Entertainment • July 9 2018
MediaMonkey Manage 100,000+ music and video files without bogging down. Record CDs and download music, movies, and podcasts. Automatically lookup.
Aug 16, 2019 Are you looking for an Android music manager to manage your songs on computer? What a pity that Google haven’t released an iTunes like tool for Android phone users. However, the lucky side is that there are many third-party music management software tools for Android. In the following, I’m listing the 10 best ones you might be interested in. 1) Foobar2000 Without any doubt, Foobar2000 is a music player software for the enthusiast. It’s an advanced music player that works well on multiple platforms and has been built from the ground up to take advantage of the free and open licensed tools available. It’s also fast to load up and doesn’t even slow down on lengthy playlists.
The way we listen to our music has changed a lot in the last two decades. From cassette tapes to music CDs to the iPod and now our smartphones. The music we have been listening to have been through a lot of different changes.
Today, we have services like Spotify that let us stream our music of choice over the internet to our smartphones and computers. But a lot of people still have their music files on their computers. Managing the music you have on your computer or any other storage device might get a bit painful due to all the genres, albums and everything that are mixed up.
For people who use Apple devices and others who use Android devices, managing the media files on these devices is a lot of work. Especially on Android that comes with no syncing software and the user has to manage all the music files by himself.
A lot of things like file format, DRM and more bring issues while transferring files from one system to the other. For who use for iOS and Android might face the same issues related to file formats and essentially the DRM that protects the music files from piracy.
To help you with these things, there is a music management software named MediaMonkey. You can easily use this single program to get rid of all your woes like cataloging your music, syncing them between your devices and more.
MediaMonkey brings a suite of different music management features that will help you manage your music files in a better way.
Who should get a music management software?
Before we move any further with the review, we need to understand who needs a music management software.
A music management software like MediaMonkey is for those who have a large media library. In this case, they need something to manage and catalog all these files in an organized manner. A program like MediaMonkey has several features over a simple music player program.
MediaMonkey can do a lot of things tagging and editing, downloading proper album arts for your music albums and files automatically and a lot more. A simple music player is limited to what it is made for but a music management software is built from scratch by keeping the handling of a large number of media files in mind.
So, people who have a large number of music files that need proper cataloging, tag editing, and managing can use a complete media library manager software to do all this.
What should you look for in a music organizer program?
The need for a music organizer software has already been established above but the real question is, what features should you look for in a music manager software?
A music management software should first of all have the ability to recognize and accept various different kinds of music file formats. The most common file formats like MP3 or AAC are accepted by many programs on the market. But in order to become a good music management software, the program should be able to expand the type of files it can recognize and work with.
It should also be able to identify the music files and fill up the missing info like artist name etc. automatically. A manual tag editor should also be present in case the user wants to add some information on their own.
Other essential features include being able to manage playlists, updating the library automatically, syncing with platforms like Android and iOS and more.
We kept these features in requirements while looking for the best music management software out there and we came to find MediaMonkey Gold that is a premium version of MediaMonkey which is otherwise a freeware.
We will be reviewing MediaMonkey based on the features that it provides and we will see how well the whole package works together.
Our top pick – MediaMonkey 4 and MediaMonkey Gold
MediaMonkey is a freeware that you can download for free. The free version has a bunch of great features to offer. The MediaMonkey program that we have at the time of writing this review is v4.1.21.
MediaMonkey 4 free comes with all the basic great features that a music management software should have. You can manage up to 100,000+ music files with the program. The software also has support for video and audio files like podcasts and more.
Other free features include the ability to identify the tracks, editing the tags, managing playlists, syncing your library with iOS and Android devices and more.
But if you want more advanced features like high-quality CD ripping, creating advanced auto playlists, having multiple media collections, you should look at the MediaMonkey Gold version which brings all these features.
What is MediaMonkey Gold?
As mentioned, MediaMonkey Gold is the premium version of the freeware version which brings a lot of advanced features to MediaMonkey suite. You will be able to rip CDs in professional quality, manage multiple media collections, organize your files automatically along with auto-conversion & leveling of audio files.
The Gold version has significant advantages over the free version and you can have different add-ons in MediaMonkey to make the experience even better. The Gold version automates a lot of things like organizing the files, downloading album arts and more.
Let’s take a look at the features that MediaMonkey Gold has to offer.
MediaMonkey Gold Review
We will be reviewing the v4.1.21 version of MediaMonkey in this review and since the program is only available for Windows, we will be testing and reviewing it on Windows 10.
Installation
The installation process is quite simple and all you need to do during install the program is choose obvious options like install location etc. There is one option that you will see while installing the program.
As you can see in the image, you can choose to have full skinning which will essentially ignore the Windows system theme. This option won’t affect any feature and it all depends on what your choice of the interface will be. I unchecked this option while installing and verified that we could change this after the program is installed.
As soon as the program is installed, you will be greeted with the main MediaMonkey interface and the welcome wizard. The welcome wizard will guide you through the initial set up process and you can add media folders where your music files are located. You can also choose to share your media files over your network with other users using UPnP and DLNA.
Once you are done choosing your media folders and everything, you can start using MediaMonkey.
Interface & Design
The first time I saw the interface of MediaMonkey Gold, I was a bit confused. The interface looks very basic and for some reason, MediaMonkey is using a lot of small font text for buttons & labels.
There is also no clarity on how things work with MediaMonkey initially. To say the least, the design looks very dry and MediaMonkey should update the design in order to make it more user-friendly.
There is also no clarity on how things work with MediaMonkey initially. To say the least, the design looks very dry and MediaMonkey should update the design in order to make it more user-friendly.
But MediaMonkey allows you to download and install different skins. You can choose from different skins by going to Tools > Options > Skins.
MediaMonkey Gold – Features Overview
There are so many features that MediaMonkey has to offer so I have broken down a list of features which will be explained one by one.
Library Management
As mentioned, when the library is empty, the MediaMonkey window look very basic and bare. But you can add your media files easily. You just have to open the File menu and you will be able to see the option to add your library to MediaMonkey. You can choose to add files from various different locations on your computer.
MediaMonkey supports a plethora of file types and formats. You can add MP3 files, AAC files, FLAC files and even more formats for audio, video, and playlists are available for you to use. If you have a large library of music files ripped from CDs in MP3 format, you won’t face any issues to add them in the library.
MediaMonkey also supports Audiobooks and it identifies and separates the audiobook files from the music files. You can see it has support for music videos and TV shows as well. Adding new media files also updates the custom collection that you can create from the Tools menu.
MediaMonkey also supports Audiobooks and it identifies and separates the audiobook files from the music files. You can see it has support for music videos and TV shows as well. Adding new media files also updates the custom collection that you can create from the Tools menu.
The automatic organizer is an amazing feature that MediaMonkey Gold has. You can basically change your folder system on the basis of the tag information that is attached to the media file. This helps you organize your music by album and artists.
Automatic Tagging
This is the best feature that MediaMonkey has to offer. Using this is very easy. You just right-click on a track that you want to tag correctly and choose the Auto-tag using web option and this will open the Auto-tag from web window.
You might be prompted to install an add-on so go ahead and install it. At first, the auto-tag feature might seem a bit confusing but let me help you. The yellow highlights signify the changes that will be done to your media file when the auto-tagging is complete. Clicking the Auto-Tag button will finish the auto-tagging function.
You might be prompted to install an add-on so go ahead and install it. At first, the auto-tag feature might seem a bit confusing but let me help you. The yellow highlights signify the changes that will be done to your media file when the auto-tagging is complete. Clicking the Auto-Tag button will finish the auto-tagging function.
This is helpful when you have a bunch of tracks in an album that is disorganized. This small nifty feature will automatically correct the tags for you.
Auto-Conversion while Syncing
This is a great feature that only MediaMonkey Gold offers. MediaMonkey Gold lets you sync with your iOS and Android device easily. But what if these files are in a format that your device does not support?
It is easy to download codec packs on a PC and start using the file types but on a mobile device like an iPhone, this isn’t a functional solution. In that case, MediaMonkey will handle the format conversion for you.
The files will be converted to a file type that your device supports. The conversion process will not mess with the meta data of these music files at all. They can also be synced at a lower bit rate if you have a storage issue on the device that you are syncing to.
