Holly Cow! If you are into music and you don't know about MediaMonkey . . . STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND READ THIS NOW!

I thought I knew about every major music management program on the market. We have all heard about iTunes, Windows Media Player, WinAmp, etc. But there is a new kid on the block and the free version does absolutely everything I have ever wanted a music player to do. However, for $20 you can get the GOLD version that adds a few features that some folks might want or need.

The MediaMonkey website does a great job of showing screen shots of every aspect of the program but below are two of my hot button features that make MediaMonkey a must have.

We have all Music Managers that will show us our songs by Title, Artist, Album, Genre, etc. but MediaMonkey gives us one more function . . . Location. So why is this important?

One way to organize music on your hard disk is to organize the music in folders that mimic a playlist. Therefore, you might create a folder for "Easy Listening" which might include artists such as Norah Jones, Govi or Ottmart Libert. Another folder might be "Boat Music" with such artists as Jimmy Buffet. Then there could be the "High Energy" folder that has the Theme from Top Gun and Eye of the Tiger for people that are into activities like running that want to be pumped up.

Organizing your music in this manner makes it easy to copy an entire folder to a memory card or MP3 player that really doesn't support playlists such as the iPod Nano.

But back to MediaMonkey. By using MediaMonkey you can play music based on the location where it is stored on your system. This is a big deal for me.

We have 170,000 songs in our library and have taken a subset of those songs and made various folders that match the type of music we are wanting to play. We have essentially created duplicate files but by doing so, I have access to all the songs I want on my portable device while the 170,000 songs reside on a 1TB drive on our server.

The other feature that I find extraordinarily useful is the ability to RIGHT CLICK and copy any file in the MediaMonkey list and then go to Windows Explorer and COPY the file to a new folder. This sounds like it should be a standard Windows function but MediaMonkey is the only program I have found that supports this functionality.

Here are some of the features in the Standard (Free) version of MediaMonkey

Manage a music library consisting of small to very large collections (50,000+ ) of audio files and playlists*, whether they're located on your hard drive, CDs, or a network. Organize, browse, or search music by Genre, Artist, Year, Rating, etc., and never waste your time trying to find mp3s you know you have.

MediaMonkey is the music organizer for the serious collector.

*Supports MP3, OGG, WMA, FLAC, MPC, WAV, CDA, M3U, PLS, etc.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Synchronize with iPods, MP3 phones and other Portable Audio Devices in seconds. Simply configure MediaMonkey once, and then click the Synchronize button to synchronize tracks and related properties including Album Art, ratings, play history, and playlists with a broad range of portable devices. With Volume Leveling, the tracks will even play back on your device at consistent volumes!

Try MediaMonkey if you want painless synchronization with almost any portable player.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Record CDs to your hard drive with fast, on the fly encoding, using a number of high-quality digital audio formats (using the OGG encoder, the LAME MP3 encoder, the WMA encoder, or the FLAC encoder). MediaMonkey's CD Ripper rips the CDs, automatically fills in track properties via FreeDB, and adds the files to your music library.

Convert audio files from almost any audio format to OGG, MP3, WMA, or WAV files, and preserve tag information when converting from OGG, MP3, WMA, WAV, APE, FLAC or MPC! The MP3 converter, OGG converter, WMA converter, WAV converter and FLAC converters can also be used to convert from other audio formats using input plug-ins.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Automatically identify tracks that are missing information, whose tags are not synchronized, or that are duplicated elsewhere.

Fix Tags with Automatic Lookup and Tagging of album art and other track information from Amazon.

Lookup CD information on FreeDB or via CD-TEXT, and find missing track details through music-related sites such as All music.

If you have a large music collection, MediaMonkey will help you update your tags quickly and accurately.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Tag music with a simple yet powerful interface using industry-standard formats. MediaMonkey includes an MP3 Tag editor (an ID3 tag editor supporting ID3v1 & ID3v2), an OGG tag editor (for OGG and FLAC files), a WMA tag editor, an APE2 tag editor (for APE files), and a WAV tag editor.

Update and correct mislabeled tracks via drag-and-drop from one artist/genre to another or using the categorization toolbar allows you to quickly set ratings, mood, and other information as you're listening to music. Automatically and intelligently tag files based on filenames with the Auto-Tagger.

The serious music collector can also assign a broad range of more advanced attributes, such as composer, original year, album, and lyrics.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Automatically organize and rename files on your hard drive into a logical hierarchy. Instead of storing your files haphazardly all over your hard drive, MediaMonkey's auto-organizer can organize them into folders and filenames of your choice based on attributes such as artist, album, track title and track number.

If you need to organize a music collection exceeding 10,000 files, MediaMonkey is the music organizer for you.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Create Playlists with ease. Simply drag and drop your tunes to mix mp3s and other files from your Library, or create AutoPlaylists based on simple search criteria to automatically generate a mix. Most importantly, your playlists remain intact even when you rename files and/or re-tag them.

