" Everything you want, right at your fingertips "

      Title: PlayR Jukebox XXL by Magix

      Format: PC Mixing Software

      Reviewing Monkey: Dungapult

      The Hype: Rip and remix your own music, plus combine pictures and clips to make your own digital videos. All for under 50 bucks. Pretty swank…but does it work?

      What This Monkey Thought...

      Usefulness: I’m pretty big on the whole music-editing thing…Goes back when I used to have to mix sound tracks for videos. Thus, in a fashion, I was a little disappointed when Jukebox XXL came across my desk. Billed first and fore most as a mix and ripper, it’s fairly limited channels options and basic cut and splicer left me feeling a little droll. That was, however, before I realized PlayR’s real strength: Desktop music management. Organize your mp3s, set them to video, create incredibly detailed playlists- work from over 400,000 songs already in database, and generally wreak havok on your windows music experience. It’s very cool. What’s more, it makes transferring your windows music to CD easier than just about any other program I’ve seen…letting me replace some of the much more annoying desktop music programs I was using previously. 4 out of 5

      Compatibility: I had absolutely no problems running PlayR on either of the machines I tried, so that’s good. What’s not is that it has fairly limited play support (pretty much just CDs and MP3s)… which left me wanting for some of my more exotic music formats. 3.5 out of 5

      Performance: Out of probably 200 songs mixed and burned, I think I had 1 slag out / lock up, and that’s not horrible. Not great, mind you, but not horrible. And, any annoyance that may garner is easily overlooked for PlayR’s kick ass interface. Everything you want, right at your fingertips, placed logically, and in a very easy to use format. It’s out-frickin’-standing. Good enough that the occasional reboot won’t cause me any grief. 3.75 out of 5

      Installation and Real System Requirements: It says it’ll run on a P-300 and I have no reason to call them liars. We tested it on K6-2 450’s and up and never had issues. The only sort of problem is that it is definitely a RAM hog…but that’s not a huge deal. Just don’t try and do too much at once. 4 out of 5

      Instructions and Learning Curve: The instructions are solid and the interface is so well laid out that my Grandmother could figure out how to mix her own stuff. No worries at all. 5 out of 5

      The Verdict:

If you’re sick of Winamp or want to get into some entry-level mix and grinding, this may well be the program for you. Simple, fun, and easily mastered- PlayR will probably stay on my machine for a good, long time.

      The Good: Great desktop music management.

      The Bad: The mixing and video are sort of half assed.

      The Overall Ugly: Unless you need something high end, this is for you.

      What it's Worth: Market