Entered CNET Catalog: 06/18/2002
SKU: SERVTRHAPSODY
Manufacturer: RealNetworks Inc.
Product summary
The good: Attractive and intuitive interface with rich jukebox functionality; three-tier service, including free Rhapsody 25 and Rhapsody To Go; rich biographical information on artists; radio stations allow you to skip songs; lets you access your music from any Web-connected PC; seamless integration with some digital media receivers; nice playlist management features.
The bad: Some initial bugginess with Rhapsody To Go transfer feature; no "smart" playlists; no autosync of subscription-based downloads.
The bottom line: A ton of new features, including Rhapsody To Go and full jukebox functionality, gives this elegant subscription service some fresh and very powerful legs.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/27/2005
Stereo controls, song progress, and artist information (including album art) are displayed cleanly along the top of the application. Rhapsody packs curious factoids about artists, so it's fun and addictive to browse. Rhapsody includes links to artists' official Web sites and suggests related performers that might match what you enjoy. It even includes song information on albums that it doesn't carry--a truly useful resource.
In the midleft window, you'll find the main options: the Rhapsody Music Guide (default), Rhapsody Radio, My Library, and My Playlists, plus any portable attached devices. The browser includes a simple but effective search box with the option to search by keyword. In the Rhapsody Music Guide, you'll get links to features, 19 genres, a host of charts, and celebrity picks. You can also create My Rhapsody, your own music home page, which gets populated with music matching your tastes (more in Features). The My Library window is equally attractive and efficient, with a responsive search and a useful column dubbed Rhapsody Type, which can sort by imported, purchased, and subscription music.
Another big plus: Rhapsody is the only on-demand streaming service that offers seamless, off-the-shelf integration with digital media receivers, such as Rockford's Omnifi DMS1, Prismiq's MediaPlayer, Netgear's MP101, and Linksys's WMLS11B. With one of the aforementioned digital media receivers, you can navigate and stream Rhapsody's full content catalog over a wireless network connection to your home stereo, or you can use the excellent Sonos Digital Music System, which even lets you play different songs in different rooms at the same time. The only caveat is that your PC has to be on and running the Rhapsody application.
Those who choose Rhapsody 25 can download the application for free (with a valid e-mail address) and get access to 25 excellent ad-free radio streams and 25 on-demand streams per month. Basically, as with a jukebox but for free, you can listen to 25 songs from the vast Rhapsody catalog--not a bad deal. In addition, the basic program adds jukebox functionality, such as MP3/AAC ripping up to 320Kbps, WMA ripping up to 192Kbps, CD burning, and a well-organized music library designed to simplify the tasks of managing music and transferring tunes to an MP3 player. You can also purchase tracks for 99 cents each or albums for $9.99. A really nifty feature: You can send your created playlists to friends. If they download Rhapsody 25, they can hear all the songs in the playlist, in their entirety, free of charge. Essentially, you can make one 25-song mix every month, and nobody has to pay.
Pony up the $9.99 per month for Rhapsody Unlimited, and you'll get unlimited streaming and download access to one of the industry's largest catalogs of albums, insightful background on your favorite artists, 128Kbps WMA streaming, 160Kbps WMA downloads, and access to many top-notch radio stations. One gripe about the radio: While you can skip past songs you don't like, you can't pause in the middle of a track; Napster, on the other hand, allows this. To date, Rhapsody's catalog contains more than 1 million songs. If that seems overwhelming to you, try the program's radio station creation tool, which customizes a station based on up to 10 artists of your choosing.
If you have a compatible portable device such as iRiver's H320, Creative's Zen Micro, or Dell's DJ-20, you'll want to investigate Rhapsody To Go. Following on the heels of Napster To Go's revolutionary Janus-based service, Rhapsody To Go gives you access to 100 percent of the downloadable catalog to transfer to your device. A clock built into compatible devices times out licenses for songs when the subscription runs out, but until then, these files can be played with aplomb. While you can populate your playlists with any track in your library, you can autosync when you connect your device with only purchased or imported tracks, not subscription-based downloads. In other words, subscription content must be manually transferred, so you can't automatically fill your 20GB player with random tracks from the Rhapsody catalog. Though we're picky about music, it'd be nice to have a one-click subscription fill-up on our portables.
New Rhapsody features
Since both subscription services allow on-demand streaming of any track available, most users won't need to purchase tracks, but studies have shown that subscribers still buy their favorite tracks. Subscribers have the option to buy tracks with a 10 percent discount. That's 89 cents per track or $8.99 per album. Purchased tracks are 192Kbps AAC files wrapped in Real's Helix DRM.
Additional features of the new Rhapsody include:
- My Rhapsody: This area is a customized glimpse at the music you're most likely to want at any given time. It gives you personalized selections and charts based on the tracks you've streamed, downloaded, or even imported and played from an MP3 collection acquired elsewhere. It lets you follow genres and subgenres (then alerts you to most popular, newest, and just added tracks) and create an instant 25-song playlist from titles, based on the last 100 tunes you've played. The same mechanism recommends albums for you, based on an automated algorithm as well as Rhapsody's excellent editorial content.
- Playlist Central: Here, you'll find playlists put together by Rhapsody editors, celebrities, and other users. They'll shuffle based on how other users rate them--a playlist you publish on there could take off and turn you into the next big tastemaker. There are also playlists for specific themes, such as a dinner party or an intense workout. You can browse from any playlist to the artist page, which makes these a great way to find new music. Using an e-mail client that's embedded within the program, you can also send a playlist to anyone; the recipient can get Rhapsody 25 for free and hear the playlist in its entirety. While we think Playlist Central and Instant Playlist rule, we've become accustomed to traditional "smart" playlists for latest tracks added and top-rated tracks, and we noticed their absence.
- Extras: Parental controls, more/bigger images, and 1,500 music videos.
So how did we fare with Rhapsody To Go? Rhapsody went with the same drag-and-drop method as Napster, though it doesn't have a completely separate window for your device. Instead, a tabbed window in the lower-left corner serves to hold your tracks to play, burn, or transfer. Also unlike Napster, Rhapsody doesn't let you drag tracks, albums, or playlists into the window once you've begun a transfer; you have to wait until the current list has finished.
After an intial bout with bugginess and transfer failures to compatible portable devices such as the Creative Zen PMC, the Creative Zen Micro, and the iRiver H10, we were finally able to transfer subscription-based tracks to our H10 with no hitches. Presumably, Real engineers were working "real" diligently to get the feature to work postlaunch. A transfer of 100MB worth of tracks (a smooth blend of Mariah Carey and the Postal Service) took just less than four minutes or a rather slow 0.4MB per second over the USB 2.0-enabled H10. Our final comment: in this early stage of Rhapsody 3.0's life, we've had some difficulty logging onto the service, which is probably attributable to high server traffic and growing pains.
Links to service and support are easily available from the help option in either online or offline versions. A quick hop to a Web page, and you have access to a FAQ, including a What's New in Rhapsody 3.0 link and a customer service box that takes you to important functions such as canceling your account. Clicking the search link brings you to a more detailed and all-encompassing searchable FAQ. The latest post addresses the different Rhapsody 3.0 subscriptions.
The only way to contact Real is via an e-mail form that allows you to attach documents. Real will get back to you in 1 to 2 business days. The program won't automatically update to the new version, but there is a link to do this manually. Menu options to authorize a computer or to import music to your library are few and far between, but they offer just the information or function you need. For example, the account summary page lists the number of artists, albums, and tracks available to the user, and there is a useful blogging feature in Preferences.
