Well, I've read the first 5 or so posts.. and skimmed through the rest and like there always are- there are some compelling arguments as to why one should try JRiver..
But the second you've brought a $50 charge into it has made me loose interest immediatley. JRiver could jump out the screen, give me a hair cut and cook me dinner, I still wouldnt pay for it. I would rather support all the people that contribute to these open source solutions and have spent years making improvements and getting things right, that a commercial business that have made something for a quick buck- but just like most things will never be the market leader in anything and will never be able to do everything you want it to.
So far from the list of things you mentioned that seem to work so well, unless I've misunderstood something all of these use programs/packages/codecs which are completely free and can be incorperated into either XBMC or MediaPortal for free, just with a bit of work. Worth $50 to me? Nah
I completely respect the fact you are entitled to your opinion, and I've no doubt this can do some things better than XBMC and MediaPortal... but do you know what? I bet you if we dug down to the crucks of it I doubt the gap is that big, and Id also bet that the list of things you can do with the likes of XBMC and MediaPortal are far bigger than what JRiver can.
So, to summerise, i think youve come at the thread all wrong. Ive said it a million times, I welcome a new front end to come and rival the big boys, but selling it as an attack against two of the biggest players (for a VERY good reason) in the HTPC market acting as if they have both overlooked certain areas frankly I think is just the wrong way to go about it, especially when theres a charge involved to.
The fact is what does my xbmc do for me?
It plays all my DVDs without problem
It plays all my blurays without problem- with many ways of me getting HD Audio bitstreamed if I wish
It plays every type of common file availible without a second thought
It plays back all of my music without a second guess
It scrapes all of my information from the best sources on the net
It libraries all of my PC games with scraped info- as well as any emulators I wanted and can launch them all within the program
Control with my iPhone/iPad/Andriod etc
It CAN rip blurays/dvds in a number of different ways
There are various nightly builds with TV support integrated
It CAN fully utilise all the codecs, LAV filters, and all those other thingys you mention if you wish
It has complete support for streaming services
and without any underestimation here- no doubt another 100+ things I havnt even touched yet.
And what does it cost me to do all this without a problem?
$0
Thats right
Nothing.
So the question really is with the above in mind, why would I bother spending $50 for something that will essentially do exactly the same thing XBMC and MediaPortal can do- except be far more limited for feature suggestions, skinning options, new improvements, quicker releases, 24/7 report from a huge fanbase with knowledgeable coders (FYI Robbo highest number online on the xbmc forum was 2,081 on 05/12/2011), as well as a raif of other benefits?
If you can REALLY answer that then Im open all ears but tbh nothing youve said has tempted me what so ever to try a program that is ultimately about wanting my money- much like MyMovies.
But its great there is another program out there pushing extra features by the sound of it... as that means any that have been missed im sure will be incorporated into future builds of MP and XBMC
So to summerise my thoughts on your initial question of "why isnt this as popular as the iphone"... because imo unlike the iphone, there isnt a big enough gap from the sounds of what JRiver is actually bringing the table- in this case, the open source community is Apple, JRiver is Nokia.