I have always been fascinated by jukeboxes, whether they were from the early 50s or the results of new technology. It is often when I think about them as a friend and not a machine as they provide for me that warm and homelike feeling, with their neon lights and soft music, heeding my will when I just want to go from a soft country song to a rockier one...

Well, I can't but rejoice that jukeboxes have made their step even in the software world and these days you can just have a digital replica on your desktop, playing your favorite music and even doing more.

The Looks

If you expect me to start with "It looks good", then you're right because the JukeBox'er really looks good. And since jukeboxes are usually a very emotional experience for those who like them, I am glad the producers of this particular one understood the need that its GUI should be completely independent from the OS' appearance: so they have made a fullscreen-mode interface from the very beginning. Regardless of what graphical settings you have made for your operating system, the JukeBox'er will not take them into account, thus still looking great.

Even if there are several skins with which the JukeBox'er comes loaded by default and there are some small things that differ, the faces of the JukeBox'er are pretty much alike: having the nicely-colored box in the middle and three different large panels around, each with its own functionality. The left one acts like a display for the media library and it is there where you browse and navigate for the songs which will be included in your queue or playlist. The other similar panel displays the songs in the folders you have clicked in the first one, actually behaving as the end of the branched of the tree-view on the left. The center panel - which has the actual jukebox in it - will also display the queue, provided you have established one.

The upper region of the GUI is dedicated to the visualizations, visuals which also have among them very useful VU-meters working in some different manners so you can chose the one which you are most acquainted to. Scrolling artist and song names are also accompanied by track times and system time.

The menus are very simple and easy to read and use: the JukeBox'er has obviously been intended for a wide usage. Information and directions in the menu-section are very clear and not at all confusing as it looked to me the very first time I looked at them; you just need some patience and you'll see how nice things lighten up and become friendlier.

Even the inexperienced user will surely work his/her way through this program and I can say that's a fact: besides looking good it is also loaded with many functional assets which render it extremely pleasant and easy to use.

The Works

The JukeBox'er is overall a good definition for "smooth": it will play your music indefinitely and will constantly deliver nice audio quality whether you will be using headphones or high-tech sound systems.

First of all, the JukeBox'er does not support drag and drop and this time I have to say that this is not a minus: after all, the jukebox is a place where you first load a heap of songs, order them somehow and then play them back and not a "test-player" in which you drop tens of songs per hour just to intro-hear them.

The first time you will be using the JukeBox'er you will think it is a bit hard to use, but believe me it is not: the same thing has happened to me and in some 10 minutes-time I was already mastering the basics, so no need to panic or frown. The overall commands are quite simple and easy to remember as their number is small; basically, the main idea behind JukeBox'er is that you just need some time in the first instances to learn and set things up the way you feel or need and then you are entitled to trouble-free operation and smooth experiences in its company.

Adding music in the "library" is very simple as you just have to indicate the "Music Root(s)" and the program will scan by itself the content of the locations you have specified displaying them in a tree-like view for your quick and easy access. One nice thing about the JukeBox'er is that it has a 10-band EQ I wasn't really expecting to see, especially after noticing the high grade of automation. Removing the given path is made by simply pushing a button, so I guess that by now you have begun to understand that JukeBox'er is indeed one easy-to-use program. The search feature will let you find the media you are looking for in a very short time as it is very fast and produces very consistent output.

Internet radio can easily be tuned in, as this operation means just few mouse clicks, whether it is for listening a preset ShoutCast or ASX radio or adding your custom station to the list. Even if I wasn't at all thinking that a jukebox could ever have an integrated CD-ripper, there it is: a rather fast, simple to use and sometimes coming in quite handy application which will help you turn your audio CD content to other popular digital formats in no time.

Another nice feature for the JukeBox'er was the Admin and Party modes: technically, you can have a trouble-free party (musically speaking) as you can hide the commands and menus form the GUI and all that the people can do after that is "dance to the music".

Finally, before letting you explore this nice piece of code, some of the other features sported by JukeBox'er: ID3 - support and tag editor, video player for AVI and MPG/MPEG files, ability to display album covers when available, have amazing fun with karaoke sessions and skin designer. I hope I made you at least curious about what this JukeBox'er does and what it looks like, so you will give it a spin.

The Good

The best thing for JukeBox'er is that it really leaves the impression of actually having one in your room, or at least this one did so, as far as I am concerned. As well, having a CD-ripper at hand is great and - if I just add that it will also play three video file formats - you should really think of trying it.

The Bad

Nothing bad to mention here, but I (and I am quite sure that others, too) guess that some playback buttons could do just fine in the GUI of the JukeBox'er, as well as support for a larger number of file formats.

The Truth

Truth is that, for those who like jukeboxes, this software is truly a very nice one; for the others, it may just look like an exquisite and exclusive type of program. Anyway, for the jukebox-lovers the price is quite decent, so go buy it!

Below, you can find some screenshots I have prepared only for you: