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Article: JRiver Media Center 17 In Detail


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I am a computer klutz. I do not speak the language of geek and need to be led through stuff step by step in English. I added Gizmo to my android Droid III a few months ago and had partial success. I could get it to work as a remote control right off and could get it to play music streamed through my home network with a little work but could not get it to open from a remote Wi-Fi site..The instructions on the J-River forum were simply over my head but, after a lot of whining on my part and a lot of help from folk on that forum and on sites like this, I managed to get the router set right and more importantly (for me) got my windoows firewall to let the WOL packet in letting the phone open a closed MC17...<br />

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Today all is well and most assuredly worth the effort. I can stream from either of my two set up laptop music servers and I can go through the phones bluetooth setting to wirelessly send the music from the phone to a bluetooth powered speaker...<br />

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A real pain for a novice to set up but well worth the effort when done...Highly recommended.

I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you any understanding – Samuel Johnson

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"On the other hand, for those of us who use JRMC, to get such a detailed analysis of the program . . . for free, is a gift as far as I'm concerned."<br />

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I spent a half hour yesterday tweaking the settings using this advice yesterday, created my first 'smartlist' and have to also praise the author...I bookmarked the page and am thinking of printing it.

I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you any understanding – Samuel Johnson

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Yep. I'm the first to admit my laziness..<br />

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The problem is not with JRiver. It's with Apple.<br />

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The problem is switching libraries from iTunes.<br />

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Until I'm convinced I can do this with a 100% guarantee I won't lose a single music file and all will move over painlessly, I won't be doing it.

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Thank you Chris for putting the effort into this article. I learned a couple things from it that I put to immediate use. <br />

<br />

jRiver is also my favorite playback for Windows 7. I am a Windows person, both at home and at work, so it just works well for me. The ability to RDP into the server, or SplashTop Remote from my tablet is just perfect for my listening methods.<br />

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I intend to give JPlay a go soon, and hope I can go into it with an open mind!<br />

Roon Rock running on a Gen 7 i5, Akasa Plao X7 fanless case. Schiit Lyr 2, Schiit Bifrost upgraded with Uber Analog and USB Gen 2, Grado RS1s, ADAM A3x Nearfield Monitors.

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A major part of JRMC V17, at least for me, is the introduction of an in-built solution for convolution. I use this function - with filters from Acourate - to convole a two-channel signal into 8-channels (sub, woofer, mid, high for left / right) all of which includes room equalisation. Yes, earlier releases had support for VST plug-in's but I always found these clumsy when going beyond simple two-channel / Room EQ processing. All this is, I guess, a little out of the main stream but I think, Chris, it might make an interesting article given the emerging power of computer-based DSP.<br />

<br />

Regards,<br />

APS <br />

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Thank you for the good review and easy to understand explanations. My JRMC17 installation is configured nearly identical than yours.<br />

JRMC is my best Windows solution when large databases and best SQ come together.<br />

But I have to mention, my prefered iPad app is 'My River for iPad'.<br />

JRemote is very good, too. :-)<br />

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Enjoy listening,<br />

Bernhard

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All I can suggest is that only a few days ago Chris himself, on a thread here, said you won't lose the actual music files whatever you do. You might try and find that thread.<br />

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Despite his assurances, I would back it all up first (maybe twice) and then unplug the remote disk, in my case a NAS, so that neither Windows nor a Mac machine could get to it!

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I have been using JRMC 17 ( and 16 before it) happily for a few months, and if I recall, my iTunes library was integrated automatically and seamlessly on the first installation.<br />

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But the help forum, as mentioned in posts above, is outstanding should you run into problems.<br />

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http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=60625.0<br />

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There is no 100 per cent guarantee, each local computer hosting the J River software is different, some machines may be underpowered in terms of CPU power and Memory, have slow hard drives, fragmented files and junk files etc.<br />

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I upgraded from an internal sound card to a USB DAC and have had issues, bouncing back and forth between J River and e mails with the CTO of HRT technologies.<br />

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Learning the software takes effort,learning to rip bit perfect FLAC or lossless takes effort, yeah, it WILL take effort, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.<br />

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I can guarantee that JRMC 17 is miles ahead of iTunes, but again,if you want to sit in a comfort zone, you shouldn't be messing with computer audio at all, just stick to a high quality stereo.

