MusicMatch Jukebox 6.0 Plus
Often cited as the best all-around MP3 jukebox program, the latest version of MusicMatch Jukebox Plus has a revamped user interface, a personalised radio component, and the ability to associate art and lyrics with your music. And despite all these new features the program is easier to use than ever.
If the competition thought MusicMatch would stand still long enough for them to catch up, they must have been knocked for a loop by the latest version of the company's popular jukebox software. Often cited as the best all-around jukebox program, MusicMatch Jukebox Plus has always excelled in ease of use and overall versatility. Version 6.0 continues in this tradition, reworking the interface, adding a personalised radio component, and letting you incorporate art and lyrics into your music.
The redesigned interface makes the program much easier to navigate. Instead of the previous mix-and-match approach (no more clunky modules that won't stick together), Jukebox now organizes its functions into two sets of tabs. A row of content tabs lets you switch among multimedia files, radio stations, and CD tracks. It remembers your place so you can quickly go from your most recent MP3 playlist to your favorite Internet radio stations to the current CD in your CD-ROM drive.
A row of function tabs lets you switch from My Library (where you can find your saved audio files), Radio Stations (where you can select from popular genre-specific stations or create your own stations), Music Guide (where you can search for music that suits your tastes), and Now Playing (where you can purchase commercial CDs related to the music you're currently playing). The track info, record and play transport controls, and visualisation window are scrunched into the upper left-hand corner.
While MusicMatch supports visualisations and skins, there are few available. The implicit message here seems to be that this program is for grownups who have better things to do than continually hunt for plug-ins. The program supports a broad range of digital audio players, however, as well as several types of digital-rights management (IBM's EMMs, InterTrust's MetaTrust, and Microsoft's Windows Media). MusicMatch can also read and write to most forms of MP3, Windows Media, and WAV files, as well as burn standard audio CDs and create data CDs with MP3, Windows Media, or WAV files.
Even the free version (as opposed to the Plus version) lets you record an unlimited number of CD-quality MP3s. Currently, most of the competition either restricts the sample rate (capping the quality) or limits the number of times you can write MP3 files in the free versions of their programs.
If you decide to plunk down US$19.99 for the Plus version you'll get to burn CDs 12 times faster, rip MP3 files from CDs 25 percent faster, print your music library and playlists, print CD covers, customise equaliser settings, and display cover art as wallpaper. The US$19.99 version doesn't include upgrades; you'll need to pay US$29.99 if you want the full program with lifetime free upgrades. At either price, however, MusicMatch Jukebox Plus 6.0 is a great buy.
Company:MusicMatch
Price:US$19.99 (doesn't include upgrades), US$29.99 (full program with lifetime free upgrades)
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