TitleTrack Jukebox - 3.0

When I first visited the TitleTrack Jukebox developer website (www.titletrack.com), I was mislead to believe that I could utilize the optical digital outputs on my three Sony CDP-CX455 jukeboxes in conjunction with the TitleTrack software. I wanted to make good use of my Benchmark DAC-1 digital-to-analog converter for optimal sound quality rather than rely on the jukeboxes' internal DACs. Info in the F.A.Q. section of the website suggests that Toslink switcher devices are available to automatically sense which Sony jukebox is playing a track and then correspondingly route that optical signal to my DAC. I ordered the Titletrack 3.1 download and began searching the internet for a switcher gizmo. But no such switcher exists!! The Sony jukeboxes emit a continuous carrier signal which to automatic switching devices is indistinguishable from music and so the switchers cannot select inputs as needed.

I contacted Panther Studios repeatedly via email regarding this limitation and have to date received absolutely no response. I ordered the product 10 weeks ago! They would not advise me as to what switchers to which they refer in their F.A.Q. section, probably because none exist. Even when I found a great 4-input Toslink switcher that features an RS-232 interface - the same interface that TitleTrack uses - Panther would not respond to my suggestion that they make the ridiculously simple software update necessary to accommodate the Inday DA4X-RS switcher. (The very affordable Inday unit requires one simple instruction for switching input channels.) Even after offering to pay for a customized version of Titletrack which Panther could then offer to all of its existing and future customers, they have ignored me! And to think that their website also encourages ideas for improving the product! What b.s.!!!

For discerning audiophiles who do not want to settle for using the analog outputs of their Sony jukeboxes (via an analog audio mixer if more than two players are to be controlled), Titletrack falls frustratingly short, regardless of whatever flexibility in accessing an enormous CD catalog it provides. But more importantly, you can forget about support!! Even after ordering the software from the TitleTrack Jukebox website, I had to email them after two weeks passed and nothing had arrived in the mail. Only then was I informed via email of the link I needed in order to download the software I had purchased. And forget about the phone number listed on the site - it is no longer in service.

This program runs my 4 (soon to be 5) Sony 400 disc changers flawlessly. The only time I have to touch a CD is when I put it in a changer. Titletrack takes care of all the rest. It downloads CD info and art from the web, allows me to set categories for CDs, rate CDs and search on a number of criteria. Titletrack stores MUCH more info than the tiny display on the Sony changers and the info doesn't get wiped out by CD Text like it does on the Sony changers. You can set up playlists for different occasions and set shuffle so there is no pause between CD changes. There is too much to love about this...I need a whole article. :-)

product since shortly after it's first release. What it promised and what it delivered differ substantially for me. I want to be able to select a genre and generate a playlist. There is no means of adding a genre. For example, let's say I'd like to be able to specify rock-a-billy, and have a playlist generated. Now, all I can do select rock, regardless of sub-genre. Having Led Zeppelin follow Link Wray or Roy Orbison is just too jarring. This leaves me with endless drag n dropping. Very tedious.