J.River Media Center vs Windows Media Player

Well, Im using ephpod (to transfer music) and WMP (to manage all my videos and music) right now.

I just wanted to get some quick ideas on the benefits of media center (in other words, just wanted to be able to justify whether or not I should buy the program).

I haven't used winamp in quite some time (it does have some pretty cool skins as I remember).

Functionally, IMHO winamp is very similar to MMJB (well maybe that's too harsh). In my opinion, MC9 is a notch above for several reasons:

1. Music management: I like to micromanage my stuff, and make all sorts of smartlists. I rarely will manually create a playlist, I do almost everything by smartlist, and MC9's options with regard to smartlists are endless.

2. Ripping/encoding: as Doc mentioned, MC9 can be set up to rip/encode any way you like. This is huge for me.

3. Ipod support: Simply unparalled by any other software application. Ephpod is good; I've used it at various times during MC9's beta development, but it's not as fast as MC9, and it isn't the "all in one" application that MC9 is. Personally, I think what you're using--winamp and Ephpod--is a great way to go w/r to the ipod; it's just that MC9 allows you to do more, and do it better. But if these other functions aren't important to you, then there's no reason to switch.

4. Burning CD's: I put in an mp3 player in my car specifically because of MC9; with a couple of clicks, I can make MC9 create a random playlist with 700,000 MB of data on it, burn it, and off I go.....

5. Customer support: Jriver is simply awesome. If you need help, have a bug, etc., they're all over it, and over it very quickly at that.

6. Mass tagging, file organization and management is incredibly easy once you get the hang of it.

In short, MC9 allows me to do everything I want, the way I want to do it, in one program. I still learn some new cool thing it can do virtually every day.

It isn't the easiest program to use; it costs money (although it's worth it for what I use it for--it literally has changed the way I listen to and organize my music); it's niche is for those who want an all in one application that allows sophisticated management of they're music collection, or want the fastest synching application w/r to the ipod. There are a number of ways to skin this cat with regard to music management and synching to the ipod, and I realize what makes MC9 ideal for me may not be important to someone else--but these are the main reasons I use MC9 off the top of my head; Adam can probably come up with several hundred more...

I understand your point Kenny. I originally wanted to stick with WMP Series 9 and Xplay because I really like WMP and was hoping for a smooth integration between it and my iPod.

When Xplay came out w/their integration with it, I was excited, but the transfer speeds were just too slow. Xplay by itself was at least twice as fast.

So, I ended up switching to MC9 because I like the idea of an all-in-one interface (after using ephpod for a while)

Advantages over WMP to me are:

1. Better tag management, much easier to tag
2. More custom fields/sorts/custom views etc.
3. Better "Auto-Smartlist" support. These guys invented it. It's much more robust than WMP and even though I never used to use them, once I started, it changed the way I listed to my iPod.
4. Better ripping/burning quality than WMP. I can use a number of encoders. I'm not forced into WMA and I don't have to buy each encoder I want.

Those are just the highlights for me. I'm not trying to change your mind, ephpod w/WMP is a splendid option. It's just a personal preference thing...

Adam

...I can add that for a newbie ####### (me), I've found MC9 to be pretty easy/intuitive to figure out. I've learned a lot more by reading here and the J.River forum and like most apps, just by fooling around, trying things out, right clicking on things. I'm constantly surprised by the things it will do that I didn't realize when I bought it. And again for a newbie, it does everything I wanted and I don't have to use multiple apps. I wanted alt-preset-std (among all the options), smartlists (this is a selling point alone, manually created playlists seem ridiculously primitive once you've been exposed to smartlists), worked with my iPodv3 with almost no fuss whatsoever, etc., etc. I'm happy...

Kenny,

I was the same way your were with respect to WMP 9/ephpod solution. I originally did not want to buy any software at all. Then after getting frustrated with using MMJB (I used this for years) and then using WMP9/ehpod adn the WMP9/Xplay, I started using MC9 and after struggling like a lot were during the beta run I found it to be awesome. I could do everything I needed in one program. I did not have to buy an additional recorder, tagging was simplistic, syncing with the iPOD is absolutely awesome. I can't believe how fast it syncs with my iPOD. The support over there is great. This is one software package that has a lot of future. What I would do it use only MC9 for a couple of weeks (you have the 30 day trail) then go back to the way you were organizing your music and syncing with your iPOD. If you are as anal as I am when it come to my music collection then you will now what I'm talking about.

Kenny,

Use MC9 for a bit longer and you will see how much more powerful the program is over WMP. There are many tools you have not discovered yet that WMP does not have. It is not even close.

LJ