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MP3 and More. A Multimedia Solution for Collecting, Organizing and Playing Media Files

This announcement comes hot on the heels of an update of MusicMatch's newest jukebox, which claims to be the first jukebox to support Windows Media Audio. This feature has been available in Media Jukebox beta versions for six months, together with additional functionality that make it the most powerful and full-featured player on the market today. Nikolay Sokratov, CTO at J. River says, ``We designed Media Jukebox to be the consumers' preferred organizer and player. It's extremely flexible and easy to use, so it can be customized for the casual user or the serious enthusiast. It's an all-in-one solution, and is winning awards.''

Media Jukebox uses Microsoft Audio components to play MP3, WAV, AU, RA, RAM, and other file types supported by MS Media Player 6.4. It also plays J. River's protected MP3 format, called MusicEx files, which makes it possible for artists and labels to sell and manage licensed music on the Internet easily and securely. This is supported by J. River's backend payment and licensing processing system. MusicEx files appeal to users because they encapsulate multiple music files in MP3 or other formats along with images, videos, text, and URL's, providing a richer multimedia experience.

This release includes multi-language support, and this, according to Peter Sohal, Director of Marketing, ``has tremendous appeal to a growing worldwide market, as demonstrated by the recent surge of downloads from Japanese users of Media Jukebox. We even had to add more servers to meet the demand.''

Other attractive features include free CD-quality ripping and encoding (users can rip using the built-in MP3 encoder, or choose an external encoder such as Xing Technology Corporation's XingMP3 Encoder), and the ability to record tapes and vinyl records via ``Line-In'', and burn audio CD's from MP3, Windows Media Audio and WAV. Additionally, there is support for export to handheld devices by simple drag-and-drop for mapped drives. This includes Rio(TM), Nomad(TM), MP Man(TM), Pontis(TM) and others.

Media Jukebox's customizable interface makes it simple to organize and play music tracks. After the initial rapid, automated search for music on the drive, the user can view and select music by artist, album, playlist, or category. Tracks can be copied or moved freely among these choices, as in Windows Explorer. A built-in search function can find specific titles or artists on the PC or on the Web, and the integrated Web browser connects quickly to popular music sites such as mp3.com, emusic.com or J. River's music01.com site.

An intelligent ``SmartList'' feature allows a user to define rules for creating a list of tracks to be played. For example, a SmartList might be defined as music between 1960 and 1970, and including categories Jazz and Pop, but not including the Beatles. Or all female artists, but not including Dusty Springfield. SmartLists are dynamic, and update themselves automatically each time tracks are added or edited.

Jim Hillegass, CEO of J. River said, ``Despite the wealth of features, Media Jukebox is intuitive and easy to use. Our download growth and customer feedback indicate that new users are taking to it quite readily.''

A free download of the Media Jukebox is available at: http://www.musicex.com/downloads

About Music Exchange

An ordinary music CD contains audio, cover art, liner notes, track list and lyrics. A Music Exchange MusicEx file contains this and more -- audio in multiple formats, images, Rich Text (liner notes, track list, and lyrics), video, and links to Web sites or e-mail addresses.

Users can preview individual tracks and purchase the MusicEx file from within Media Jukebox or other supported players. When a user plays preview tracks, they are also given the option to purchase the whole track through a simple, but secure, on-line transaction. When they do so, a digital certificate unlocks the album for playback on their PC.

To provide maximum choice in players, J. River designed the Music Exchange consumer component as a plug-in that can be used through popular players such as Winamp, Windows Media Player and RealNetwork's RealPlayer.

About J. River

J. River develops e-commerce and network connectivity software. The company has nearly 2,000,000 users in over 50 countries. For more information about J. River's music products, visit http://www.jriver.com/music, e-mail music@jriver.com , or call 612-677-8200.

SOURCE: J. River, Inc.