Export playlists to m3u files, in case you wish to use them with other players.

Whether creating a DJ mix, MP3 Playlist, or a casual party mix, MediaMonkey helps you do it with ease.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Burn Audio CDs using the integrated burner powered by hpCDE. Just select any tracks or playlists and quickly create CD masterpieces using the most reliable CD burning engine around.

Burn MP3 (Data) CD/DVDs to backup your entire music collection or for playback on any MP3-capable CD or DVD player. There's no need to manually copy and arrange directories--simply choose which Artists, Albums, or Playlists to include, set the disc's format, and burn!

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Play CDs and digital audio files (OGG, MP3, WMA, MPC, APE, FLAC, WAV, etc.) with MediaMonkey, or use MediaMonkey to manage your library in conjunction with Winamp as the player.

Listen as you work, and adjust your music through a small transparent 'Now Playing' window that stays open even when MediaMonkey is minimized. If you're bananas about music, MediaMonkey is the Media Jukebox for you.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Use MediaMonkey for Parties or other public places with Party Mode, which allows users to make requests while protecting your library from being modified.

Use the Auto-DJ to automatically play tracks when manually selected tracks run out.

If you need to manage music for a large audience, MediaMonkey is the jukebox for you.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Visualize your music with funky trance-like effects powered by Milkdrop and hundreds of other visualization plug-ins.

When you want to totally immerse yourself in your music, MediaMonkey will be there for you.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Tune your audio experience using the included 10 band equalizer and hundreds of available dsp audio-effect plug-ins.

Correct volume levels automatically (using Replay Gain and MP3 Gain technology) so that you no longer have to adjust the volume when playing your audio files.

If you're a serious audiophile, MediaMonkey gives you all the control you'll want.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Create Statistics and other Reports of your music collection as Excel, html, or xml files, so that you can show it to others.

Customize MediaMonkey using standard scripting tools to integrate it with other applications such as sound editors; create customized reports; customize the view, or create custom playlists such as Two from each album. You can download scripts created by other users, or write your own; either way, you can easily extend MediaMonkey's functionality.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Here are some of the features that are part of the GOLD package.

Use the File Monitor to automatically update your music library to reflect any changes (e.g., purchased MP3 music downloads) on your hard drive. Additions, deletions, and changes to your music made by other applications are all automatically reflected in your library.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Create advanced AutoPlaylists which automatically generate a music mix to suit your mood. Simply define practically any set of criteria and the mix is automatically created.

Synchronize Advanced Playlist with Portable Devices, giving you the perfect tool for rapidly downloading a subset of your collection to your device. For example, you can choose to synch a random subset totaling 256 MB of music that match a defined set of criteria.

For the average user, creating a music mix and synching it couldn't be easier.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Auto-conversion allows you to automatically synchronize tracks no matter what format they're in, converting tracks on-the-fly to a format that is supported by your iPod or other portable device, while retaining all metadata.

In addition, Auto-conversion can also convert tracks to lower bitrates to make more effective use of the limited storage capacity on a portable device. This is especially useful for users who store music in lossless formats such as FLAC.

For serious collectors who want to synchronize their music to a device, nothing beats MediaMonkey.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !

Find music with advanced search functionality that digs through your collection to find tracks according to almost any criteria that you can think of. Search for Composer, Year, Beats per minute; find Lyrics, etc. and stop pulling your hair out trying to find music you know you have.

Customize your library by setting filters to display only Artists or Albums that match criteria that you set. For example, set a filter that causes Artists to appear in the tree only if they contain Albums that are currently available, and are of any genre other than 'Children'.

Encode unlimited MP3s without having to manually install a new MP3 encoder (the free version of MediaMonkey includes a time-limited LAME MP3 encoder. If you're so inclined, you can manually replace it with the free LAME encoder, or you can just upgrade to MediaMonkey Gold).

Catalog your physical CDs and use the Virtual CD feature to keep track of what CDs you own and at the same time see which subset of tracks from those CDs are copied to your hard drive. Instead of tracking your CDs and tracks separately, the virtual CD function gives you an integrated view.

Import and save audio tracks from Audio CDs and MP3 CDs with unprecedented flexibility using the Virtual CD. It allows you to sample tracks from various sources, select which ones you want to import, and then import and save the files in a single operation.

Create Previews (short samples of audio tracks) that you can use when trying to decide which audio files you want to add to your collection.

Use a Sleep Timer to play your music, gradually fade it over a set period of time, and then turn off your PC -- perfect for listening to tunes before you go to sleep.

Burn CDs at the maximum speed permitted by your hardware.

Download the FREE version of MediaMonkey Now !