Looks pretty, sounds great, and easygoing (Just like me!) (Musicmatch Jukebox)

Name: esthersmile

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Product:	Musicmatch Jukebox
Date:	19.11.03 (362 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free (basic version), Easy to use, Looks great!

Disadvantages: Limited downloadable features, can't design own skins

Don`t listen to the techie snobs around you, I`ve tried many many mp3 players, and come across many different opinions, after careful consideration though, I always come back to musicmatch. But anyway, before i get to the main bulk of the review, here's the science bit - concentrate!

Name: Musicmatch Jukebox (newest version is 8.1 i think)
System requirements: Pentium Class 300MHz processor or better, Windows® 98 SE/Me/2000/XP, 128 MB RAM, 50 MB hard drive space (400 MB recommended for radio usage), video display card, soundcard, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later (Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 required for use of Music Downloads, Radio or MX services).
Features: MP3, WMA, WAV encoder, CD burner, music library, radio stations, volume levelling etc
Where to get it: Free (basic) and paid (advanced) versions available at www.musicmatch.com

Now down to the nitty gritty.

Firstly MMJB has everything that media player and winamp (its main competitors) have, and more! The media library is well organised, and fully customisable. Like media player you can search in particular folders, or throughout your pc, for files to add to the library, and you can choose whther to add an item whenever you play it or not - a useful tool when you are looking at sound file son the internet and don`t want your library clogged up with things you`re never going to hear again. The track tagging tool is very powerful, and in the plus version you get a `super-tagging` option where MMJB will look up track info based on the filename. You can also add artwork, lyrics and notes to your mp3s with ID3 tags - they look very pretty displayed in the window next to the track name.

The CD burning is good, having a less complicated interface than nero and media player, although i suspect it may be of slightly lower quality.

The radio stations are ok if you have a fast connection, but can be very slow - although separating it by genre seems

to be quite effective and means you only get the music you want to hear. You can even get radio stations in the free versions, although track skipping is limited and there are a few adverts.

The volume levelling tool is pretty much the same as in media player and very slow - but it works so i can`t really complain. Once you`ve got the bulk done, it only takes a few seconds to volume level another track you`re adding to your collection so it`s not a great hassle really.

However, the main advantage of MMJB is also its downfall. The skins are all well-designed, and make the interface intuitive and easy. No skins suffer from the problems of media player ones, where you can`t see the buttons are supposed to be, or winamp, where the addition of user-designed skins can make it look ugly. The buttons are always clearly visible and easy to use, whether you want a large ugly player, or a small discreet one (there is a mini-player mode where just a few buttons are on show so you can pop it in the corner of the screen whilst doing something else).

Visualisations aren`t its strong point either. Someone used to the hundreds of different visualisations provided by winamp and media player to download is going to be disappointed - there a just a few standard ones.

Over all though - what MMJB lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality. The problem with winamp is that it relies too much on the novelty value of being able to make your own skins - while MMJB reduces this number of customisable options to make sure that each and every copy is easy to use. What it lacks compared to media player in my opinion, is the ability to play other formats (avi, and mp4 for example), but it is marketed as a music tool - so that`s not really a disadvantage!

I`ve been using this program for years, having tried the rest i always come back, and I`d recommend it to anyone - whatever the size of their music collection!

Summary: