Rhapsody - A Digital Music Subscription Service Worth Your Time
Written: Oct 04 '03
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Preamble
Within the past year, may web sites have started to market subscription services that allow the computer user to listen to their favorite music for a monthly fee. Because I've been doing a lot of traveling and I'm getting tired of dragging my cd's everywhere, I thought that I would do a little exploration to see what was out there and who offered the best service/price combination.
The History
Napster. That's how it all began. Well, maybe that's when I should say - it all changed. Once upon a time, 19 year old college student, Shawn Fanning, created a program that allowed music fans to share their music across computer networks, with their buddies. If you want to get technical about it, his program combined three functions (search engine, distributive file sharing, and internet relay chat) that made sharing music with your friends easier. As long as you had his downloaded file (initially, it was on download.com) and an internet connection, you were in music heaven.
The big, bad RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), didn't (initially), seem to care. Why? The quality of the music rips that were being pulled from peoples computers wasn't all that good. Fans still needed to purchase the cd in order to get the great quality they were used to.
But the something happened. Technology started to improve. The quality of downloads started to sound better. And then, the RIAA got a big ole burr up their backside and pronounced one day, how unhappy they were with cd sales. We're losing money, year after year! It must be because of big, bad Napster!
That's right folks, a college student was responsible for the downfall of the recording industry. The power. I mean, just to have that for one moment.
Instead of addressing what the real issue was, they decided to throw a bunch of lawyers on the case. How do we shut down Shawn Fanning? Well of course, we scream, copyright violation.
And they did. And then over time, Napster fell apart however, peer to peer file sharing (as it is called), still lives on in the form of others like Kazaa and Morpheus. Those particular tools are prone to illegal file sharing (as the RIAA would say).
And as I said earlier, I've seen a great deal of heavy marketing towards the digital musical subscription services over the past year. You see, record companies are starting to catch a clue that listening to music while you're on your computer isn't just a fad. Gasp! Building these sites and getting you to sign up for them is a way for them to recoup all of the money they were losing otherwise. cough hack
Side note: For those of you interested, Napster's new subscription site is due to launch next week. Stay tuned.
Business Details About Rhapsody
Rhapsody was launched in 2001 on this site - http://www.listen.com, as a digital music subscription service. The idea behind the site is that you, the consumer, can listen to thousands and thousands of tracks from your favorite artists economically, and most importantly, legally. All you need is a decent computer and an internet connection.
Rhapsody currently has over 20,000 cd's (representing more than 9,000 artists) in their library, along with optional internet radio stations. In addition, the've partnered with the majors - BMG, Sony, Warner, EMI, Universal - and about 50 Indie Labels (Matador, TVT, Zomba).
How Do I Sign-Up?
You need to go here first - http://www.listen.com
Once your there, you can do one of two things. First, you can sign up for their free, trial. Depending on their current special, expect anywhere from 7 to 14 days of being able to try the site out for free. Second, without having to sign up, you can listen to 30 second previews of the tracks they offer. Personally, you really have nothing to lose by trying the Trial Period, aside from needing to provide them with a credit card account (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover).
Once signed up for your trial, you'll be prompted to download their celestial jukebox, and then you have full access to everything on the site.
Unlike other subscription sites, Rhapsody doesn't have you download music in order to listen to it. You basically stream all of the music from their centralized servers. But more on that later...
System Recommendations
Rhapsody recommends the following:
* Windows XP, Me, 2000, 98 SE or NT 4.0 Service Pack 6
* Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
* Pentium II / 350 MHz equivalent or better
* 64 MB of RAM minimum
* 250 MB available hard disk space
* 16-bit display recommended, 256-color display required
* Broadband/128+ kbps Internet connection recommended, active Internet connection required
* 1024 x 768 display resolution recommended, 800 x 600 required
* Sound card
* Speakers or headphones
The Look and Feel
To date, I have done trial subscription services to five different music sites and by far, Rhapsody has the best and most user-friendly, interface.
The home page is chock full of information. Across the top is your buttons to start and stop individual tracks, shuffle your play list, or hit the repeat button to continue obsessing to that same song...
To the left is a column which contains all of the play lists that you have created. Once you find a track or album that you like, you can add it to your play list so that you never have to search for it again.
To the far right is a picture of the most popular artist along with a list of links of others who are deemed as most popular. Right below that is a list of Albums That Have Just Been Added. Let me tell you, I love this area. Every single day, Rhapsody adds new albums to their service. You can count on several new releases being there the exact day they are released in the retail stores.
Back over to the left is a list of genres that you can browse. In the middle is an Album Spotlight which usually features something new and not quite mainstream yet. I'm currently looking at the new cd by The Shins. Rhapsody provides a small description/review of the album (and all of the other albums).
You can tunnel down into each genre and Rhapsody further defines those into sub-genres. You can always get back to "home" or where you were with their nicely defined buttons. Once you find whatever music you want to listen to, you have the option of just listening and/or adding it to a playlist. Creating, modifying, and deleting playlists are very easy to do. It's pretty intuitive.
I have to tell you that this service is pretty addictive. I've spent countless hours on line, creating my playlists, especially looking for songs from the 70's and 80's which for me, only exist within my vinyl library.
So, what happens if you find some tracks you want and you'd like to burn them to a CD-R? Rhapsody will charge you 79 cents per track to do so which is about 20% cheaper than many of the other services.
There's a nice little tab that allows you to select tracks off of your playlist to burn to your own cd. Rhapsody's service takes care of everything for you - all you have to make sure to do is to place a cd-r in your computer and have a valid credit card on your account.
Rhapsody's software closes out your cd-r burning experience which means that if you wanted to add more tracks to what you just burned, you're outta luck. I would suggest that you burn everything else you want first, and then add the Rhapsody tracks on last.
Which Subscription Plan Is For Me?
I'm currently using the "All Access" plan which offers me unlimited listening access to everything on the site - all of the tracks, Radio PLUS (their various internet radio stations), and I have the opportunity to burn singles for 79 cents a piece. I had the choice to sign up for a monthly rate of $9.95 - or - a quarterly rate of $24.95. I took the latter.
The other option is RADIO Plus for $4.95 per month. You get access to over 50 professionally programmed radio stations across a variety of genres. I've not spent a great deal of time with the radio area but when I have, it has allowed me to customize the station to my favorite artists.
Obviously, your best value is the unlimited access subscription plan.
Other Miscellaneous Things
* If you're not a U.S. resident, you're out of luck. Because of licensing issues, Rhapsody is not offered to citizens of other countries.
* You can log on from any computer to access your Rhapsody account. Just make sure that the software is downloaded. If not, you can go to their site and download it immediately.
* Technical issues seem to be non-existent. I've never been thrown off the system and the performance is quite excellent. While other services have cut off in mid-song, Rhapsody has never done this to me.
* The quality of the streams is quite amazing! Make sure you have some good headphones so that you can benefit from it.
* Unlike other subscription services, Rhapsody's database has remixes and compilation cds. This, of course, makes me very happy.
The End
While I know that many of you cringe at the thought of having to pay to listen to music, I'm tellin' you that the future is headed in that direction. If you do find yourself in the market for one of these services, definitely check out Rhapsody. It's quite addictive.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Kristina Frazier-Henry
Location: Indiana
Reviews written: 1345
Trusted by: 1155 members
About Me: Cannot breathe. Missing Barbara.
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