rhapsody

Subscription-based music service Rhapsody on Monday morning released a new version of its iPhone app that offers offline playback, allowing you to play playlists even when you don't have an Internet connection.

This advance puts Rhapsody in a unique position, at least for a couple months. Subscription service Spotify has an iPhone app with offline playback, but it is still available in Europe only. MOG hasn't gotten its iPhone app out the door yet, and Thumbplay, whose offline playback feature is a big selling point for the service, is available only for the BlackBerry.

The Rhapsody app is … Read more

If you were one of the billions of people who watched the Super Bowl, you may have seen an ad for a certain TV company called Vizio promoting a TV that connects to the Internet to offer Facebook, Rhapsody, Netflix, and a host of other dot-com-style names. That TV is the 2XVT series, first announced more than a year ago, and to judge from our experience with those Internet services--conveniently called Apps--Vizio spent all that time getting the experience of getting the Web onto a TV right.

The Apps response times were quick, Vizio's App interface is well-designed and … Read more

It's iPad mania this week as Donald and Jasmine dissect every inch of Donald's 5,000-plus-word iPad review. Well, not really. But we do spend an awful lot of time discussing the recently released entertainment device. However, never say we don't give the other side a fair shake: we've also got a Zune update for you, as well as some interesting Rhapsody news. Sadly, Stoic Balloon Man was not able to join us this week due to death by deflation.

Subscribe in iTunes audio |  Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS audio |  Subscribe in RSS video… Read more

The ailing Rhapsody music service that Viacom and RealNetworks failed to revive starts going it alone this month. The newly independent company will partner with a major music label this time around as well as slash monthly music prices from $15 to $10.

In February, Viacom and Real announced they would spin off the jointly run music subscription service and that they would sell a minority share while each held on to 47 percent of the company's stock. On Monday, Rhapsody said that Universal Music Group, the largest of the top four recording companies, has acquired a stake of … Read more

This week, Donald and Jasmine praise an ultratiny music system with big sound and an innovative design. Also, Donald tries to persuade DJs that vinyl turntables aren't the be-all, end-all to music entertainment; UMG makes a last ditch effort to save CDs; and Jasmine shakes her head in shame at Samsung's choices. Also, SanDisk launches the 32GB microSD card--anyone need a 48GB Clip+?

Subscribe in iTunes audio |  Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS audio |  Subscribe in RSS video… Read more

If you manage to sit through 45 tedious seconds about Donald and Jasmine's collective weakened immune systems, you'll be rewarded with plentiful Zune HD 2 speculation, a tidy little rant on music caching for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and a lament about the name of music service MOG. Also this week, the MP3 Insiders express nostalgic delight over SubPop coming to eMusic, and Jasmine shamelessly plugs her new Tech Dos & Don'ts column.

Subscribe in iTunes audio |  Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS audio |  Subscribe in RSS video… Read more

Slacker better light a fire under its keister if it wants to be the first streaming-music service to offer offline song caching for the iPhone and iPod Touch. In the midst of all the SXSW hoopla, Rhapsody has announced its intentions to offer caching as part of the next update to its own iPhone app.

For those not in the know, this feature allows users to save music to the device so that they may continue listening to the content without the use of a constant wireless connection. It's a more compelling functionality for the iPod Touch, but iPhone … Read more

Over the years, Rhapsody has morphed from a standard music jukebox app into something that places more emphasis on music enjoyment and discovery rather than music management and organization. In order to get the full experience, however, you'll still need to download the installation app, which isn't exactly light at 18MB. (And keep in mind the software itself requires a total of 380MB of space.) On the plus side, install and setup is much smoother than in past versions, with plenty of check-box options for customizing the experience to your liking.

Upon firing up Rhapsody for the first … Read more

Rob Glaser's 16 years at the helm of RealNetworks started with the pioneering of the early dot-com days and ended with a courtroom drubbing at the hands of the entertainment industry. In between, Glaser, who by most accounts saw the promise of Web video and music long before his peers, proved himself to be a better visionary than executive.

Earlier this month, Real announced it was giving up on attempts to defend its RealDVD technology against a lawsuit filed by the major movie studios. RealDVD is software that enabled users to create copies of their film discs and store … Read more