Release date: Sometime in 1999 is all I’ve got.
Description: Given the date, maybe this one comes before MusicMatch starting adding songs. It doesn’t say where the songs come from, and maybe that’s for the best considering they are, as a unit, boring. However, this purchase (specifically of RealJukebox Plus) has two excellent features:
– Unlike MMJB, RealJukebox on this CD still works on modern computers; and
– It comes with an 88-page manual (from 6 x 9 inch paper).
Now, you might be wondering, “how does a program like this get an 88-page manual?” It’s an amazing question, and having looked through the manual I haven’t figured it out either. It has a technical writer’s level of explanation rather than a consumer-appreciated level of explanation, I’d say; but then again, there weren’t many programs like this on the market to know what the consumer will appreciate.
Here’s the list of chapters and their page count, to give you some idea:
(prefatory material) – 4
Ch. 1 Getting Started – 4 (“Grab your mouse and hang on! It’s time to start creating your personal music collection.”)
Ch. 2 Record/Play a CD – 8 (The screenshots keep using an artist named Jessie McKenna, but I can’t find a trace of this album online.)
Ch. 3 Music Library – 20
Ch. 4 Get Music – 2 (“RealJukebox Plus is well connected in the music industry. Now you are too.”)
Ch. 5 RealJukebox Modes – 8
Ch. 6 Real Jukebox Menus – 6
Ch. 7 Preferences – 12
Appx. A Disk Space Management – 2 (“If you’re not listening to a track, consider deleting it from your hard drive to free up space.”)
Appx. B Frequently Asked Questions – 6 (System requirements include Windows 95 with Service Pack 1, 32 MB RAM, a Full Duplex Sound card and speakers, a 16 bit color video card, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.01 or later)
Appx. C Troubleshooting – 6
Glossary – 5
Apparently, that’s how you get to 88 pages. But hey, at least when you read it you have a program that still works 25 years later! Here’s a screenshot for all you nostalgic types:
My library is made up of my two earliest songs made in a studio program: both in 2001. Cakewalk Home Studio 8 didn’t come with a free way to export as MP3s – you had to pay for that; it was either Real Audio (.ra) or WAV files (which my parents’ Pentium I with a corrupted hard drive would not have handled well). So .ra it is. I keep a RealAudio player for those two terribly recorded, but terribly nostalgic, files.
The songs
My overall impression is that I’d make a lot of these songs 5 bpm faster than they are. RealJukebox Plus: for people who move slowly.
| Artist | Song | Notes |
| Andrea | Natural Instinct (Baby) | R&B, which is surprisingly rare in these kinds of compilations. It’s decent. |
| The Annie Hawkins Band | Airport | She’s still in the music making and teaching business. |
| APHELEON | TERRA TRANSMISSION | Might have been interesting dubby jungle with better production. |
| bowlfinger | spacelove | The immediately preceding note might apply to this as well. |
| Caleb | The Fool | Might be R&B? The voice doesn’t match up, so I’m not sure. |
| CELIA | Sensitive Eye | One of those trip-hop beats one could get on every street corner in 1999. It’s decent. |
| D.J. FLUX | HAPPY | |
| Da Overc’er | Spirits | Instrumental hip-hop. |
| Dale Sanders | Honky Tonk Song | It’s like “Old Time Rock & Roll” but for honky tonk. Yay? |
| Darius | Give It 2U | Good soulful backing vocals. |
| David Cassidy | Ricky’s Tune | Yes, it’s that David Cassidy, the ’70s teenage heartthrob whose music sold well when he was one. |
| Dean Krippaehne | My mind can’t keep its hands off you | The kind of slow jazz that feels like it’s asking me to stop moving or enjoying life. I know some people are into it, though. |
| DEJ | This Time | |
| Earthwyrm | Frog Song | An ambient piece with dub levels of reverbed percussion. The real surprise here is that it’s over 12 minutes long. MusicMatch Jukebox compilations never got to 10-minute songs; it’s hard to advertise based on the number of songs if you keep sourcing long ones. Anyway, this is pleasant enough background music. |
| easyflow | Breezer | Instrumental – 808 groove with steel drums on top. |
| ex number five | Inconceivable | |
| F.o.N. | Bobbin | |
| Fat Amy | Purple | |
| GOLD | GET IT UP | |
| HAM | Kung-Fu Grip | |
| Hypnogaja | Sleep | Turns out this band is quite well-known and active. But the list of genres on Wikipedia amuses me: “Alternative rock, crossover, space rock, hard rock, trip hop (early).” I’ve never seen a list specify an era range for a genre. This is in the trip-hop phase, and it’s pretty enjoyable. |
| INSECTO – YOU ARE HERE | Hippie Chick | |
| James V. Signorile | Symphony No. 1 for Organ, I – Prelude | As the classical pieces in these compilations go, I like the organ being a focus. RealJukebox’s files cut off the full name of this one. I sourced the full name by going to James V. Signorile’s website, which I recommend for reasons: https://www.jamessignorile.com/ |
| Juarez | Lupe | |
| Ken Elliot | Providence | A sub-2-minute solo acoustic guitar piece. |
| LA Symphony | San Diego | |
| MaD DoLL | Goodbye | |
| MadelynIris | ShadowOfYourLove | A sub-3-minute voice/piano piece. |
| Michael Chernin | Mazurka Op24 No4 F. Chopin | |
| Murphy’z Law | Down To the River | |
| the Orphan Sister | One Mile Down | A jazzy trip-hop sort of instrumental. It doesn’t overstay its welcome. It could have been molded into something really awesome, I think, but it’s also pretty good where it landed. |
| Perimeter Sound Arts | Derrick Jovan – Ooh La La | |
| Peter DiStefano | New Day | |
| Q (Los Angeles) | Smash | |
| Randy Graves | Frallan | Didgeridoo driven. How does one drive with a digeridoo? Probably as a replacement for the shift stick. |
| Red Orc | Plus Two | Amen-break drum and bass. |
| Redneck Girlfriend | Hang em High | |
| Ruff Draft | Track 20 | |
| Soulspace Music | Fire Dance | The newest of age. |
| Southcoast Guitar Duo | Lauro-Valse Venezolano #3 | A 2.25-minute solo acoustic guitar piece. |
| Space Age Playboys | Band Gets High | A glammy sort of ’90s rock. |
| Stone Road | Middle of the Night | |
| Sync 24 | Biosphere Intro (Living-FX version) | |
| TheAliMan | Closer To The Animal | Jazzy drum and bass. It’s all right. |
| Tony Lucca | Honestly For You | |
| TranceVision | Eden | This song is to RealJukebox Plus what Bugs’s song “About You” is to MusicMatch Jukebox 4.3 and 5.0. |
| Ultrahorse | Lazy Bones | |
| Valley Jones | Holy Water | Might want to be early Beck. (In 1999, later Beck hadn’t been born yet, or was just a baby. In the time of chimpanzees, later Beck was a monkey.) |
| Vegas Lounge | Jazz in the Park | |
| Vinyl Baby | No Outlet |
Let’s stop getting real and go to Sonic Foundry’s Siren Jukebox.
restlessmosaic.com 