I was going to do an “honorable mention” post but that would require me to download more software and take it for a spin, and I think I’m done with this series. But before I go, here’s a recap:

• Crates: Good for DJs and those who really want to have complete control over their media library.
• Helium 17: A solid player which offers paid options to stream outside the home.
• MediaMonkey: Attractive and powerful app which lets you view your library any way you want.
• MusicBee: Few frills, but has some really good auto-tagging options for media which needs it.
• AIMP: It does what it claims to do.

I also wanted to clear up a few points that had to fall by the wayside as I was trialing these apps. For one, almost all of these programs do the same things. They can scan your library and add files. They allow you to add and edit your tags, either manually or through some online service that tries to match your file to a database entry; some work better than others, but they can all do it to some extent. All of them have playlists and different ways to view your library, often by organizing things by tag value. I’ll also go out on a limb and say that some/many/most/all have EQ features, although I don’t really know for certain, and that brings me to point two which is that my “reviews” aren’t comprehensive by any means. I’m very much a “first impressions” guy on a good day, and because I was looking at several different pieces of software that I had an immediate need of, one of my primary criteria was “can I understand this and make it work for me out of the box?” The moral of that story is that if any of these overviews piqued your interest, use my post as a starting point to help discern the absolutelies, the maybes, and the hell nos.

As for me, I think I’m going to stick with Crates. Despite it being mainly aimed at DJs, and despite my initial confusion over how it chooses to organize things, there are a few reasons I am rolling with this. First is that it can connect to online services like Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and YouTube. Second is that it has a browser extension which allows me to integrate Bandcamp as an online source, although I’m guessing they do it this way because Bandcamp doesn’t have an API that allows for albums to be “officially” streamed (I don’t think Crates is doing anything illegal, and it’s solution seems elegant enough). Second, they do offer a mobile app (currently in beta and only available to paid supporters) that they claim can sync playlists between mobile and desktop, can copy files from one to the other, and can stream from desktop when on wifi. The last option has me wondering if I could get a tunneling VPN set up so that my mobile will still think it’s on a “local network” and allow me to stream files from the desktop no matter where I go. Plus, the supporter tier is only a one time payment of $30USD, should I opt to get into that tier of service.