I've never been quite satisfied with any media player programs for my PC. Musicmatch Jukebox has so far been my best bet.
A CNET letter got me to try out a new one called "Media Monkey (version 2.0)." They offer it for free, with the hope of getting you to cough up $20 for an upgrade with some fancy extra features.
I'd recommend not fooling with any of it. The program chokes on the basic function of adding tracks to the library from my hard drive. It added maybe a hundred tracks, and then locked up the program. I had to control/alt/delete repeatedly. Again and again.
Maybe it's just a weird file hanging it up somehow. I removed an Elvis Costello mp3 where it had stuck twice- out, ya damned troublemaker! Same thing with another track or two.
I've rebooted repeatedly, and tried it with no other programs running. Same thing.
After a certain point, this just sucks. I've played with at least a dozen different media player programs, and I've NEVER found even the most half-assed one that couldn't handle the very basic function of adding track listings.
Bad monkey, no banana.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Saleski
i've gotten to the point where i just can't deal with any software running on the windows platform. the whole dang thing is just polluted.
and just recently i started a work project that involves linux as one of its elements...and after about an hour of playing around with it i got huge "os lust"...to the point where i'm seriously thinking about tossing the windows box at home for good.
2 - Brad
I'm still using Winamp 2.91 because 3 was such a bloated letdown. I'd happily switch to something swankier and better but have yet to find anything.
3 - JY
Barger,
Maybe your computer sucks. I just added 2,304 tracks to my library. No problem.
Good monkey. Have a banana.
4 - Rusty
Al,
Just wanted to let you know that MediaMonkey 2.0 did have a problem locating files on some systems with multiple drives.
This situation has been resolved in MediaMonkey 2.1 (which also includes close to 100 improvements and fixes).
Hope you'll give it another try.
Regards,
Rusty
We're Bananas about music!
http://www.mediamonkey.com
5 - Brad
I've tried several different media programs as well, and have got 2 that I use simply because one does somethings better than the other does. So I found Media Monkey. Oh what a friggin waste of time! Their new MP3 codec SUCKS! I'm running a sound blaster audigy card with a logitech 5.1 surround speakers. Suddenly I have muddy bass and no power in the mids no matter what I do. It simply has to go! Unfortunatly the installed codec has attached itself to every media player on my system. So now it's time to uninstall and reinstall them. Believe me I have better things to do with my time than monkey with the Monkey. My advice to you is JUNK the MONKEY!
6 - me
Would also like to mention i use media monkey and i have multiple drives. I also have 12,000++ mp3s and MM scans em in just fine as well as being the best interface i have yet to find.
7 - Ray
I find Mediamonkey's id3 tag editing, filename renaming amazing. eg change Kylie to Kylie Minogue in the "Artist" tree, and viola, all the tags containing "Kylie" are changed in one go. You want the artist name in the filename? Two clicks and you've renamed all your files! Or would you like track number in the id3 title field? Add it with another couple of clicks.
8 - Greg Gauthier
I fail to see the problem.
I've been a VERY SATISFIED user of Media Monkey since just after 2.0 was released.
When I switched, I had been searching for an alternative player that had library management and tag editing capabilities superior to what I was getting from iTunes or Windows Media Player, but also without all the commercial trash that came along with RealPlayer or MusicMatch.
Media Monkey has CERTAINLY fit that bill. I have WELL OVER 4,000 TRACKS in my library, organized into 625 "Albums", that spans 37 different Genres by 349 different artists. It is a SNAP for me to edit, sort, reorganize, create playlists, and rescan for new entries.
About the ONLY thing I find annoying, is the fact that you can't reSIze the snap-ins, when they're docked in the main window.
If you're having trouble adding tracks to your media monkey library, maybe there's something that needs fixing on your computer?
9 - jesse christophel
either your computer sucks, you have bad files, or you have an old version. I have added 2,589 files (multiple fomarts too) to my library with no problem. I even went to my other computer and added them through the network with no problem. media monkey doesn't incorporate everything i want in a media player but neither does any other. media monkey at least has done the best job so far in my opinion
10 - Moog Spaceport
I just started using Media Monkey and I love it. It flawlessly scanned in my music files, over 21,000 of them, and I was even able to run the America's Army video game at the same time it was building my file list. I like the intergrated player and media manager... in short, for something that is free, the Monkey Kicks Butt.
11 - The Errant Fool
I also have to disagree strongly with the author's assessment of Media Monkey. Simply put, it is the best all-around mp3 player/organizer that I have used, and I've tried a bunch, including MusicMatch Jukebox for which I bought the lifetime license.
I've got a ton of tracks in my library and Monkey hasn't hiccupped on me once. The playlist options are also great and highly customizable. There's nothing out there that I've seen that I would trade Media Monkey in for.
Is it perfect? No. But it does more different things well than any other product I've come across.
12 - Brother52
I have close to 35,000 songs in my library
and I must say that MediaMonkey is the ONLY program I have used that does NOT choke on such a large library. Its naming, tagging, and library management tools are fantastic. And it also is compatible with most winamp plugins as well as giving you the option to use Winamp as the player. It is definetly a Kick A$$ program and well worth the money.
13 - drakshug
Sorry but after trying everything, I got Media Monkey 2.2.1. Excellent and the sound is good and no probs with the library. Maybe your sys is a bit slow. As for sound, my old comp had a hercules sound card and medion 5.1 speakers and the sound was great. Now I'm using AC97 integrated sound (don't want to lose the front sockets by putting in the herc) and the sound is still great. Audigy gets good write ups for games but for music, maybe they aren't so good. dunno
14 - Ramsay
The Monkey has its ups and downs, no doubt but...
It does play .flac(.fla) files in their native format. Many of the jam band torrent sites use this 'free lossless audio codec' because of the quality aspects. None of the big media players play it and the free decoders are either console only or convert into wav files. Wav's are nice but HUGE and still require another conversion to be able to playand manage.
So anybody looking to convert flac files use the monkey to convert and in the options limit the monkey to that format.
15 - Momo_25
I uses MediaMonkey 2.4.2, and i'm very satisfied with it.
Christophe
16 - Bernie J
Hmm. I've used mediamonkey for about a year now (huge library) and I can honestly say that I've had no problems with it whatsoever.
17 - Robert
I can't get Media Monkey to sync tracks onto my Sandisk Sansa player. Anybody know the secret?
Robert
18 - Austin
Media Monkey is the shit. I have over 5000 MP3s... I've used Windows Media Player... it's crap for organizing your files. iTunes and iPods are the shittiest ever. Real Player can't handle a large number of MP3s without slowing down performance big time. Media Monkey is the best out there for organizing files and handling a large library.
19 - Dnl
I have been using Media Monkey for a while and it is pretty stable and I really like it. The only thing is that I would love to find a player that does not use the tree view for classifying the stuff. I need something like Picasa (for pictures) but for music. Any suggestions?
20 - Aaron
I feel like I've tested hundreds of media players, but media monkey is always the one I come back too. It's an amazing program, able to handle practically whatever file type I throw at it thanks to supporting Winamp plugins and has a great interface that allows me to do things like search Amazon for album art, rectify tags, even convert obscure formats like PSF and Midi to Mp3 and Wma. The only problem I ever get with it is that sometimes I get error messages when I close it, which is fine because I'm trying to shut it down anyway :P I guess a more attractive interface wouldn't go amiss either. But it's still the best I've found.
21 - RandyOSailor
WMP would not put tracks ripped from my own CDs on my SanDisk player, said "Could find no license." I uninstalled it, installed MM but it doesn't want to talk to the SanDisk which has 150 MP3 tracks already loaded. Can somebody give grandpa a hand, this new stuff has me tied up in knots ;-)
(Running W2K Pro on an old Dell Inspiron 7000 notebook with PCMCIA USB 2.0 card for interface.)
Randy
22 - Obes
I looked at Media monkey and for a program that says its going to let you take control of your music library, it doesn't even let you specify which version ID3v2 its going to use (hell I couldn't find anything in the help or website to say what version it actually uses).
23 - Mick
Your review?! is absolute rubbish! I think I have tried almost every media app on the planet in the hope of stubling upon the perfect one. . . this is it! Your PC must be a heap of junk or you have no idea whatsoever. Have a nice day.
24 - Lib
I've been trying media monkey too, and almost every time it chokes at some point and I have to control-alt-delete my way out of there. No bananas here :(
25 - hobo
Tried the Monkey & it's ok...nothing more, nothing less. I wasn't impressed with the amount of memory it was using, 38 megs which is ridiculous for a mp3 player. This was with 7,500 songs in the library which also seemed sluggish doing search.