Streaming technology has always been the heart of Rhapsody. Now that it has incorporated downloading as well, Rhapsody has become a complete music service with full jukebox capabilities, compatibility with portable devices, and an intelligent three-tier service. RealNetworks has managed to combine some of the features of its competitors (for example, basic jukebox functionality as with Napster) and introduced them to a brand that has a loyal following, thanks to a large and diverse music catalog, a simple yet full-featured interface, proven streaming technology, and top-rate editorial content. While we had a couple of early glitches, overall the program is a nice improvement to the now-classic (but in need of an update) Rhapsody.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151out of 151 user reviews
Don 't get it. Period.
Pros: Nothing, at all.
Cons: Customer service is apparently located in India, and they have no idea how to deal with common problems with the service. In other words, they are useless.
It's the biggest technology joke ever in my opinion.
out of 151 user reviews
Not bad, not bad...
Pros: Excellent variety of music; over 5 million songs
To-Go Option is very nice, and at a great price
Downloads are good-quality
Cons: Somewhat buggy
Often freezes on Vista 32 while transferring files to player (Creative ZEN)
out of 151 user reviews
Poorly-written interface
Pros: I'm sitting here, trying to think of them...ok album art is nicely displayed and artist information is mostly provided.
Cons: Rhapsody, after three years of constant user comments, STILL doesn't auto-sync with Rhapsody-To-Go enabled players. EXTREMELY limited playlists in Rhapsody Channels, Syncing with Rhapsody-To-Go requires you to click on each channel, Sync takes 4ever
The music isn't sorted, and you are not given the option to sort by last updated, channel name, etc.
You aren't given the option to load high-quality WMA Lossless tracks.
You aren't given the option to ban styles within genres, ie banning vocals from Baroque, rap artists from world music, ALL Elvis tracks. The program doesn't "remember" your dislikes and still loads the artists after you ban their titles.
You aren't given the option to load single artists. "Beatles Radio" includes other artists which you may not like. They don't offer channels exclusive to the artist you WANT to hear. The "Billie Holiday Channel" includes Sarah Vaughn, Howling Wolf, BB Kink, et al. Why not the artist I want and ONLY them?
Your Channel may show "350 MB" and 3.5 hours of playing time...but I went through my list and only found a half-hour to 45 min of music.
IT TAKES FOREVER TO SYNC YOUR PLAYER TO THE SERVICE...EVEN WITH A USB 2.0 CONNECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!
No status bar is given when the service is deleting files from your player.
The video sync doesn't warn you that their service isn't compatable with your player. I spent an hour waiting for Rhapsody to transcode and it never happened. A popup should have told me that their service isn't compatable with my player and stopped the attempt immediately.
Results for artist search are not alphabetized.
There is a limited number of genres offered. They are merely re-packaged into different channels to give the illusion of a broad offering. There is no Classical Indian music, no Russian or Jpop.
Rhapsody doesn't remember your likes or dislikes and doesn't enable you to ban genres. I am not a Christian but I was offered 7 different Christian artists in "What;s New" instead of enabling me to ban that genre and offer me something based upon music which I indicate I like. I can only name 9 genres that I like and none to ban.
When listening to your portable player (and on the Rhapsody dashboard fo that matter) you can't ban an artist.
Music is supposed to be stored locally to expedite updating my player. This isn't happening. It takes WELL over an hour to update 5-6 GB on my portable device as opposed to a minute to update 4 GB on my SDHC card.
Does a poor job at correcting ID3 tags in your library.
I'm more satisfied with using Replay Music from Appllian and ripping songs from imeem and having them tagged by Gracenote. Takes me a few seconds to load the library into WMP 11 and then sync to my SDHC card...and WMP 11 will load fresh tracks each time I connect...just what Rhapsody DOESN'T do.
I have posted these comments to the Rhapsody support forum but from seeing the same comments posted here, I don't think they care.
out of 151 user reviews
Wow Worst Service ever
Pros: They didn't Charge my credit card for the 14 day trial pheww
Cons: Where do I start?
out of 151 user reviews
A rip off!!! They say for $14.99 you can download all the MP3s you want. But you CANNOT! They CHARGE
Pros: NOTHING, it's a rip off!
