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JRiver or MusicBee?

I

IanRB

pfm Member
If I could I would run these back to back to see which I prefer. However I installed JRiver about 6 weeks ago & didn't really have a chance to get to know it before other things got in the way. Now I'm back looking at it the trial period has expired & there seems to be no way to extend it!
MusicBee has an unfair price advantage; it's free, but it sometimes can be a bit obstructive, which winds me up.
So has anyone run them both and decided on one, and why?
I'm only looking at these for audio replay, so JRiver's video capabilities add nothing.
Foobar is out of the running as it's too primitive for 2021.
 
Well, JRiver. Double-edged thing.
What I like is their attitude to "bit perfect is bit perfect". The software is quite alright as it is now. Also you can use the current version, which has to be paid once cheap, forever.
Especially for audio, the last feature (playing DSD ) was years ago. Since then, little or nothing really useful has been done. There is also no publicly known development direction. JR unfortunately acts according to "take it or leave it". the license for the upcoming / annual version is bought blindly, because nothing is known before. Also, the problem with AV software has been known for years and is simply ignored. The onboard help / online FAQ / help pages are a disaster (simply outdated) and the forum rather moody in tone. However, there are members who do make an effort. But they are not from JR...
For whatever reason, the situation with Android software controlling the JRMC server is unsatisfactory. EOS was an app that is still addictive today. The development has been discontinued. The Android SW from JR is still not stable and so powerful and of course has to be paid extra. I can say nothing about IOS-SW. The impression of cross-reading is similar.
 
I've used JR for the past few years and no longer see a need to try other software. I'd tried a few including Foobar & Media Monkey, but found JR to sound the best to my ears and easy to use. I only use it for 2 channel audio.
 
I'm happy with JRiver, been using it for quite a few years now. I like the database, it's really snappy in use...
 
I ran JRiver for many years, and found it really excellent. All the control you could want over the audio path, and all the flexibility you could want about your own music and defining your own views. And the companion JRemote app is equally superb. Sadly I dumped it when Qobuz came out, and thus Roon became essential to integrate Qobuz and my own library. If you only have your own music, JRiver is hard to beat, and worth every penny - it will last you a long time. If you subscribe to Qobuz or Tidal there are arguably better solutions, like Roon. You might even prefer Roon to JRiver even just for your own rips. I think they do a two week trial too. You can’t lose much by giving it a shot.
 
It doesn't last forever if you're a Mac user.

My version 23 stopped working, upon migrating from Catalina to Big sur, so had to purchase version 27. Worth it though, it's great for metadata & artwork, I much prefer it to Audirvana (which is also good).
 
I've never tried Musicbee, so I can't comment on that, but I've used JRiver for years and before that I was a big fan of Foobar which as mentioned above is looking dated even with some new skins. Aagin as said above JRiver is a great product at a giveaway price, marry it upto JRemote and it's only second to Roon....and if it was a bang for buck contest then JRiver would win hands down. I've heard that streaming services won't allow JRiver to support them, otherwise Roon would be in big trouble imho. The only downside it has is there is no good user manual out there and the learning curve is like mount Blanc. But it's worth getting there. Some useful YouTube videos available to help nowadays.
 
I think it may come down to usability rather than anything else. MusicBee doesn't seem to offer any app or other form of remote control, which is fine while I'm just using headphone, but not with speakers. However it does have more potential to layout the screen the way I want.

But still left wondering which sounds best (in theory they should sound the same, just always that nagging worry).
 
tenpercenter said:
Have you considered Audirvana as an alternative? Works well with Quboz or Tidal and sounds good too.
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Definitely worth giving Audirvana a free trial too. It has the advantage over JRiver that there is some degree of Qobuz and Tidal integration. And if you are an apple user you might find it more in keeping.
 
I have version 24 of JRMC installed on my PC, as well as Foobar2000 (current version) and tend to prefer Foobar for music playback. With a little bit of work configuring plugins such as ColumnsUI, I find the ergonomics at least as good on Foobar. I wouldn't dismiss this free software...
 
EIffel said:
I have version 24 of JRMC installed on my PC, as well as Foobar2000 (current version) and tend to prefer Foobar for music playback. With a little bit of work configuring plugins such as ColumnsUI, I find the ergonomics at least as good on Foobar. I wouldn't dismiss this free software...
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There’s plenty of good free and paid software. Even iTunes is good nowadays. You just have to mess about a bit and find the one that suits you. The things to look out for are for your chosen program to be able to take exclusive control of the audio (via WASAPI or ASIO drivers for Windows people) and to bypass any software volume control (or set it to 100%), volume levelling etc if you want a lossless path.
 
evand said:
I doubt that, there's are many players that incorporate streaming services integration of some sort.
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I think the story is that JRiver progressed quite well with Tidal integration, but Tidal didn’t like the way they did it, so they fell out and couldn’t proceed. If you look at JimH’s posts on the JRiver forum you will see he is adamant that streaming as a business model will fail and thus he can’t afford to dedicate resource to it. Other collaborations ofJRiver have fallen flat too, for example with Neil Young. It’s a pity, because I think they could have done a good job, but it’s too late now. There will soon be people (if there aren’t already) that don’t have any of their own rips and who will find all they need in a streaming service.
 
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