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Excellent summary and walk-through. As a busy individual myself I appreciate the time and effort required to create an article like this one. Also, I do not request that all the reviews I read are free of bias or personal opinion. When I read Stereophile looking for a specific piece of equipment that may cost me several thousand dollars (or more) I certainly expect Atkinson or Dudley to tell me if they feel one product is clearly superior to another. I thank C.A. for being so forthcoming.

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I am surprised that no one mentioned the detailed analysis found in The Absolute Sound December 2011, and January and February 2012 (with final installment due this month). I am new to this computer audiophile thing, but the article sounds like the reviewers tried to be objective and detailed in their reporting. There was lots of interesting stuff, like the best speed to rip CDs to the hard drive on JRiver is 2x. I would love to hear others opinions on these articles.

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If nobody mentioned it, JRMC will easily handle importing all your iTunes media. (I thought I posted or emailed you, but the brain is slipping...) <br />

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The exceptions are AAC Protected files and videos. <br />

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Note- do NOT let JRMC have access to your main backups, as it will sometimes rewrite the metadata and potentially, at least in previous versions, cause some problems if you want to use the same files again in iTunes. <br />

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I just publish the media files as a read only mount over the network for JRMC, and it does great with that. And it avoids any potential unwanted metatdata updates. And I don't have to copy around multiple terabytes of music files. <br />

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Since it can use multiple library locations, you can also test the ripping and other features using a bit of local disk space. <br />

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-Paul<br />

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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Yes, that was a good article, as are the current and past reviews of J River on CA.<br />

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The first article on CA motivated me to try the program, it didn't take long to figure out it was superior (IMHO) to the free Foobar 2000 software I was using in lieu of WMP and iTunes.<br />

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But why read an article (s) when you can simply try JRMC with no obligation to purchase.<br />

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They have a generous 30 day Trial period, anyone should be able to configure, tweak, and experiment in that amount of time.<br />

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Hey Mark - did you miss the part where Chris was talking about JRMC on the C.A.P.S. v2 hardware? The hardware makes a difference buddy. <br />

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And in recent discussions, it would seem that JRMC makes no claim to audio superiority over iTunes, though I think with Chris' settings, JRMC does sounds better under Windows than iTunes. <br />

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With only 4 months in this, and all of that under JRMV, you have not had the time to listen to the LInux or Mac players, and they sound awesome. Some you may like better in fact. <br />

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-Paul<br />

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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<cite>I am surprised that no one mentioned the detailed analysis found in The Absolute Sound December 2011, and January and February 2012 (with final installment due this month).</cite><br />

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Not being sure whether you meant something specific about JRiver, here's some talk about those very objective (NOT) articles : http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/TAS-Audio-Quality-Article-Series

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I never miss anything :)<br />

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Of course hardware makes a difference, my observation was not about that. It was merely that if something installs okay on one Windows machine it should install on another one. Provided of course you have all the 'authorisations' set okay. Or unless you are doing something weird on on one of them.<br />

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That said, I have been trying to install JPlay for a week. In insists that JRiver is not started (which it is) and exits. Others do not seem to have this problem.<br />

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But it is now totally proven (on another thread) that it makes no difference anyway, So I am not going to try anymore.<br />

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Linux? Got it, It is on my Naim 'toaster' player, or so I believe, though not totally sure what's inside.<br />

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Mac? I am increasing tempted to try one. But I'm beginning to think iTunes is useless by itself (no auto sample rate changing, for example) and its interface is pretty primitive, I find. Why should I be forced to buy a software add-on to make it work properly?<br />

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PS: Only used one player? I started with WMP. Never gets any kind of mention here, probably because being the product of Microsoft, a large organisation, it is not 'specialist' enough and is therefore in the 'high street' market.<br />

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On 16/44.1 it is indistuishable from JRiver configured as Chris tells us to.