Cons: They charge you monthly and for every frigging song.
out of 151 user reviews
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON RHAPSODY
Pros: IS OFF MY HARD DRIVE
Cons: BLOATED.SLOW.RIP OFF. FEW MP3
I like many people just want MP3 or other USABLE format. I don't want to feel hijacked by file types and DRM. I WANT TO PAY FOR MY MUSIC AND HAVE CONTROL OVER WHERE WHEN I PLAY IT. Rhapsody gives you RAX or WMA (DRM)....few
mp3 songs available. I now use EMUSIC and am terribly happy ..being able to straight up download mp3 format. NO SUBSCRIPTION FILES....that's bS.
out of 151 user reviews
Decent Service, Cust support sucks
Pros: High quality user experience.
Cons: India Customer Support
out of 151 user reviews
Livid!!!!!!
Pros: Not a bad selection of music
Cons: Horrible service/support. An absolute nightmare
I went to their online store, purchased their MP3 player because it said I could download the Rhapsody channels on it "Only reason I bought it". Get this, I got the product to get the Rhapsody channels and it wouldn't work. I then went online and used their chat support since their customer service center was closed. I let the person I was talking to know the issue, after giving me nonsensical information that had nothing to do with my issue, he finally gets it... Then says the Sansa e250 model does not support Rhapsody channels. I then asked him why? This is what I purchased on your online store, and it said it would work. He then totally shuts me off and says; call customer service tomorrow to help you with this. OMG!!! I called their support the next day, I was on the phone for over an hour, got transferred around numerous time, finally they got me to their level 2 support. The person I spoke with fairly nice he apologized for the inconvenience and said he will send a return-shipping label and re-ship the correct device. A week later no mailing label, so I call them again. Asked to speak with their supervisor, who knew nothing and placed me on hold more times then I can remember, then goes, uh I don't know what is going on I will transfer you to level 2. At this point I was upset but not livid. The person I spoke with a week ago, e-mailed the return shipping label, but oh guess what! No shipping label attachment.... Ok, this guy also apologized, gave me a free month of service, that I had to ask for. I shipped back the MP3, 2 two weeks later nothing, I called them again. They say, we don't see that they received the shipment back. Now I am looking directly at what UPS sent me, date, time, location it was delivered to and who signed for it. I had to provide them all the information, they had no records un freaking believable.... They then shipped the MP3 to my billing address rather then the initial shipping address I had provided, luckily my office was able to sign for it and hold the package for me. I was like finally I don't have to call Rhapsody for anything. Boy was I wrong, when I opened the package I was furious, they sent me the same model again, the one that did not support rhapsody channels. "UNBELIEVABLE", I called their support line, asked to speak with their level 2 support. I spoke with a gentleman, told him my issue, he placed me on hold for almost 10 minutes, came back with this answer "We no longer sell the model you have". Uh, that's all good and well, I don't care, why then did you send it to me when I am supposed to have the e250r and not the e250? So he placed me on hold for another 8 minutes, came back on the line and repeated the same thing, "I have been told that we no longer sell that model". He then offers to transfer me to tech support, I asked him what for? They would tell me the same thing, this model of MP3 player e250 does not support their Rhapsody channels. I don't want another MP3 player, I already have a media player and the only reason I am purchasing this from Rhapsody was because of the Rhapsody channels. I was livid at this point; I knew I was past civility. I told him to send me a return shipping label and that I want them to credit my CC. I did not want their MP3 player, they could keep it. This is by far the "WORST" service I have ever had from an online store. They don't care about their customers, the product is not bad and by that I mean Rhapsody music. However "BEWARE" of their service, I was so close to also just canceling my Rhapsody service because of the idiotic support they have. I would really never recommend this service to any one just based on how horrid their support is.
out of 151 user reviews
I have tried them all this one sucks the most
Pros: Subscription service
Cons: Horrible interface, clunky features, not easy to find new music
I am saving up my money buying a Zune and switching for good.
out of 151 user reviews
Constantly failing
Pros: Great music selection, easy format to search and store music. Renting music is ideal over purchasing songs.
