Considering buying MediaMonkey Gold Lifetime

[phuocle]

Hi everyone,

I've downloaded MediaMonkey last week after trying out iTunes, Jajuk, and Songbird on my Windows XP based computer.

So far I like MediaMonkey a lot, but considering that the others are free and MediaMonkey would cost money, I have some questions and concerns. I see that the community here is quite active and helpful, so perhaps you can answer some of my questions so I can make an informed decision. Thanks!

1. I have a large music collection (60,000+ tracks in 310GB MP3 format, mostly on a network drive). Realistically how well can MM handle this? So far it seems stable enough, but I've had problems with Songbird and iTunes handling that many songs over a network drive and I don't know much about the SQLite database at all to judge its effectiveness with a lot of data. iTunes stored its library in an XML file which had a tendency to get corrupted and just took a long time to work with.

2. Auto-tagging - with such a massive collection, there are quite a few files that are not tagged since they were ripped back when there was no Gracenote and then the controversy with Gracenote before the emergence of FreeDB, etc. I'm looking for something to help me tag my files easily and accurately. I tried the auto-tag feature by looking up some albums on Amazon, but it doesn't seem to work that well. I'm looking for something along the lines of Applian's Replay A/V which is a product that can record streaming media but somehow "listens" to the music and figures out the right tag info for it from FreeDB or something similar. Is this possible, even with a plugin, for MM?

3. Music Serving. I have 2 Roku Soundbridges; an M2000 and an M500. I used to use iTunes to serve my music but now I'm using Firefly Media Server since iTunes is a resource hog and unstable with such a large collection. I read in the wish list thread that having a music server be part of MM is low priority. Does that mean it won't get done at all?

Aside from these questions/concerns, I really like MM. The interface is better and not as gimmicky as Jajuk, although I prefer the Songbird's interface only slightly better than MM, but Songbird is also a resource hog.

I look forward to hearing from you veterans. Thanks!

[Teknojnky]

Hi everyone,

I've downloaded MediaMonkey last week after trying out iTunes, Jajuk, and Songbird on my Windows XP based computer.

So far I like MediaMonkey a lot, but considering that the others are free and MediaMonkey would cost money, I have some questions and concerns. I see that the community here is quite active and helpful, so perhaps you can answer some of my questions so I can make an informed decision. Thanks!

1. I have a large music collection (60,000+ tracks in 310GB MP3 format, mostly on a network drive). Realistically how well can MM handle this? So far it seems stable enough, but I've had problems with Songbird and iTunes handling that many songs over a network drive and I don't know much about the SQLite database at all to judge its effectiveness with a lot of data. iTunes stored its library in an XML file which had a tendency to get corrupted and just took a long time to work with.

MM works great with huge libraries. I am over 100k tracks and 800 gigs and its still going strong.

MM 2.x uses an access database
MM 3.x uses a SQLite database, mm3 is still in alpha testing

2. Auto-tagging - with such a massive collection, there are quite a few files that are not tagged since they were ripped back when there was no Gracenote and then the controversy with Gracenote before the emergence of FreeDB, etc. I'm looking for something to help me tag my files easily and accurately. I tried the auto-tag feature by looking up some albums on Amazon, but it doesn't seem to work that well. I'm looking for something along the lines of Applian's Replay A/V which is a product that can record streaming media but somehow "listens" to the music and figures out the right tag info for it from FreeDB or something similar. Is this possible, even with a plugin, for MM?

Unfortunately, no MM is not a 'mass tagger' in the sense that it will automagically tag your library.

MM offers powerful tools and extentions via scripts which can help YOU tag your library, but it won't tag it for you.

Tag by amazon works only on single album at a time. The freedb lookup is only for CD and does not currently work for already ripped tracks.

I recommend the musicbrainz picard QT tagger more semi-automated tagging.

3. Music Serving. I have 2 Roku Soundbridges; an M2000 and an M500. I used to use iTunes to serve my music but now I'm using Firefly Media Server since iTunes is a resource hog and unstable with such a large collection. I read in the wish list thread that having a music server be part of MM is low priority. Does that mean it won't get done at all?

Unfortunately no, MM does neither serve music nor does it act as a UPNP client. Yes it has been requested numerous times, its priority is only known to the developers and they have not (to my knowledge) commented on if/when UPNP will be implemented. I wish for it too.

Aside from these questions/concerns, I really like MM. The interface is better and not as gimmicky as Jajuk, although I prefer the Songbird's interface only slightly better than MM, but Songbird is also a resource hog.

Many apps serve different purposes.

MM's strength lies in managing huge librays and most common file types with ease.

Tools like Jaikos and musicbrainz picardQT, are more tagger oriented and not management oriented.

I've not messed with songbird in quite awhile, so I don't know what level of functionality its up to, but I see it as more a itunes/winamp _player_ app rather than a library manager.

The free version of MM may be perfectly suitable for you, the exact list of additional features for gold is listed on the main website @ http://www.mediamonkey.com/download.htm personally I feel MM is well worth the support and is active development.

[cmx]

Nothing compares to MM for large libraries. I have 121k 928gb....nothing else even comes close.

I too have serious tagging issues...I have both m4a and mp3 files...so the problem is compounded...the devs are actively working on functionality and improvements. There is no "auto" or "batch" tagging...but I would not be surprised if there are some scripts developed as MM3 progresses that will address some of these tagging needs....


Server...no comment really...but I would not expect my music player/manager to deal with this anyway...

MM2 is adequate and deals with large libraries ok....MM3 promises to be even better.

