JRiver difficulties

[BigBadger]

Am I the only one who thinks JRiver is more difficult to use than it needs to be?

 

I've bought a few licences, after the initial purchase, on the expectation that it would eventually become easier to use. It hasn't. It appears to be the single most difficult to understand and implement software that I own/licence. So I don't use it. I had been hoping to control the system from my PC with the JRiver but I just don't get it and it drives me nutty how challenging it is .... and I thought I was pretty good with most software/PC usage.......

 

I've found no video's, manuals of any help to make use of it. I surely can't be the only one who feels this way..... I'd love to hear of other perceptions experiences with JRiver.

 

My system isn't super high-end but we think it's very nice sounding. All is network hardwired with exception of the Control point tablet/phone.

• Anthem MRX710
• Synology DS213 NAS
• Moon MiND
• Moon DAC
• Sonus Faber Speakers
• Asset UPnP Server
• MiND control point app from Tablet/Phone

[Bufo Bill]

JRiver have their own forum, maybe they can help you out? You call it complicated, I call it thorough and very customisable, FWIW. It is worth persevering with if you like custom searching and cataloging, it sounds good, too. I don't have experience with the remote control system however. 

Regards from Bill. 

[NOMBEDES]

I don't see how you add music files to the JRiver library.

 

I have a high rez album on my desk top. (iMac)  Do you drag and drop?  Do you add playlist?  Both options don't appear to work...I am sure I am doing something wrong.  

[Apesbrain]

 

5 minutes ago, NOMBEDES said:

I don't see how you add music files to the JRiver library.

 

Doesn't JRiver use "watched folders"?  Just copy the music into whatever folder(s) are watched.

[church_mouse]

If you add the file to whichever folder you have set up as your JRiver library folder and have "auto import" switched on in, it should automatically add the music to you JRiver library.

 

  If you are not sure of your library settings, just go Tools/Options/Library&Folders

[ted_b]

22 hours ago, BigBadger said:

I've found no video's, manuals of any help to make use of it

I've had two full length videos in my signature for some time.  Feel free to download and watch.  JRiver is not difficult, but the setup might be daunting to new computer users (which you say you aren't).  Lemme know.

[Kal Rubinson]

1 hour ago, Apesbrain said:

Doesn't JRiver use "watched folders"?  Just copy the music into whatever folder(s) are watched.

It does but one can also select individual directories, if you prefer.

[rn701]

On 12/19/2017 at 2:52 PM, BigBadger said:

Am I the only one who thinks JRiver is more difficult to use than it needs to be?

 

...

 

My system isn't super high-end but we think it's very nice sounding. All is network hardwired with exception of the Control point tablet/phone.

• Anthem MRX710
• Synology DS213 NAS
• Moon MiND
• Moon DAC
• Sonus Faber Speakers
• Asset UPnP Server
• MiND control point app from Tablet/Phone

Agree the UI is unintuitive and confusing to navigate. On the other hand, maybe if you simplified and standardized it would be easier. Anyway, if all those things support DLNA you should be able to get it all working. You would start by eliminating the Asset server. Don't need it with Jriver. Jremote would also replace the Mind control app.

 

[koupa]

Unrelated to the original post.

 

I want to filter my music to see if it has artwork or not. How can I do that?

[ted_b]

Did you check your smart playlists?  I thought one of them is “missing artwork” (going from memory; not in front of jriver right now)

[koupa]

Oh my God. I'm still trying to learn it. It's very power full but very complex.

 

Unfortunately I have spend thousands of hours in to Foobar2000 and I had Roon for a year. The first is much easier to customize and the other is full auto pilot. I'm still working.

[ted_b]

It’s on the left side under playlists -smart playlists

[koupa]

I found it. So easy now.

[ted_b]

You’re welcome ?

[BigBadger]

On 12/20/2017 at 10:07 AM, ted_b said:

I've had two full length videos in my signature for some time.  Feel free to download and watch.  JRiver is not difficult, but the setup might be daunting to new computer users (which you say you aren't).  Lemme know.

 

Feeling a little dumb, but I looked and looked and could not for the life of me find your signature line nor any videos. Even looked at your profile , etc etc.... turns out this silly forum auto-logged me off after a period of inactivity......Not logged in = can't see anything much extra. 

Found a video of yours on Youtube and am currently importing my NAS collection to a library... HOLY CRAP, 12hrs later it's not quite half done. Doesn't help that sleeping PC's stop the process and there is no way to avoid that, apart from not allowing it to sleep. 