Professional-quality CD Ripping & Burning
MediaMonkey lets you both rip CDs and burn your music to new CDs. MediaMonkey actually checks for a damaged disc and it throttles the disc rotation to make it slow so it can rip your CD perfectly in order to recover your music.
MediaMonkey also validates the ripped music going through it bit by bit to make sure the tracks that have been ripped are correct and not corrupted. It takes advantage of the AccurateRip database in order to do that.
MediaMonkey also validates the ripped music going through it bit by bit to make sure the tracks that have been ripped are correct and not corrupted. It takes advantage of the AccurateRip database in order to do that.
Now that you have your music ripped, you may want to burn it on a new disc just to keep a backup. MediaMonkey has you covered in this case as well. You just need to use the Burn functionality and you can choose which type of disc you want to burn on.
Media Player & Party Mode
Let us not forget that MediaMonkey is also a music player and a very good one at that. The music player UI is quite simple and does not have any useless gimmicks. You have equalizer support, playlists, rating, queue and everything that a good media player should have.
There is also a Party Mode feature which you can enable. When enabled, MediaMonkey will enter a party mode and the program will go full screen and take control of your PC’s display real estate. You can even password protect Party Mode so that no one can mess with your playlists or the queue that you have set.
You can even enable visualizations and go full screen in order to get into a full party mood. You have full control over how you use visualizations. There is also a sleep mode in the MediaMonkey Gold edition which you can use in order to put your computer to sleep when a time you have set has elapsed.
You can even enable visualizations and go full screen in order to get into a full party mood. You have full control over how you use visualizations. There is also a sleep mode in the MediaMonkey Gold edition which you can use in order to put your computer to sleep when a time you have set has elapsed.
Catalog your physical CDs
If you have physical CDs, you can add them to your MediaMonkey catalog easily using the Virtual CD feature. MediaMonkey will create a virtual CD from your discs and the tracks will be copied to your computer so you can view the catalog without inserting the CD time and again.
Add-ons & Skins
MediaMonkey has a collection of add-ons developed by different independent developers. These add-ons will add more functionality to MediaMonkey. These add-ons can be for various different things.
There are different categories for these add-ons. You can download a different skin for MediaMonkey or you can choose to download an add-on that lets you listen to audio and watch video content in a better way.
There are also management add-ons that will help you change a few things about MediaMonkey and how it works. You can find the add-ons on this page.
MediaMonkey Gold – Summary & Pros & Cons
MediaMonkey is definitely a great and powerful music management software but yes, it does have some quirks and shortcomings. It actually works very well and can do the music management better than many other software out there in competition. But it has to change a few things before it becomes perfect. Take a look at the pros and cons of MediaMonkey Gold below.
Pros
Pros
- Powerful & works like a charm
- Auto-tagging and Auto-conversion are the best features
- Being able to catalog physical disc is amazing
- Flexible with add-ons to improve functionality
- Can work with all kinds of media file types and file formats
- Can integrate with services like Last.fm
- Can be used to sync iOS and Android devices both
Cons
- Very complex design; New users have to struggle before getting started
- Only available for Windows
Other apps we considered
Let’s take a look at some other software that the market has to offer. We will be looking at programs like iTunes, MusicBee, MusicZen and Tuneup Media.
Apple’s very own iTunes USED TO BE a good program for music management but it has been changed to a music, apps, TV shows and another marketplace for your iOS device. iTunes is limited to iOS devices and it has become very closed and limited.
iTunes is now a marketplace focused program. Even though it works on Windows, you are still better off using another program that focuses on music instead of selling apps. Apple had a great opportunity to create iTunes a powerful media management suite but they chose the commercial route.
It makes sense for iOS devices but if you were someone who used or uses iTunes for the media management capabilities, I can tell you there are better solutions like MediaMonkey out there.
MusicBee is the only music management software that can get even close to MediaMonkey. The best part about MusicBee is the interface which is beautiful and easy to understand. Things look clean and clear, unlike MediaMonkey.
But MusicBee essentially falls apart when it comes to comparing the tagging and organization. MediaMonkey remains a king in terms of features. MusicBee also carries similar features to MediaMonkey and has support for add-ons and skins. There is a theatre mode available in MusicBee as well which competes with MediaMonkey’s party mode.
