MEDIA JUKEBOX 7.0 software was released today with several new Winamp features and performance enhancements that appeal to serious users of media players. MJ developer, J. River believes that many current Winamp users love the player, but have outgrown its capabilities.

"We're getting a steady stream of Winamp users who now have too many files to manage without a jukebox," says J. River's VP of Marketing, Peter Sohal. "Players work well for several hundred files, but we're now seeing users with thousands or even ten's of thousands of files. We also find that Winamp users appreciate our interactive forums, which allow MJ users to have direct communication with our development team. The forums have helped us create a user-driven product, much as Winamp was before the AOL acquisition."

MEDIA JUKEBOX 7.0 includes a new interface with support for Winamp skins in mini-mode, and also supports many Winamp plug-ins. J. River believes that these additions, along with many other improvements, will accelerate the trend of Winamp users migrating to MEDIA JUKEBOX.

The new version has 40 new internal visualizations, cross-fading playback of music files, error-correcting ripping and more customization options. It builds on existing popular features; broadcast and cable TV playback, DVD support, digital playback of audio CD's, and internal DSP for improved sound quality. Other features include MEDIA EDITOR, a sound file editing tool, and MEDIA SCHEDULER, a task-scheduling utility for automating playback and recording.

A growing number of music fans are converting their entire CD collections to on-line formats and are gathering files from a multitude of sources. With MJ, anyone who wants to start a digital music collection, or organize an existing one, has everything they need in one application, together with a feature-set that puts it at the top of the list of all-in-one jukeboxes.

"We're taking the jukebox beyond the expectations of users to offer services that they find useful and entertaining," says Jim Hillegass, J. River's CEO. "Next month we're starting a service that will enable MJ users to view each other's playlists and play each other's files."

MEDIA JUKEBOX plays more than 70 music formats, including MP3, QuickTime, Audible, Microsoft Windows Media, LiquidAudio and RealAudio as well as many video formats. Support for secure MusicEx files allows e-commerce opportunities for owners of music and other digital media. MJ supports more MP3 handheld players than any other jukebox software. Manufacturers and OEM companies are invited to contact J. River to discuss partnership opportunities for providing hardware/software solutions to MP3 music fans.

The jukebox has received 5-star ratings from prominent download sites, including MP3.com, Tucows.com and Vitaminic.com. MEDIA JUKEBOX 7.0 is featured as an exclusive release at CNET.com. For a free download visit www.musicex.com.

I have been using winamp for about 3 years now and have just loaded the Media Jukebox and let me tell you this is some great software,and with all the music files I have I needed something a little different and this was it.Thanks Heidi for bringing this to my attention.JOHN

"Next month we're starting a service that will enable MJ users to view each other's playlists and play each other's files."

Uh oh...Does anyone else smell a potential problem here?

-Frawg-