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Technology Stocks : RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dealer who wrote (3544)	6/14/1999 10:06:00 PM
From: John F Beule	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5843

Thread: this is (hopefully) an unbiased report on the recent discussions. RealNetworks RealJukebox CNET Review (6/11/99) By Jacob Buehler Streaming media pioneer RealNetworks has finally embraced the MP3 digital music format--in a big way. The company's new MP3 program, RealJukebox, is a free, full-featured, all-in-one audio suite that lets you acquire, play, and manage your entire digital music collection. Its intuitive controls, simple encoding options, and music cataloging features make it a great choice for MP3 newbies. Listen and Record Simultaneously Download RealJukebox, and in minutes you'll have all the standard MP3 tools you'll need to make (a.k.a. rip and encode), catalog, and play MP3 files. Ripping is a breeze. To make an MP3 file out of your favorite track from a CD, for example, just select the song and click Record, and RealJukebox instantly compresses the file. It even attaches an ID to the song, which includes the song title, artist, and album title, using information it automatically grabs from an online CD database called CDDB. This saves you the hassle of having to enter the song information on your own. As an added bonus, RealJukebox features an option to listen while you record, so you can rip a track from a CD and encode it into MP3 or RealAudio format while you jam to a tune. File It Away Apart from making MP3s, the program also helps you catalog your digital music. Its "Music library" tool searches for music files on your local drives (CD included) and automatically categorizes them by four criteria--artist, album, genre, and playlist--so you can access all of your music files in one menu. What's more, RealJukebox lets you connect to online music sites such as EMusic.com, CDuctive, and MP3.com to add to your music library. The Downside Even with its impressive feature list, though, RealJukebox has its faults. For example, the player takes up valuable screen real estate (even in minimized mode), and its interface is too rigid. Unlike other MP3 programs such as the popular Winamp, for instance, RealJukebox doesn't offer multiple display options or support for customizable skins: with this player you have to take what you get. Battle of the Bit Rate Another drawback: the MP3 files that RealJukebox made for us didn't sound as good as those we've made using other MP3 suites. This could be because RealJukebox encodes songs at a relatively slow bit rate, 96 kbps, whereas most MP3 suites encode at multiple bit rates up to 128 kbps. As a result, RealJukebox's MP3s are smaller, and sound quality suffers. Average listeners probably won't notice the difference, but dedicated MP3 fans will thumb their noses at such limited encoding options. Despite its drawbacks, though, RealJukebox delivers what it promises: easy MP3. Net audio novices will be ripping, encoding, and playing MP3s in no time.