In a world with too many software media players with similar features, it’s not often I’ll bother recommending an alternative to the major industry options. What jumps out at me as special about this app is support for FLAC and Monkey’s Audio lossless compression formats, which both deliver sound far superior to the typical MP3 or WMA compressed file formats found on most download sites (JetAudio should also play WMA lossless, which offers comparable audio quality to FLAC and APE formats. The other key feature setting JetAudio apart from other players is support for conversion between 10 different audio file formats; if an audio file isn’t in the format you want, switch it to your favorite playback format within the JetAudio interface. Karaoke fans get synchronized lyric playback with fully searchable access of Leo’s Lyric Database.
JetAudio delivers a simplified UI for basic playback with skinning and a solid visualization set for those who prefer a flashy player. The one thing to watch out for on installation is the need to uncheck any file formats you don’t want to associate with the app; there is no uncheck all button. The basic version is plenty for most users, but a pro version is optional if you want features like silence detection and noise filtering for audio recording, audio trimming and record mixing and MP3pro encoding. [Windows 9x/2k/XP $0.00]
