The Best Of Its Kind (Real Jukebox)

Member Name: SkyscraperFanClu

Product:	Real Jukebox
Date:	12/04/09 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very powerful yet intuitive and simple to use . Stable and versatile . Download size not too small

Disadvantages: More processor - hungry than WinAmp, especially the visualisations . Unattractive in full size mode

By far the most accomplished and useful piece of MP3 software available free of charge is RealJukebox 2 Basic from Real software. It is intuitive and easy to use, and performs a far wider range of tasks than its' rivals often at a higher quality. Other freely available MP3 players worthy of comparison include Winamp, MusicMatch and Microsft Windows Media Player 7 (see below for links).
What first impresses about RealJukebox is that its' producers have seen fit to provide two different modes of display. The first, Full Mode, is a full screen display which includes comprehensive navigation system - like a mini-Internet browser - allowing you to perform any task within a few clicks. The second, skin mode, is far more compact and basically is designed to play MP3 files while taking up the least desktop space and memory necessary. As the name suggests, it is skinable and many different graphic styles can be downloaded from the RealJukebox homepage with ease. Quick, easy customisation of the player is possible. For those who prefer the WinAmp philosophy of squeezing as much into as small a space as possible, the 'Simple' skin compacts the player into a space of a few square centimeters!

Full mode allows you to explore the complete range of RealJukebox's features, far more extensive than WinAmp or even Microsoft's outrageously bulky Windows Media Player. It automatically recognises that a CD has been inserted and enquires as to whether you want to record it - very convenient. CD Audio can be recorded in a number of formats: MP3 is obviously the one most people will be interested in but for those who will be taking thier files no further than their own computer the RealAudio8/ATRAC3 format allows higher sound quality than the MP3 encoding on offer. Wave format recordings are also possible.
Quality of MP3 recording is restricted to a maximum of 96bps, slightly lower than the typical average of 128bps offered by MusicMatch. However it must be noted that the actual audible quality of recordings made with RealJukebox at 96bps outshine those of MusicMatch at 128bps. My MP3 software of choice for some time was the latter, but I grew tired of the volume glitches often made with certain types of music. This was especially so with classical and certain dance sub-genre including trance and progressive. RealJukebox simply encodes the music better than MusicMatch does, even at a lower bit rate. The MP3 encoding can also be encrypted if desired as a safeguard against Napster and copright-related infringements.

RealJukebox 8 also supports recording of music CDs (the software uses the Roxio CD Creator), and does so at least as well as more common audio CD creation software such as Easy CD Creator. Selecting tracks either from MP3s, other file formats, or other Audio CDs is very straightforward and the software gives you a useful indication of how much CD space you have available. Obviously you need a CD-Writer to be able to do this but having it as an integrated feature to one larger piece of music software is extremely convenient.
A number of other internet based features are of particular use. The music guide and internet search facilities allow you to hunt for music freely available over the Internet. They're no substitute for the power of Napster, but are handy utilities for quickly grabbing common files. The Radio Tuner claims a listing over over 2500 Internet based radio stations covering a wide number of countries and includes many of the popular British picks such as BBC Radio, Capital and Vrgin. Of course, it demands a fast and reliable internet connection to make the most of this facility but as bandwith improves Internet radio and eventually television will become more viable. The radio channel itself is played through RealPlayer which is launched separately but integrated into the download of RealJukebox.

The Playlist system is very efficient and operates in two ways: you can either manually add tracks to compose a selection of your choice or have RealJukebox automatically select tracks based on artist or genre. The later, however, is dependent on your music collection being accurately labelled. Editing the properties of each file is fairly straightforward and editing many at once is possible when the same information is being added to each. I find the Playlist system most useful for grouping a number of songs together which share a similar mood or style and have RealJukebox play them at random to create a particular musical atmosphere.
The visualisations provided with RealJukebox are a real treat, easily more sophisticated than those of Media Player or WinAmp. As with skins a variety of new visualisation by independent artists can be downloaded from the RealJukebox web page accessible through the main navigation system. The only disappointment regarding the visualisation is that they can't be played full screen without running extremely slowly - visualisations in WinAmp and Media Player support this option and run the visualisation full-size without any noticeable speed decrese. That said, RealJukebox is worth the download alone for the brilliant Annabelle The Sheep visualisation, which features a dancing sheep and a host of random other funny features.

The track information editor is extremely comprehensive, offering various levels of database depth depending on your level of musical interest. The basic database logs only the essentials: track title, artist, genre, album etc... The fully detailed option covers everything from artist history to spaces for photographs of the artist, the album cover and even the recording studio it was amde in. Perhaps this is a little excessive, but I can see it being a useful tool for buding musicians spreading their work via the Internet.
The download and installation of the software is quite straightforward. Indeed, the trickiest part is locating the free download of RealJukebox as opposed to the paid RealJukebox Plus (more on that later), The link is tucked away at the bottom middle of the Real homepage, then follow the signs for RealJukebox 'Basic' instead of 'Plus'. After installation it scans your hard drive to check for available music files and determines your CD drive speed (for recording and playing) and your preference of music recording.

Thw whole software has that ideal balance of power and functionality matched with a user-friendly, intuitive interface. Compiling Playlists, editing track information, listening to Internet radio broadcasts and even creating CDs are all very straightforward and uncomplicated, yet RealJukebox handles all these tasks and more with greater ease than its' competitors do. It's fairly efficient on processor use as well and can easily be run in the background while you use Word, Outlook, an Internet browser or some other common software. It is not quite as light on the system as WinAmp, but it boasts a far wider range of features. Only Media Player 7 can come close to offering as many features as RealJukebox does, but Media Player is a system hog and very unreliable too.
Those willing to shell out $29.99 (approximately £20) receive a variety of extra features including support for higher bit-rates of MP3 encoding, equalizer settings, advanced auto-playlists and many other options.. For those who use music software quite intensively and are picky about audio quality it could be £20 well spent. It also includes the extensive and excellent RealPlayer and RealDownload utilities.

The RealJukebox MP3 software is a comprehensive music utility which any computer music fan can't afford to miss out on. Since installing it on my own computer I have gradually uninstalled the other three competitors from my hard drive. The freely downloadable version on its' own is very good and easily superior to the competition. It is highly versatile, customisable and intuitive. I can't recommend it enough.

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Summary: fantastic

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