Entered CNET Catalog: 06/20/2002
SKU: CNETMEDIAJUKEBOX8
Manufacturer: J. River, Inc.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 11/19/2004
The default interface is open, uncluttered, and decidedly old school, with its Windows Explorer undertones. We like the app's resizable windows and icon-based buttons for ripping, burning, and minimizing the player into its so-called Mini-Me mode. The left-hand window is generally static and houses expandable folders named Playing Now, Media Library, Playlists, CD And Handhelds, and Web Media. The larger, right-hand window is where your media and associated information show up. The visual and functional simplicity of this Explorer-like tree is one of Media Jukebox's strengths. Down below on the left side, you'll find the player and volume controls, the media-title and artist info, playback options such as Shuffle and Continuous, and the playback filter, which allows you to apply EQ, effects, and crossfading. Unfortunately, built-in EQ and DSP plug-in effects are available only as a Plus feature ($19.98 gets you the full-featured Plus version).
When you click Media Library, your entire media library appears in the right-hand window. Here you'll see all sorts of information, which you can sort by column in the typical jukebox fashion. Above it is a search bar that returns results with blazing speed. You can fine-tune your browsing by listing your files by album, artist, CD media, genre, or file location. The interface and the process for adding songs to a current playlist are efficient and intuitive, but unlike Windows Media Player and others, Media Jukebox doesn't provide a separate link to videos, photos, and other types of media. In fact, we were surprised that it doesn't support photo files.
Once your media has begun playing, another resizable window appears for video or visualizations. Media Jukebox also includes links to artists' biographies as well as e-commerce sites such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Best Buy, where you can purchase CDs from within the program's browser. The visualizations, while numerous, are mostly uninspiring. The included skins are decent but appear to have been designed in the '80s. You can download hundreds more from jriver.com; however, the built-in link in the program's skin manager is dead. (We should give proper credit to amped2 and iPod, two user-designed, downloadable Mini-Me skins.) Likewise, you can download an additional main-interface skin (a.k.a. Mega-Me) to add to the three color-schemed choices within Media Jukebox.
While the application works well for video playback, it has an audiocentric interface and feature set. Ripping CDs is painless and efficient, and you get a choice of OGG, WMA, and other codecs, plus the option to normalize tracks before encoding. You can also download additional plug-ins, such as lossless APE encoding, for free from J. River's Web site. Unfortunately, you won't get MP3 encoding unless you pay for the Plus version. J. River limits CD burning for data and audio to 4X in the basic version. Upgrading to the Plus version will get you maximum burning speeds.
Media Jukebox includes many useful playback options, including gapless playback, volume leveling, user-definable crossfading, data-CD support, and a Send To feature that allows you to add tracks or playlists to specific points in the Now Playing queue. You can even password-protect the interface using the Party mode. Media Jukebox comes with a number of rules-based playlists, called Smartlists, including Top Hits and Recently Played. You can also create your own Smartlists. But similar smart playlists in other jukebox applications either include more options or are easier to configure.
The application also works as an easy-to-use recorder with options for line-in, CD, mixer-based, and microphone recording. The recording level can be tweaked to your liking within the application itself. Converting from one format to another is a user-friendly process.
If plug-ins float your boat, J. River offers a range of them, from typical DSP and visualization plug-ins to more advanced ones that give you remote access to Media Jukebox. Developers can even submit their own plug-ins.
Media Jukebox can handle all types of streaming media, ranging from Shoutcast to RealVideo content. You can either manually enter a URL or click the Web Media link, which opens a window with a search bar (you can search 1,000 included stations and add your own) and features stations such as BBC News 24, Bloomberg Finance, and various music streams. Unlike Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, and others in its class, Media Jukebox provides no integrated source for purchasing music, video, and other media content.
If you're satisfied with Media Jukebox, you can get the full-featured Plus version for less than $20. Doing so adds a plethora of features, including a rudimentary but effective media editor, which you can use to trim various file types and re-encode them into the format of your choice. You also get MP3 encoding, Media Scheduler (for scheduling playback and recording of files), Media Server (for connecting to your media library remotely or within a network), CD Labeler, and a tagging utility.
One area where J. River Media Jukebox 8.0 excels is its fast search function. Type in a letter or two, and results pop up instantly, even amid gigabytes of data. The program itself opens quickly and outside of a couple of glitches, doesn't skip a beat.But back to those glitches. Besides the aforementioned spotty Import Media function (depending on the system), we also experienced an application crash when we tried to play a protected, subscription-based WMA file. When we attempted to acquire a license to play back the file, a browser window opened to F-Secure's site for Internet security products. While this won't happen to the typical user, those using an on-the-go subscription service need to stay far, far away from this application (of course, you'll probably be using Windows Media Player for subscription downloads). In some instances, a nonencrypted WMA file crashed the program.
With that said, general playback of audio and video files worked well, as did streaming. We only wish we could access video files in a separate interface from the one for the audio files. CD burning, ripping, and format conversion all worked well, despite the crippling, 4X burning speed in the basic version. Overall, while the program is worth a look for those with lots of different types of media files, program glitches prevent us from recommending it wholeheartedly.
Given that J. River Media Jukebox 8.0 crashed one of our systems more than once (in a variety of situations), a reliable source for support would have been a huge plus. Unfortunately, J. River offers no free direct e-mail or telephone support; instead, users must rely on the online forum, which requires registration for posting. The database of threads can be helpful, but since the list is moderated by J. River, you'll likely not find answers to difficult questions. Within the program itself, the Help pages are straightforward and useful for general problems.User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56
User Rating: 
10/10
Excellent.only jukebox to retain features of musicmatch
Pros: easily sorts, tags, burns, finds, processes files.