 

I'll get this damn thing figured out... not matter how long it takes. Thanks for your help Ted_B!

[koupa]

After I upgraded foobar2000 to 1.4 I found that the dsd playback has broken. So I uninstalled it and stayed with jriver only. I started explore it and it is ok. But I have some extra questions. 

 

First I can't find how it sorts the files. Eg I use the filesystem view. I go to a folder and the files are named track-title. The tags are correct. But sometimes it's in the proper order and other times it's shuffle. 12367845. I don't know why. I just select the folder, nothing more nothing else. 

 

Second. Since I have a mechanical disk and a lot of high resolution files, I use the option to load the entire album in memory. I have 16gb ram and it's always under 50% utilised. So I can load even a 24/192 album without problem. But when I do that, every song starts normally and after 5-7 seconds it starts again without further problems. Seeking is instant and the track changes. But the next song again restarts after the 5-7 sec. And the problem is with every resolution and type. Even mp3. When I use single file memory playback everything is ok. 

[Kal Rubinson]

These questions should be posted to the JRiver YABB site but.................

19 minutes ago, koupa said:

First I can't find how it sorts the files. Eg I use the filesystem view. I go to a folder and the files are named track-title. The tags are correct. But sometimes it's in the proper order and other times it's shuffle. 12367845. I don't know why. I just select the folder, nothing more nothing else. 

Assuming you mean the "Files" view, it is not a file system directory as you might be expecting but a flexible way to view your files.  There is a drop-down menu, Files, which allows you to configure this view to your needs.  I have mine set up with three windows across the top that let me filter what is shown in the file list below (with or without thumbnails).  Try it.

28 minutes ago, koupa said:

Second. Since I have a mechanical disk and a lot of high resolution files, I use the option to load the entire album in memory. I have 16gb ram and it's always under 50% utilised. So I can load even a 24/192 album without problem. But when I do that, every song starts normally and after 5-7 seconds it starts again without further problems. Seeking is instant and the track changes. But the next song again restarts after the 5-7 sec. And the problem is with every resolution and type. Even mp3. When I use single file memory playback everything is ok. 

Yup but that works for me, even with huge files.

[koupa]

I'll post screenshots later to explain what I mean. It's weird because I can't find the pattern. I think that it has to be something with the album artist. I don't use that tag at all because I think that it creates more problems that solve. But I think that internals it uses that tag. When it's various artist it sorts normal. When it's the normal artist it sorts alphabetically and it is confusing

[Wilderness]

On 12/20/2017 at 9:26 AM, NOMBEDES said:

I don't see how you add music files to the JRiver library.

 

I have a high rez album on my desk top. (iMac)  Do you drag and drop?  Do you add playlist?  Both options don't appear to work...I am sure I am doing something wrong.  

 

Dragging and dropping a song or two is easy.

 

When I have new songs from multiple artists, I drag and drop all 4,800 of the songs from my iTunes playlist into JRiver.  I first delete all of the songs in my JRiver playlist.  Don't just drag and drop too quickly, though.  Instead, drag and hover in JRiver until you see a green symbol and then release the mouse button.  This only takes a few seconds for the whole drag and drop process and it works perfectly every time.

 

The sound quality in JRiver is awesome.  Rich, full-bodied and live sounding.  JRiver even makes Apple AAC files sound great.  And the customizing that can be done, with a subwoofer for example, is impressive.  I will never use anything else at home.

[zackthedog]

I agree, in that I'd rather given up on JRiver as sounding very "generalized," but the new 64-bit Win version is a huge improvement.

[koupa]

As you can see the files in both situations are named similarly. But when I choose the folder they are messed in the first and in the other sorted. I do nothing regarding the sorting. Just click on the album that I want.

[ted_b]

it’s not possible to see your sort order (other than to know that track number is the fourth sort!).  I would guess that your file name conventions aren’t consistent and for whatever reason you are doing the no. 1 sort on file name.

[koupa]

Your observation gave me an idea. So I saw the hidden columns and saw that the "Album Artist" tag is hidden but first in sort order.

[ted_b]

9 minutes ago, koupa said:

Your observation gave me an idea. So I saw the hidden columns and saw that the "Album Artist" tag is hidden but first in sort order.

Um...ok..but did that fix it, or are you still investigating?

[koupa]

Yes. I couldn't imagine that a hidden column would still take part on sorting. It has a lot of options but it's very complicated. Still learning. I have also created a new view ignoring "Album Artist". So now I have my collections grouped under a single album ignoring everything else. By default when "Album Artist" is different on each track the album is broken. Now I have everything as I like.