[RTShaw]

i hope so. i purchased a lifetime membership thing but found a few problems like no aac support when aac is the std for ipods (the main portable players) hell my kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews all have 1pod shuttles or the like and the shuttles convert mp3's to aac format for max room. that was one mmonkey disappintmernt, nextthe searches miss items and my 7.1/ fortissimo iii sound card gets stutters with mmonkey (but only with mmonkey and get this - when u change or stop a song).
Also the ratings are not transhered back 9to or from) standard programs like itunes ot msofts media player. i found myself enoying the fact it mmonkey quickly displayed my library of over 58,000 tunes, some on a nas (D-Link DNS-323 network drive) and music on various computers and partitions until i realized the ratings werent transfered. All in all MMonkey is a nice program but keep itunes or another ipod type piece of software 4 updating the different ipods.
i can only hope that sometime thse things and more will be taken care of.
my 2 cents-

[nohitter151]

Also the ratings are not transhered back 9to or from) standard programs like itunes ot msofts media player.

Untrue, I have found that my ratings are displayed in Windows Media Player 11. They don't in iTunes, true, but thats because iTunes does not read the rating tag and doesn't store ratings in the tags, an iTunes fault, not MM.

[RTShaw]

Also the ratings are not transhered back 9to or from) standard programs like itunes ot msofts media player.

Untrue, I have found that my ratings are displayed in Windows Media Player 11. They don't in iTunes, true, but thats because iTunes does not read the rating tag and doesn't store ratings in the tags, an iTunes fault, not MM.

Excuse me. being an ipod user with many nieces, grandkids, nephews, friends, u name it with ipods i use itunes a lot more then media player so i'm not up on the latest inovations or updates to it. i appreciate you bringing that to everyones. it a minor irrtant to me since we all use itunes (in my family) btw, my family includes professionals in the tv industry all who use macs(i must say the platinum mac notebook is very lite) if not 4 the irratating stuttering after stoppng a socg or changing songs i'd use mmonkey for everything except filling ipods - so i am trying to determine exactally why this happens but it only happens with mmonkey. i was (i'm sure) to abusive in my response and should have said nothing, i'm atill 2 new of a user to mmonkey to give a non biased review, and if i'm harsh now or anytime in this entry i hope u will forgive the ramblings of a very ill old ass man - i'm not always likethis..
currently 2 try 2 solve my stuttering problem i went back 2 a revious driver and earlier version of mmonkey. itis a very nice program my real disappointment was lack of acc whatever(med kickin in and they are all narcotic) i will end here.. i am not dissatisfied with my lifetime mmonkey and run it everytime i boot my machine (even added an 8 ft extension for my hdphones since i'm bedridden) hope they change their minds about aac in the future..

lost most control of my fingers so pleaqe bear with me, it hurts like hell 2 type.

[Teknojnky]

the upcoming mm version 3 includes native support for m4a/aac files. I do not know if this includes encoding, or only playback/tagging. I don't use m4a files or itunes (and have no plans to do so), so unfortunatly I have no way of testing.

For univeral support, mp3 is the way to go.

[RTShaw]

the upcoming mm version 3 includes native support for m4a/aac files. I do not know if this includes encoding, or only playback/tagging. I don't use m4a files or itunes (and have no plans to do so), so unfortunatly I have no way of testing.

For univeral support, mp3 is the way to go.

thank u.. yeah mp3 is the only way i go. but try telling that 2 20+ cousins, nephews, mac users with the new $49.00 ipod shuffle units, using aac they get up to 240 tunes per 1gig unit.
Im glad 2 see all this will be included later, i've been creating a list 2 submit but its very informal and needs 2 be cleaned up But it takes many many days 2 clean up 58,000+ tunes first.. And they added video, man my works really cut out for me and why a lifetime membership was a nobrainer.

[nohitter151]

Also the ratings are not transhered back 9to or from) standard programs like itunes ot msofts media player.

Untrue, I have found that my ratings are displayed in Windows Media Player 11. They don't in iTunes, true, but thats because iTunes does not read the rating tag and doesn't store ratings in the tags, an iTunes fault, not MM.

Excuse me. being an ipod user with many nieces, grandkids, nephews, friends, u name it with ipods i use itunes a lot more then media player so i'm not up on the latest inovations or updates to it. i appreciate you bringing that to everyones. it a minor irrtant to me since we all use itunes (in my family) btw, my family includes professionals in the tv industry all who use macs(i must say the platinum mac notebook is very lite) if not 4 the irratating stuttering after stoppng a socg or changing songs i'd use mmonkey for everything except filling ipods - so i am trying to determine exactally why this happens but it only happens with mmonkey. i was (i'm sure) to abusive in my response and should have said nothing, i'm atill 2 new of a user to mmonkey to give a non biased review, and if i'm harsh now or anytime in this entry i hope u will forgive the ramblings of a very ill old ass man - i'm not always likethis..
currently 2 try 2 solve my stuttering problem i went back 2 a revious driver and earlier version of mmonkey. itis a very nice program my real disappointment was lack of acc whatever(med kickin in and they are all narcotic) i will end here.. i am not dissatisfied with my lifetime mmonkey and run it everytime i boot my machine (even added an 8 ft extension for my hdphones since i'm bedridden) hope they change their minds about aac in the future..

lost most control of my fingers so pleaqe bear with me, it hurts like hell 2 type.

Sorry, didn't mean to sound harsh, just wanted to point that out about the ratings.

[RTShaw]

u didnt.. i thought i was.. ha-ha...od age is a b...ch

[Anezzum]

Hi,

i got similar library of MP3 as for volume and Iam using GL of MM for almost 1 year. If you want we can discuss more details by Skype or ICQ. Leave here your Number.

David

[Blake]

AAC

One time I used iTunes to convert a song to AAC format.

It increased file size by about 100kb.