[thechat] MP3 software recommendation

[Paul Cowan]

Hey all,

I would love a recommendation for MP3 jukebox software, to replace RealOne
(formerly RealJukebox), which frankly is an enormous bloated heap of fecal
matter.

I need something more than WinAmp, because I really want to be able to
manage the whole collection as a unit rather than as files (which is what
WinAMP does, unless it's changed a lot since I last used it)

What I would love in a jukebox:

	* Ability to manage your MP3 hierarchy well, by Artist/Author, etc.

	* Auto-playlists. These are a RealOne forte, and the only reason
	  I stick with it. For example, you can set up a playlist:
		* 4 hours long
		* Genre is "Funk", "Jazz" or "Easy Listening"
		* Artist is not Jamiroquai
		* Song is shorter than 6 minutes
		* Song not played in the last week
	  etc. and it will scan your whole collection to create the mix
	  Then, when you're done with that, you hit "Remix" and away
	  it goes again. This is a fantastic feature.

	* Ideally, proper ID3v2 implementation. This is because I find
	  the way that most MP3 players handle "Various Artists" CDs
	  most painful. They either put them strictly under "Various"
	  (meaning you can't find all the songs by a band when some are
	  on compilations) or under the individual artist, which makes
	  choosing a compilation CD quite painful, as the tracks are
	  scattered all over the place. ID3v2 should (theoretically)
	  eliminate this, as "Track Artist" and "Album Artist" are different
	  things.

	* Ripping at high bitrates, VBR ideal.

	* STABLE and FAST. This is what lets RealOne down. Did I mention
	  that it's a pile of crap, by the way?

	* Ability to set custom fields for a track. For example, we use
	  RealOne's "custom 1" field to store the owner of the original CD
	  -- we rip a CD, and mark it as owned by "Paul", then if I want
	  I can create a random AutoPlaylist of just my stuff, or my
	  co-workers can create their own, etc.

	* Visualisations and skins etc. Not that important.

	* Not expensive (ideally free, of course). And CERTAINLY not
	  continually trying to push the subscription service all the time
	  (*cough* realone *cough*)

Anyway, I'd love some feedback. What do you use? Is it good?

Paul.