MusicMatch Strikes a Chord

Software digital music players are in abundance these days, but most allow only basic control over file playback, cataloging, recording, and encoding. Simplicity has its merits, but when you want to get serious about digital music, you'll want greater control over your player's features. That's just what MusicMatch's latest version, MusicMatch JukeBox Plus, offers in abundance. MusicMatch stands out from the crowd of all-in-one personal music jukebox contenders by providing a powerful interface and a plethora of options for handling digital music files.

Pick and Choose

There are two versions of MusicMatch: the freely downloadable MusicMatch JukeBox 5.0 and the premium $29.95 Plus version. The Plus version adds support for burning CD-Recordable discs at speeds greater than 2X; it also provides speedier MP3 encoding than the free version, an enhanced equalizer, and the ability to handle custom printing jobs, such as printing CD jewel-case inserts, complete with art.

So much of a program's functionality revolves around its interface, and MusicMatch is no exception. Although the default interface--a faux-wood look designed to evoke memories of an old-fashioned radio--is a clunky eyesore, all three of the alternative skins (or themes, as MusicMatch refers to them) that are included with the program are more attractive and streamlined. Additional themes are available for download on MusicMatch's Web site.

Regardless of the theme you use, the basic building blocks of the program remain the same. In addition to the core file player, there's the Music Library, Recorder, Track Info, Net Radio, Net Music, and Media Window (for viewing album art and videos). You can view any combination of those components, placed in any order you choose; each module is fully resizable and can snap into place.

Though MusicMatch's features are relatively self-explanatory, the plethora of options means you'll have a little exploration ahead of you to learn which menu options duplicate the functionality offered by a button or right-click menu.

A Digital Jukebox ... and So Much More

Upon installation, MusicMatch scans your hard disk--and any other drives or folders you designate--for music files (including MP3, .wav, and Windows Media files) and adds those songs to the Music Library. The Music Library acts as a master reference for all your music files; regardless of where they're stored, the songs are displayed together in a fully customizable view. The Music Library also lets you determine how songs are sorted--by song title, artist, length, bit rate, genre, file name, and other categories.

Adding titles to your playlist is as simple as dragging and dropping titles from the Music Library or right-clicking on a music file and selecting Add Tracks to Playlist. If you can't find the song you're looking for, a robust search feature can help you, and you can add songs directly from the search results. Once titles are on your playlist, you can move them around in the order you desire. You can then save and group playlists by genre or by any heading of your choice; the AutoDJ feature lets you choose from the groups to provide hours of continuous, uninterrupted music.

While the player follows most conventions of typical CD player controls, surprisingly, there are certain common features that are hidden under menu options. For example, there's no button for repeat or shuffle. Another drawback: The lack of dedicated fast-forward and rewind buttons for shuttling within a song means you have to rely on the slider bar, which does not provide instant access to specific parts of a song. Other MP3 players, such as RioPort Audio Manager 3.0, allow easy forward and rewind.

One of the appealing things about MusicMatch is the way it incorporates information from the Internet in a nonintrusive way. The Net Music panel provides a way to search MusicMatch's site for suggestions of music you might like to hear from content sites such as Emusic, MP3.com, and Epitonic. And the Net Radio tuner, powered by Hiwire, gives you access to 2500 Internet radio stations across 40 categories.

Even better is the seamless integration of album information. If you're connected to the Internet, MusicMatch will link to the CDDB Web site to provide album, song title, and artist information on your music files, and will automatically display the info in the Music Library and Recorder screens (as well as enter that info into the associated song tag). Once a song is properly tagged, MusicMatch uses that data to link to another database (provided by Muze) and show related album information in the Track Info screen. That information can include a bio of the artist, album reviews, suggestions of similar albums you might like, and links to purchase albums. If you're not connected, the screen instead displays the information you've manually added to the song tag, ranging from lyrics to cover art.