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JRMC does have a dynamite interface, but until recently, all the remote interfaces were very primitive. JRemote and JRMC v17 are what together convinced me to use JRMC again. <br />

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I do agree that every Windows machine should reasonably behave the same, but they don't. (grin)<br />

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iTunes has a very sophisticated user interface, and it is well integrated with all sorts of remote access, similar to Sonos. It is anything but primitive. I probably like JRemote because it is similar to iTunes. Soolos is the best music interface IMO, but rather expensive.<br />

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WMP, to the best of my limited knowledge, will not play bit perfect output under any conditions, and bit perfect payback from software is often the starting point for (audiophile sound for) a lot of people.<br />

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IRT JPlay, try running it as an administrator. You will need to right click to do that, even if you are running with an account with admin rights.<br />

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Paul<br />

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P.S. I don't think iTunes is bit perfect under Windows either, or at least it isn't easy to make it so. It is trivial to so under MacOS, which is one reason why it is a very popular choice under MacOS. <br />

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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To me the iTunes interface is like the simpler ones on JRiver. I particularly like the JRiver '3D' interface, where the artwork slowly swivels round ang gives the track info on the back. Even the front then shows slightly through, without being 'mirror image' which is very clever. I also like the way the display 'bounces' from side to side when you move the cursor. Meaningless, but fun. To me iTunes is crude compared to that.<br />

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Remotes. I want one. Three choices. A Windows touch screen tablet. Acer do a nice one with a detachable keyboard, which is not needed for this but would be generally useful. That way I can use Windows 7 Professional Remote desktop and do not have to do anything to JRiver or to the tablet And, with the keyboard attached I have a neat Windows notebook. An Ipod or an Ipad and JRemote. But I have no use for either of them otherwise.<br />

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All three choices are really more than I want to pay. Maybe not the iPod.<br />

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Don't want Android. They bring out a new version, under yet another silly name, every few microsecond, making the one I bought five minutes ago, and not yet swiched on, obsolete.

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I do very much like the 3d interface from JRMC, but the only way it is really usable is on the big television screen with a JRiver IR remote, or with a touchscreen. (Works okay on the iPad with Windows Remote Desktop, but not as good as on a television screen. :) <br />

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I have a Kindle Fire here, and while it is nice, the touch response is slow compared to even a 1st generation iPad. The remote options for JRiver are not bad, and the remote option for Squeezeboxen is very good. <br />

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I hate to say this, but other than your Apple Antipathy (grin) I tend to agree with you on this. I really like Soolos, but I can't bring myself to pay that kind of dough. Kinsky (The Linn MPD controller app) is actually pretty well done, and I think it has the potential to be a world class application. <br />

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JRemote is very well done indeed. And it isolates uses a little bit from the rapid UI changes JRiver produces. <br />

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<br />

-Paul<br />

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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I find it good, both on the laptop display and on the TV using a mouse. Just as good as the simple IR remote (not that I have one) I feel.<br />

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I put it on 'full screen', so the side bar and the stuff at the top vanishes and it is (just) big enough on the TV, though I don't like how the controls disappear after a few seconds. You have to move the mouse to the very top to reactivate them.<br />

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Don't like the Theatre View.<br />

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I use a VGA interface to the TV as its only HDMI port is used for something else, and it works well. My laptop does not seem to approve of an auto-switching HDMI Y connector, and the VGA is just as good.<br />

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I have the TV set up as 'Dual View' rather than a clone. But the TV is a bit of a distraction from the music.

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Yeah been that feature for a while now. <br />

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Also, love Cover View (Ctrl + 5) with all my albums (no text under) covers in sort order by Artist.

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Thanks for the note samtheman57. On the strength of the articles since January I have purchased a new Dell with a terabyte HD and lots of RAM.<br />

To that I installed JRiver - then JPlay and then r8brain. To get it to run I got a Benchmark DAC1 PRE. I am not with the system as much as I would like and have had challenges making all this new stuff work at the same time. I am convinced that the up-sampling with r8brain is worth it. The next article in TAS is supposed to coagulate all their recommendations.<br />

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The reason for all this was to make the CDs sound as good as possible and possibly better than in their Red Book configuration.

