Rhapsody tries music subscription iPhone app
Rhapsody's iPhone app will allow users to stream ad-free music and add selections to their playlist queue.
(Credit: Rhapsody)Subscription music service Rhapsody, a division of Real Networks, has announced plans to port its service to Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. In a blog post Sunday, the company said it will submit the application (demonstrated on the video below) this week to Apple for review.
Historically, Apple has steered clear of subscription music, making it impossible for services such as Napster or Rhapsody to work with the iPod, fearing competition with its own iTunes music service. But the success of iPhone music applications such as Pandora, Last.fm, and Slacker, may have opened the door for subscription services as well. (Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET News.)
Rhapsody's mobile app will require that users hold a Rhapsody-to-Go account, which currently runs $14.95 per month. (Non-subscribers will apparently be offered a limited time free-trial period.) The Rhapsody app allows subscribers to explore and stream Rhapsody's entire online music catalog over EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi, as well as create and store playlist queues of their favorite content. The app does not, however, allow users to download and store Rhapsody songs directly on the device, or cache content temporarily to hear offline.
If Rhapsody's application is approved by Apple, it won't likely be alone. Competing services such as Spotify have shown off similar applications, and Napster will surely want to get in on the action as well. The real question is whether people will find subscription music capabilities valuable. With free, ad-supported services such as Pandora already dominating the spotlight, it remains to be seen whether Rhapsody can convince new customers to spend close to $15 a month for unlimited on-demand music streaming.
In the blog post, Rhapsody also revealed plans to develop an Android application. It's not known whether that version would offer greater flexibility (local storage, over-the-air downloads) than the version for the iPhone.
Rhapsody on iPhone from Jamie on Vimeo.
(Via PC World)
Donald Bell is CNET Reviews' senior editor for MP3 players and portable audio, and one half of the MP3 Insider blog and weekly podcast. He also likes getting his hands dirty with digital audio tools for musicians and DJs.
Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
http://www.bestbuy.com/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat46500050012&type=category
"Rhapsody and BestBuy.com have partnered to provide you with unlimited access to one of the largest legal collections of digital music. Rhapsody's music-on-demand service lets you:"
Deal breaker.
I've been a Rhapsody-to-go subscriber for 3 years and I love it. I use it with my Sony Walkman 8gig. I will not buy an Apple because I hate i-Tunes.
This news almost had my heart rate up. I've wanted an iPod Touch for some time now....But the music is more important to me than the hardware it's on.
I own a Touch and I have Rhapsody to go with a Creative Zen. As I've listened to a greater and greater percentage of my music from Rhapsody, I've wanted to get a home streaming solution. If you can stream to the Touch, then you could use an Airport Express and control your music from your iPod Touch (using Airfoil). That would be killer.
But on a broader note? If anyone bought an iPhone thinking that it would allow for access to competing services to ATT and Apple, they naive or stupid.
You better believe it will. Every open platform door that Apple slams shut is an opportunity for Google to steal market share from iPhone. Android MUST exploit these weaknesses to succeed or it has no reason to exist.
"The app does not, however, allow users to download and store Rhapsody songs directly on the device, or cache content temporarily to hear offline."
What I don't understand is why didn't Real just create a Rhapsody optimized webpage for the iPhone? Just have a simple login, and boom, any Rhapsody subscriber is ready to rock! No waiting for approval from the stinkin' Apple App store overlords.
Why do they think they have a snowball's chance in hell in getting this app approved by Apple is beyond me.
And why the heck does everyone now feel compelled to "pre-announce" their iPhone apps? It just makes them look stupid when Apple doesn't approve the apps, especially apps that directly compete with iTunes.
Then, you'll understand why Apple can and has every right to reject it, it's Apple people. Do you think that Microsoft would allow this on their Zune ? not unless they buy them first.
This is all moot. This should really be brought to the Pre. Yes I know the install base is currently smaller but:
a) They won't get heat from Palm like they do from apple
b) The pre already has Pandora which works great
c) Most importantly, the Pre multitasks. The iphone can play itunes music in the background but these streaming apps are generally worthless if you want to do anything else with the phone at the time. (like check your email etc)
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August 26, 2009 6:46 AM PDT
- please stop saying "go ahead and" before your verbs. actually, you're not as bad as some, but the right number of times to say "go ahead and" is zero.
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