MusicMatch and the Pocket PC

When you're on the road, it sure is nice to bring some familiar tunes with you! Sure, you've got your car's radio. But you can spend a lot of time searching for the right station and the right song. Fortunately, the new Pocket PC plug-in for MusicMatch Jukebox software makes bringing your favorite music with you quick and easy.

The MusicMatch Jukebox is a desktop PC program designed to organize and play music and to burn CDs. What makes it noteworthy, other than its ease of use and multitude of features, is the addition of a new plug-in to transfer music files directly to your Pocket PC!

 MusicMatch features on the desktop PC

MusicMatch invented the digital music jukebox in 1997. Over 18 million music fans use its software worldwide, and its award-winning program is considered by many to be the best in the industry. MusicMatch uses a modular concept with 6 "docking" components: My Library, Radio Stations, Music Guide, Now Playing, Recorder, and Media Window. Each component will attach ("dock") to the bottom of the main control panel. Each component can also be "undocked" and used independently. You can also rearrange the components and display them in any order you wish. To the right of the control panel, MusicMatch displays your songs and play lists (see Screen 1).

Screen 1: MusicMatch Main Jukebox Panel as it appears on your desktop PC. The player is on the left, the music list is on the right. Note that the album cover image for the music that is currently playing is displayed in the central "media window."

The songs listed in the right-hand panel can be played, burned to a CD (if your desktop PC has a CD burner) or transfered directly to a portable music player—including the Pocket PC. You can also access the "Radio" feature from this panel from your desktop PC and listen to MusicMatch's own radio broadcasts. MusicMatch provides over 20 stations playing a variety of genres. MusicMatch Radio is free of commercial interruptions (except for the MusicMatch ID message) and is very clear, even with low bandwidth connections. The album cover of the music being played on Radio is displayed in the central "Media" window. The Media window also can be set as the default player for viewing Windows Media video files.

MusicMatch on the desktop PC also includes a "Recorder" that accepts input from a microphone connected to your desktop PC's sound card, and from other sources. MusicMatch can save this sound input in WAV, MP3, or WMA format. This feature is limited only by your available hard drive memory, so you can make very long recordings.  In contrast, the built-in Windows Recorder on your desktop PC limits your recording time to 1 minute.

Finally, MusicMatch lets you convert multiple music files from WAV, MP3, or WMA formats to MP3, CBR (Constant Bit Rate), VBR (Variable Bit Rate), or WMA formats. You can also limit the bit rate of music during conversion using the panel's slider control. When making (burning) an audio CD, the conversion is automatic—there's no need to use the converter panel because MusicMatch internally converts each file to the correct audio CD format just before making the CD. If you like making your own CDs, MusicMatch can do it with a mere 2 clicks! Just click the CD-R button on the right slider panel where your music files are displayed, and when the "Create CD from Playlist" panel appears, click the "Create CD" button. That's it!

Downloading music to your Pocket PC