MusicBee is a completely free program and if you are looking at something that is close to MediaMonkey in terms of functionality, then MusicBee is something you should go for.
MusicZen was created especially by keeping the MP3 organization in mind. It does not come with a media player and is a pure music organization software.
There are two versions of MusicZen. There’s a free version and an Advanced version that costs $18 and it brings some extra features and updates to future versions.
You have all the basic music management and organization features such as reconstructing music folders and directories, renaming music files, and a few more. Keep in mind that MusicZen only works with MP3 files so if you need to deal with other formats, MediaMonkey is something you should prefer.
TuneUp Media is an interesting software. It isn’t a standalone music management software as it needs either Windows Media Player or iTunes to function.
The functionality is exactly the same as compared to MediaMonkey but it falls apart due to the fact that it is just an add-on for iTunes or Windows Media Player.
You can add missing album art, clean and organize your music collection and do more. TuneUp Media costs $39.95 annually and for an add-on to Windows Media Player or iTunes, it doesn’t justify the price.
Conclusion
We looked at MediaMonkey Gold and the features that it has to offer. Yes, MediaMonkey has a few quirks related to its UI and the platforms that it supports. It currently only runs on Windows and you can use it on Windows 10.
MediaMonkey Gold costs $24.95 for version 4 license and you will get all the updates to version 4. You can alternatively go for a lifetime license that will cost you $49.95 and you will receive all the updates for all the versions of MediaMonkey.
When it comes to music management, MediaMonkey remains the king while MusicBee is another program that comes close to it but it isn’t functionally superior to MediaMonkey. We can conclude that MediaMonkey Gold is the best music management software for Windows 10 that is available.
Digital Music Player Software – Bring Music To Your Life
Related:
For most of us music is an essential part of our life. But having great music isn’t enough; what we also need is a top quality and excellent digital music player software to listen to our tracks. Digital music player software packages allow you to listen to your downloaded and purchased music in multiple music file formats.
Today we have compiled a list of the best and most noteworthy digital music player software tools. Below is the list:
Vox Music Player
The Vox Music Player is an extremely popular software that is compatible with Mac operating system. The cloud based service provided by this software allows the user to store all his/her music in one place, regardless of the size of the file. The music stored and played back on this digital music player software does not get compressed and the audio quality of the sound tracks remain intact. A free trial version as well as a full paid version of this software is available online.
Xix Music Player
Xix Music Player is a phenomenal digital music player software that’s compatible with Linux as well as Windows operating system. This software is free of cost and is an open source program. This digital player supports music files of MP3 format. In addition to this, after downloading the software manual installation of the same is required.
Tomahawk Music Player
Tomahawk is a free streaming music player that directly allows you to search for the song you wish to listen to and directly plays it from the best available source. This music player has social media connectivity and allows the user to browse through playlists and music charts of friends and family too. It also offers the features of cloud storage as well as subscription services.
DeadBeef Music Player
DeadBeef Music Player is a software that is compatible with multiple operating systems including Android, Linux and UNIX. It is one of the best and most popular music player software for Android. This software supports a variety of audio formats including MP3, MP4, cd audio, WAV and more.
Nuvola Music Player
Nuvola Music Player is one of the best digital music player software available in the market. This web-based music streaming program is compatible with Linux operating systems. From all the online digital music programs available in the market, this player offers the feature of desktop integration and supports audio files of MP3 format.
Songbird Music Player
Best Music Software For Mac
Songbird Music Player is a Windows compatible music software that allows the user to easily and quickly push his music to devices that are wireless. This player also offers the feature of connecting with a favorite artist and getting live updates. This MP3 player software, free download also has a personal media hub that lets the user to transfer his music to his phone and other gadgets.
MediaMonkey
MediaMonkey is an unbeatable digital sound player software, free download. There is also a paid version of the software which is the Gold version. It is one of the leading storing and playing digital music software. It allows the user to easily manage well over 100,000 songs as well as video files. Allows the user to also look up lyrics and other metadata. The user can also manage audiobooks, podcasts, movies and other media programs with this software
JPlay Music Player
JPlay Music Player is a high end digital music player which is a paid software. There is a free trial version of the software available too. This player does a playback that is memory based and and also has the feature of canceling OS noise. JPlay Music player supports MP3 and a few other audio formats.
GitHub MPS YouTube
This digital software is a terminal based YouTube downloader and player. It is free of cost and a tremendously popular music player. The GitHub MPS YouTube player has an excellent interface and both mobile as well as desktop versions of the player are available. It is compatible with both Android phones as well as Windows operating system.
Winamp
Everyone knows the famous Winamp digital music player. Winamp is available for both Windows as well as Mac operating systems. Winamp can be downloaded for free. This software offers a number of skins for download so that the user can jazz up the player as per his preference. Winamp is also available for Android gadgets.
Zune Software
Free Music Player For Mac
Zune is another digital media player that is tremendously popular amongst Window users. This jukebox allows users to organise their videos, music and photographs. The interface of this player is simple and easy to use. Zune works on Windows 8 phones as well. It allows the user to playback audio files that have already been downloaded.
What Is A Digital Music Player Software?
Digital Music Player software are programs that allows the user to play downloaded music or stream live music on their phones, tablets, computers and laptops. Digital music players often support video streaming and photograph management too. These down-loadable digital music players support a variety of audio and video formats such as MP3, MP4, m4a, AAC, WAV, WMA and others.
Besides playing your audio files, digital music player software also allows the users to manage their music libraries. They have genre based management of songs and albums, date based management, recently listened to based management and so on. The latest digital music players also offer the features of cloud storage, thus making music and audio files accessible almost anywhere. Some digital music players allow the users to stream radio stations and podcasts live and in real time and synchronise with Web based services like SoundCloud and others.
Installing the Digital Music Player Software
While some of the music players mentioned in the above list require download and installation, others are web based digital music players that only require a registration and sign in. For the down-loadable software, one has to click on the link given below the respective software. This link will redirect you to the download page of the program. Hit the download button and once the download is complete, you need to follow step by step installation process. The live streaming software requires no downloading and can be used directly from the link given below the respective software.
Benefits And Target Audiences Of The Digital Music Player Software
Using the digital music players can be extremely beneficial. They allow the users to manage their music libraries and organise them, thus storing all the music under one roof and making the music and audio files easily accessible. The players are also beneficial because they usually support a variety of audio formats. Thus eliminating the hassle of hunting for a software that supports the audio formats that the user has downloaded.
In terms of target audiences, almost everyone uses digital music player software. From students, to businessmen, housewives, teenagers, professional music artists and various others download and use the digital music players. Leading and popular DJs across the globe also depend on these digital music players to listen to their tracks and store their audio files in the software’s cloud storage. They also upload their music for live streaming in some of the web based digital music players.
Free Windows Digital Music Player Software
One of the most popularly used digital music players by Windows users is Winamp. This software has excellent audio quality, offers a wide range of amazing skins for downloads, has an unbeatable interface and has been around for decades now. Windows users across the globe swear by Winamp. It has limited features but the work gets done.
Free Android Digital Music Player Software
Poweramp Music Player is one of the leading and most downloaded digital music players for Android gadgets. This software supports a variety of audio formats including mp3, MP4, flac, tta and various others. The software allows the user to search for lyrics and other metadata. The application has a variety of themes and skins to offer the user for customisation of his media player. Given below is the link for the free digital music player download
Poweramp Music Player
Free Mac Digital Music Player Software
Typically every Mac user swears by iTunes, the inbuilt Mac digital music player software. This software allows the user to organise and manage the music library, burn discs, listen to podcasts, listen to audiobooks and also supports various other features. This software comes pre-installed in all Mac computers and laptops.
Decibel
Some Additional Noteworthy Digital Music Player Software
Besides the above mentioned list, there are tons of other digital music player software available for different types of operating systems. These include BlackPlayer Music Player, Shuttle, Rocket Music Player, Beat Music Player, jetAudio Music Player, Equalizer+, Amarok, digital music player nwz b142f, Clementine and various other high quality and noteworthy software. There are also several digital music player Sony software available for Sony users.
Best And Most Popular Music Player 2016
One of the best and most popular music players of 2016 is the MusicBee. This free of cost and easy to download player supports a variety of formats including M4A, MP3, AAC, Opus and more. It allows the user to create and manage his own playlists and also organise his library. Allows the user to also import iTunes library, sync iPods, USBs and offers several other features.