Cons: none at all
User Rating: 
1/10
Alpha software sold to paying customers
Pros: Pretty UI, lots of features
Cons: Buggy, unstable, unreliable
Instead of working on getting the existing product stable they continue to add more and more (clearly untested) features.
As has been mentioned their support and forum are just plain rude. People have a right to get upset when they pay for bug-riddled software - but don't try to get upset with the J River support staff!
Avoid like the plague.
User Rating: 
9/10
good but why do not recognize iAudioX5
Pros: vhat is Pros?
Cons: what is Cons?
User Rating: 
3/10
I use it every day
Pros: Easy to use and good sound
Cons: must re-subscribe to "Plus" yearly. DON"T buy it!
My op[inion is about Musicmatch Jukebox NOt J. Rivers Media Jukebox! Sorry!
User Rating: 9/10
Best Free App - Most features & Easiest to Use
Pros: easy tagging, plays multiple file types, can play seamlessly between files
Cons: a little buggy (hey it's free)
User Rating: 
7/10
Best free mediaplayer
Pros: High quality media player. When you have a lot of media files this is the player you need! Very good search possibilities.
Cons: Plus features costs money
User Rating: 
6/10
It's good if you want to record line in
Pros: Good free recorder with line in recording. Lots of recording options sampling rate, bits etc.
Cons: Old dated feel. Not very friendly interface
User Rating: 9/10
media editor included
Pros: The integrated media editor destroys the competition. Great for fade outs and equalizing older and live tracks. Also has more room to display track information so you're not always mousing. Try this program and you'll probably switch. I haven't used Wi
Cons:
User Rating: 
2/10
I THINK THIS PRODUCT IS JUCK BECAUSE EVERY ITME I USE IT OR DOWN LOAD MUSICK IT WILL FREEZ ON ME ALL
Pros: IT IS JUSCK DON'T USE IT IF YOU WANT YOUR PC TO FREEZ
Cons:
User Rating: 7/10
No user support other than a Forum
Pros: This player really sets off my music with the music enhancements included with the player. I have searched, but have not found one that will compete if you want you music to talk to you. It's easy to use. Not a lot of useless junk to content with. I rippe
Cons: I biggest complaint is that j.river only offer a Forum of people. Some who know what they are talking about, the remainder are the complainers that rip apart your question with critcism. I get enough of that from my Wife. One good thing about this program
User Rating: 
5/10
too buggy!
Pros: Great features. Intuituve operation. Album cover art and visualization suite are superb. Excellent sound quality.
Cons: Crashes frequently. Took down my win2000 machine and corrupted hard drive. Lost tons of music.
User Rating: 2/10
Unreliable and Unstable
Pros: Good at organizing and finding all of your mp3 files.
Cons: After a couple weeks, MJ started freezing up. On Windows XP, after running MJ and closing, all other programs would not launch. Very disappointed and had to uninstall...which also froze up once before the successful uninstall.
User Rating: 9/10
The only way to organize music
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Beats the competition hands down
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Will not read/play CDs
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 2/10
Unstable under Windows XP Pro
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 
4/10
Ruined my entire music collection
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 2/10
Version 8.0 unbelievably disappointing!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 5/10
A pretty box that doesn't deliver
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
It works as advertised
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 2/10
Don't buy if you aren't an expert
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 2/10
Would not run stably on 3 computers
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Does any1 Listen????
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 4/10
Needs a stable reference library, like CDDB
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 4/10
Here's a solution for increasing it's stability
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Much better than winamp and musicmatch jukebox !!!!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 2/10
MC 9 reset my MP3 files to 128K
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 
8/10
The best i've found!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Disabled Digital Playback on DVD drive.
Pros:
Cons:
Another thing I noticed, is when using the tag editer in Media Jukebox, the windows file information disappears. This my be an XP issue, but it is still disconcerting to have track numbers displayed in windows explorer. MusicMatch doesn't alter this. I don't know if it adds some sort of propriety tag to the file that is saved, but to undo the change I have to go in and alter the tag with a different application and save it. Strange behavior. In summary, I will continue to rip my collection utilizing Media Jukebox for VBR encoding for music that I plan on listening to. Use MusicMatch VBR for fast VBR encoding for music I don't care much about and Use Windows Media Player for mixed compilations(Media Player handles this the best of any player out there with MusicMatch a close second). As far as playback of music goes. WMP 9 is the best in terms of sound quality however, I am noticing some slow down in loading as My library has grown to over 8000 files. Media Jukebox seems to be strong in this area, but I think that's due to the proprietary database it creates for all your music. I will also put in another plug for dBpowerAmp. It's a great slimmed down app that is meant for audio encoding and conversion. As far as Media Jukebox goes, save yourself some headaches if you don't care about which encoder you use.
User Rating: 5/10
Nice software, abusive support
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Get Media Center 9
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 1/10
Nice program...IF it worked
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 7/10
kinda like chretien
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Very, Very, Very Poor Stability
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 6/10
Great Functions, Poor Stability/Support
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
I *really* want to like this software
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Dialing for Upgrade Dollars
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 5/10
un stable
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 4/10
Great functionality, terrible stability
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
This is Da Jukebox...
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Lean Mean MultiMedia Machine!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 5/10
OK - But hard to add music the way I want to!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Won't Rip from Plextor Drive - whas up with that?
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Horrible sound quality
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Great features but too many crashes (v8.0)
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Unbelieveable Features
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Best all in one soft
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Simply the best, yet complex.
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 5/10
nice try...
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Great Media, Bad Additions
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 1/10
XP BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 6/10
Need time to learn!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
for serious music fans
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Holy s***! An app that works!!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
The Best Jukebox Out!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
The best around
Pros:
Cons:
