MediaPingas (Rokodo)

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So a few days ago I decided I wanted a music library/playlist application that was lightweight enough for me to run on my system in conjunction with a wide range of other programs, as well as handling FLAC lossless audio decoding (along with MP3 of course). One can only manage with VLC media player for so long before manually browsing for each file tires them for good. I therefore decided to give MediaMonkey 3 a try, and opted to plump for the full Gold version of the program.

I am highly impressed with the features and customization options of the program, though a professional and usable custom background for the playlist may be a tad difficult to achieve for the average end user. I used my proficiency in Photoshop to modify an existing piece of artwork to fit in with one of the default skins provided with the program. There is also an option to use an image on the directory tree if wished, as well as on the "now playing" background. The program itself can be viewed without skins in a native to windows form, but this rather detracts from the aesthetic appeal of the application. As would be expected, the columns for information of and relating to each music track can be swapped around to the left and right of each other by clicking and dragging the named tabs such as "Title" and "Artist". Columns can also be resized outwards to show extended amounts of text, or inwards to allow more columns to fit without having to use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the playlist. This feature ensures that the information that you want to see first and foremost is shown exactly that way.

In terms of decoding quality for FLAC audio I was slightly disappointed. The internal codecs, to my ears, do not produce as crisp or as an appealing tone as the internal codecs used by VLC media player at the time of writing. Pure audio output clarity is one area where I have found VLC media player nigh on impossible to be beaten. Having said this, there may be a way to tweak output settings to my personal preferences as the program is quite complex, and I have not yet explored all of its subdirectories and options. It may also be a possibility to find and replace the codec manually, replacing the current one with one from VLC media player. In any case, I cannot blame the program itself for my ears. It is likely that different individuals with different audio setups will have different opinions on this matter.

All in all I would say that this is a very well rounded program that should sufficiently serve anyone looking for an iTunes or foobar2000 alternative on a Windows based operating system.


Until next time.
Rokodo