[painted_klown]

Hello all,

I downloaded the free trial of J River and my jaw dropped. I have never seen such a user friendly and full featured piece of jukebox/media software ever. I am in love...LOL! I honestly like it a LOT more than Media Monkey and Foobar, to be 100% truthful. Mostly because it plays every file type under the sun, and the organization options are top notch. 

I am finding myself falling in love with the idea of eliminating all my digital source components and building an HTPC. Seriously, having all of that media right at your fingertips is simply awesome!

The down side is that I read over J River's licensing plan, and I have to say that I find it to be rather crappy! You pay $50 (which feels like a lot, for jukebox software IMO) and you don't even get a physical copy. Additionally, every time you install/uninstall, you have to use up a limited supply of "restores" (or whatever it is) and if you go over that, you have to pay the $50 again. And if my understanding is correct, you have to pay $25 to get the updates/newest version every time it comes out. Not a very inviting proposition IMO. Whatever happened to the old days of buying software on discs that you can use essentially forever, and on whatever computers you own?

Having said that, it does work great, and seemingly plays every file type under the sun, however the weird/crappy licensing makes me want to look for an alternative.

Are there any other multimedia/jukebox pieces of software out there that can compare to J River for free?

itunes, Windows Media Player, and Windows Media Center don't play enough different file types to cover my digital library. Media Monkey and Foobar will only do audio, and players like VLC (and the like) do not have any type of file organization/tagging/etc, at least that I can figure out anyway. I tried XMBC, and it's ok for video files, but will not play WMA lossless audio files. Moreover, it almost feels like nothing more than a skinned directory IMO. Not too enthusiastic about it either, tbh.

Any suggestions for a free alternative to J River guys?

Thanks. 

[Alan]

how about the free version of jriver

http://www.jriver.com/mj/

Some like winamp.

[charmerci]

Before I got JRiver, I liked Atomic Player.

[srb]

how about the free version of jriver
http://www.jriver.com/mj/

The free J.River Media Jukebox 14 does not give you the option of using ASIO, Kernel Streaming or WASAPI output to bypass the internal Windows mixer.  In that case, soundwise you wouldn't be any better off than using iTunes.

It always amazes me that audio hobbyists will spend $100 on a set of component feet or $50 on a magic fuse without thinking twice, yet will balk at a $50 piece of software that sounds great, has a multitude of playback options and features and has a highly customizable interface.

Steve

[guest61169]

It always amazes me that audio hobbyists will spend $100 on a set of component feet or $50 on a magic fuse without thinking twice, yet will balk at a $50 piece of software that sounds great, has a multitude of playback options and features and has a highly customizable interface.

Steve

The audio stuff isn't licensed so if it doesn't work out it can be sold without a second thought.  If the feet, for example, could only be used under one specific component and be removed and replaced under that same component a limited number of times and never be sold because the audiophile only "rented" the feet, the company that made the feet would be laughed of the face of the earth by audiophiles and never to be heard from again.  JRiver customers are rather more accomodating, not less.

[DaveBSC]

Foobar > JRiver.

[dougme57]

+1 on the Jriver 14. It sounds very good to me, I have used foobar also. Maybe my system is mid-fi but I use it 20% for music, 80% for ROKU, cable and blu-ray. With 3 teens in the house $50 is $50 bucks!

[JohnR]

I gotta agree with srb.

I remember the "good old days" when a Wysiwyg word processor was $450. I'm glad those days are gone!!

[jtwrace]

It always amazes me that audio hobbyists will spend $100 on a set of component feet or $50 on a magic fuse without thinking twice, yet will balk at a $50 piece of software that sounds great, has a multitude of playback options and features and has a highly customizable interface.

Steve

Yes, and has thousands of hours of code time in it.     $50 is a bargain but at the $25 I got it for it's a steal.   

[mgalusha]

FWIW

Additionally, every time you install/uninstall, you have to use up a limited supply of "restores" (or whatever it is) and if you go over that, you have to pay the $50 again.

Not quite right. From their FAQ page on licensing.
"Q: How many restores do I have left?
A: Go to the restore page and click on the 'e-mail' button to receive a list of your Registration Codes by e-mail. This e-mail also tells how many restores are available.  You have ten free restores each year and there is no limit on the number of years."

Basically you can install it on every PC you own in the two week period after you retrieve the key. You can get the key up to 10 times per year with no cost. So unless you rebuild your media PC more than once every 6 weeks I don't see any problem. I have it installed on 4 PC's, my desktop at work, desktop at home, my shop PC and of course the one in my music room. Even accounting for rebuilding a couple of them I've not run out of restores in a one year period yet. Yes you would have to pay again but uninstalling it does not remove the license, only if you reinstall the OS, at least on Windows this is true. I've removed JRiver and went so far as to delete the directory and after reinstalling it showed licensed, so it's likely writing the license to the registry or a hidden file on disk some where. Uninstall/reinstall did not require a license restore.

mike

[sts9fan]

I think the $50 is cheap.

[ted_b]

FWIW

Not quite right. From their FAQ page on licensing.
"Q: How many restores do I have left?
A: Go to the restore page and click on the 'e-mail' button to receive a list of your Registration Codes by e-mail. This e-mail also tells how many restores are available.  You have ten free restores each year and there is no limit on the number of years."

Basically you can install it on every PC you own in the two week period after you retrieve the key. You can get the key up to 10 times per year with no cost. So unless you rebuild your media PC more than once every 6 weeks I don't see any problem. I have it installed on 4 PC's, my desktop at work, desktop at home, my shop PC and of course the one in my music room. Even accounting for rebuilding a couple of them I've not run out of restores in a one year period yet. Yes you would have to pay again but uninstalling it does not remove the license, only if you reinstall the OS, at least on Windows this is true. I've removed JRiver and went so far as to delete the directory and after reinstalling it showed licensed, so it's likely writing the license to the registry or a hidden file on disk some where. Uninstall/reinstall did not require a license restore.

mike

+1  I have done the same, and fiddled, in 2013 with several installs of Win 8, WS 2012 (GUI and core).  JRiver is on 4 machines and I cannot fathom how one would run out of restores.  And I agree with Kris, the $50 is rounding error compared to what value we get, and compared to the investment we have in our music systems.

[painted_klown]

FWIW

Not quite right. From their FAQ page on licensing.
"Q: How many restores do I have left?
A: Go to the restore page and click on the 'e-mail' button to receive a list of your Registration Codes by e-mail. This e-mail also tells how many restores are available.  You have ten free restores each year and there is no limit on the number of years."

Basically you can install it on every PC you own in the two week period after you retrieve the key. You can get the key up to 10 times per year with no cost. So unless you rebuild your media PC more than once every 6 weeks I don't see any problem. I have it installed on 4 PC's, my desktop at work, desktop at home, my shop PC and of course the one in my music room. Even accounting for rebuilding a couple of them I've not run out of restores in a one year period yet. Yes you would have to pay again but uninstalling it does not remove the license, only if you reinstall the OS, at least on Windows this is true. I've removed JRiver and went so far as to delete the directory and after reinstalling it showed licensed, so it's likely writing the license to the registry or a hidden file on disk some where. Uninstall/reinstall did not require a license restore.

mike

I was not aware of that. Thank you for the clarification. That does make the $50 a bit easier to swallow IMO.

I did try the free jukebox version of J River, but as stated, it is limited in what it can do, and does not allow wasapi output, nor does it do video.

I do eventually want to get it, but right now  I have not yet built the PC it will go on, so I am still hunting/searching for software that I will ultimately decide on. At this point, I can't seem to find anything that has the same (or comparable) functionality of J River. I will definitely have it on my "short list" of software to consider.

To the guy who found it for $25: Was there a promo/sale at the time? Does J River ever have promo deals or sales on their Media Center software?

[jtwrace]

To the guy who found it for $25: Was there a promo/sale at the time? Does J River ever have promo deals or sales on their Media Center software?

It was $25 as an Alpha release months ago.

Your best bet is watch their forum. 

For Windows OS check here  http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=32.0

and for Mac OSX here  http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=31.0

[jseymour]

MusicBee - http://www.getmusicbee.com/
with Fidelizer - http://www.windowsxlive.net/fidelizer/

MusicBee's library management and tagging tools are top notch.  I use a variation of the CAPS PC (ESI @Julia card for SPD/IF) and Fidelizer is the icing on the cake.

[94cdnm3]

Try Potplayer + Reclock + Fidelizer. To my ears, the result is excellent. And all of these programs are free.  Plus Potplayer is plays video and audio files.

[jackman]

I love jriver and the jremote app.  Stop being a cheapskate and fork over the $50.   In a hobby where people shell out thousands for snake oil devices it's hard to find anything that works as well as Jriver and is as user friendly.  I hate spending money frivolously but Jriver might be the best bargain in audio when you consider how well it works.  Just my opinion.

[kngale1]

I love jriver and the jremote app.  Stop being a cheapskate and fork over the $50.   In a hobby where people she'll out thousands for snake oil devices it's hard to find anything that works as well as Jriver and is as user friendly.  I hate spending money frivolously but Jriver might be the best bargain in audio when you consider how well it works.  Just my opinion.

jackman+1

[AKLegal]

I love jriver and the jremote app.  Stop being a cheapskate and fork over the $50.   In a hobby where people she'll out thousands for snake oil devices it's hard to find anything that works as well as Jriver and is as user friendly.  I hate spending money frivolously but Jriver might be the best bargain in audio when you consider how well it works.  Just my opinion.

+1

I have J River on two PCs and on my CAPS server.  It has completely changed how I listen to music.  It actually pains me to use my cd player now.  I really can't think of anything audio related that I have purchased that is a better value.

[randytsuch]

And if my understanding is correct, you have to pay $25 to get the updates/newest version every time it comes out.

Not quite.  They roll out minor updates, and the minor updates are free.  When they do a major revision, then there is a charge.  I think major revisions are tied to new features, where minor updates are more likely to fix problems.

I bought jriver for mac when it was in beta, for a lower price.

They have now issued an upgrade from version 18 to 19, for $15.  I think the mac pricing is lower because it really was a beta when I bought, it would crash often in the beginning and had some other problems, but is much better now.
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=83321.0

One really nice thing about jriver is that they are very responsive to fixing problems that people report on their forum, so if you do run into a bug you can post about it, and expect resolution.

Randy