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<br />

<br />

New member - long time reader - <br />

Just put this up on the Yardcrap forum.<br />

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A site I have enjoyed for years is http://www.computeraudiophile.com/ I have what I consider a computer built for music assembled from what I have learned there over the years. It sits on deck.<br />

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The guy there just put up an excellent article on JRiver Media Center. I have played with it before, but last night downloaded the new version and spent an hour or so messing with it as I lay in bed.<br />

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There are many media players out there. Some are free and some like Amarra go for hundreds. http://www.amarraaudio.com/ I am positive nothing is going to pry VLC (free) away as my video player, but keep an open mind as to the audio ones. You can download most for a free trial. JRiver goes for just under $50, but a free 30 day trial requires no emails, no signing in, just download and play with it. They can do that because they know they have a winner.<br />

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To play digital tunes, you must have a "player". Your ipod, or $20 CD walkman has a player as does your Squeezebox, high end SACD, etc. Software can be as important as hardware, but most flinch at the thought of paying for it. It stands to reason that no matter how good a DAC or no matter the electronics in your high end CD player, software is going to have a huge impact on the music that comes out. (another reason to play records)<br />

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Unlike most of the other hardware people play tunes with, computers can use more than just the built in player. You can have many media players and switch between them with a click of the mouse.<br />

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So back to JRIVER. http://www.jriver.com/The deal for the "purest" is to get bit perfect transfer to the DAC, and 24 bit or more as opposed to less if possible. <br />

The article makes it simple for the novice, but actually, the interface is easy to work with and similar to the others. Still, he does just an excellent job and I used it as reference to set up my download.<br />

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JRiver quickly found and loaded over 49000 of my favorite tunes, complete with many album covers. Play back was as good as I will ever need.<br />

There are several skins to choose from. I like the black ones as they don't light up the room at night and are easy to read.<br />

At the end of an hour or so testing it on lower quality mp3s to 24 bit downloads and some CDs - my verdict is - 4 stars.<br />

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Will I be paying out the $50 to keep it after the 30 day trail. I doubt it, but who knows. I will keep working with when I am inside for a couple weeks. Here on the deck, been using the free version of WinAmp for years. Purest scoff at that. It is like admitting you like/have Bose speakers (I have 11 if you include the sub). The Bose are in my closet, but I would not hesitate to pass them on to a new guy as they do a better job than what most have.<br />

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Here on the deck I am keeping WinAmp. Here is why:<br />

- I been using it for years, I am used to it and know every button and option.<br />

- It is kinda like Firefox, thousands of 2nd party additions if you want. I have a paid version of Isotope as a plug in. http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/media/ozone.html<br />

- While there are now thousands, I prefer the original "Classic" skin which is dark and just beautiful here on the deck at night and easy to read in the day time.<br />

- Lyrics pop up by the first note as the songs change. I can drink beer and sing along. Maybe JRiver has something like that, but I have not found it. If they added that, it might be a game changer for me.<br />

- Free as opposed to $50. Set up right, Winamp does 24 bit and with a plug in sounds as good as any of the other players -> to me on my equipment. I have decent equipment. It aint the money. If JRiver was free and WinAmp was $50, I would pay it. We seek different things and to many of us, computer music is chosen with convenience leading the way.<br />

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I have a lot of tunes and I don't use playlists. I have my tunes in a few folders and can 'find' and load them with a click. I don't let WinAmp seek and find my tunes. I keep it clean. I just play what I feel like at the time --> right now on the deck, I have all my Percy Sledge on shuffle.<br />

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Of course JRiver and other media players also do many things besides just play tunes, and that could be important to many. I use VLC as a video player, so I am just talking audio. JRiver makes it really easy to download from HDTracks, Amazon, etc, but I rarely pay for a music file. I also want the CD, SACD, or the LP if possible. <br />

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At the end of the day, there are many good audio players out there. Microsoft and Apple have excellent ones built in, so to gain a customer, the cottage industry has to bring a lot to the table.<br />

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Go here, download this and be amazed: http://www.jriver.com/audio.html

Sitting On the Deck

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