 7000 fairly quickly.

But the major deal killer for me was the customizable global keyboard hotkeys. Its extremely convinient for me since I use the media player at work, and would like to keep it off screen and control it quickly. I also like the advance toolbar plugin for foobar which gives song notifications on the taskbar, and info on a simple mouse over.

Either way I didnt expect to bomb on me the first time i was running it, especially since it said it can auto import in the background.

Edit : Thanks for the analyze audio tip, it was selected. I am gonna give this thing one more pass. Any idea if I can have global hotkeys?

 

[Chri5peed]

To add files to foobar, not scanning.


Put the new album in place where foobar scans, i.e. 'C:Music'.

Drag N Drop/'Add files'[foobar menu] into current playlist.

Refresh album list/media library.



...hey presto, its now in your liibrary.

 

[FasterThanEver]

> I also like the advance toolbar plugin for foobar which gives song
> notifications on the taskbar, and info on a simple mouse over.

Look at Tools/Options/General and check "Minimize to System tray". When you click on the minimize button, the MC icon appears in the system tray. Mouse over the icon and it shows what's playing.

There is also a Mini-view that shows player controls on the screen but not the full interface.

> But the major deal killer for me was the customizable global
> keyboard hotkeys. Its extremely convinient for me since I
> use the media player at work, and would like to keep it
> off screen and control it quickly.

I don't know about customizable hotkeys. MC has an extensive set of "hot-keys" defined including support for the media keys on many keyboards (prev, Play/pause, Next, stop, up/down volume). Search the help file or the Wiki.

Bill

 

[ford2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FasterThanEver /img/forum/go_quote.gif phheld> is there a way to get J River to play Apple Lossless files. Search for ALAC on the J. River forum and on their Wiki. ford2> Reason they are giving it away is because it was not > worth buying. Feel the need to defend your choice? Do you actually have any experience with MC 12 or Media Jukebox? Or do simply KNOW that Foobar is the only choice? > Foobar if you know what you are doing does everything > and more. Does more than everything! I'm impressed. Bill

Knew it would not take much to impress a J river stooge.
I am surprised that your mother lets you on the net without supervision.
Have one on me.

Regards.
Ford2.