Cons: Each month you have to download a new track to your mp3 player to confirm your active subscription in order to play music. The problem is, it never works, requiring tech-help.
out of 151 user reviews
Needs improvement
Pros: Huge music selection, Customizable playlists, fair price
Cons: Only works in MS Windows. Program crashes frequently. I had to re-download music fairly often because the licenses expire and no longer plays.
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody-to-go is a good value!
Pros: Load up your compatible player and hit the road, get bored and do it again.
Cons: DRM sucks in any guise...
The Rhapsody software you need to do the transfers is slower than MusicMatch and it's not exactly intuitive like iTunes, but it worked fine with my iRiver H10. It won't work with my new Sony NW-S706F walkman -- because Sony's only supporting ATRAC for DRM music...
But all in all, this $15/month will save me a lot more in avoiding CD purchases and downloads I never play again... Get it!
out of 151 user reviews
Be Careful of 14 day free trial
Pros: Selections and listening to whole songs
Cons: Customer Service over seas
I thought I had 14 days to make a decision to cancel, but they already charged my credit card. I called the cancellation departmet and asked why I was charged the quarterly amount on a 14 day free trial. I had to go through the worst customer service experience in my life. I was on the phone with people trying and acting if the spoke English, but in reality the were Indian. And they try to give me the run around.
It is a nightmare even dealing with Rhapsody. No one speaks English and the customer service is a mess. Its a waste of time and also a waste of money.
out of 151 user reviews
Dont give this company a penny
Pros: Worst customer support
Cons: Lying thieves.
out of 151 user reviews
Don't buy it
Pros: A wide variety of music
Cons: Ridiculously buggy. Poor rights management. Slow
out of 151 user reviews
Not worth a dime
Pros: Havent found any
Cons: Have been trying to cancel for 4 months now and they keep attempting to charge our CC.
out of 151 user reviews
Great-As in Capital great...The best thing for music lovers
Pros: Excellent selection of songs, Excellent Customer service
Cons: Having a few problems since my install of IE7
Content and customer service make or break a service as far as I'm concerned and all software has some bugs. Rhapsody has done an excellent job in fixing the bugs along the way and the newest one, which may or may not be related to Internet Explorer 7.0 I'm sure will be fixed. The problem relates to logging on and they already have a user fix posted, this works but does repeat so I'm sure that at some point in near future it will be fixed.
Since I've been with them since their launch they haven't failed in upgrades to fix any bugs so I'm very confident that this one will be resolved shortly.
If this is the future of music/on-line services then the outlook looks very bright. I wish I could say that of all service providers but unfortunately that is not the case.
out of 151 user reviews
Updated 4.0 service is dismal. Unless you hear otherwise, find something else, or just buy CD's.
Pros: Great selection of tracks. Good for songs you'd never purchase otherwise.
Cons: Innumerable failures to transfer tracks. Horrendous "upgrade" from 3.0 to 4.0, with loss of several intuitive features.
Bottom Line: Caveat Emptor!!!
out of 151 user reviews
3.0 and 4.0 do not impress
Pros: not many - knock off of others
Cons: too many too list - not user friendly
out of 151 user reviews
The Intuitive Interface justifies any minor inconvenience
Pros: Easy to use, nice addition of artist info, etc
Cons: Random freezes and bugginess
out of 151 user reviews
Verygood ....... Excellent radio feature
Pros: excellent sound quality, excellent support
Cons: expensive downloads.... but I only listen to radio
I did have a problem with installation and contacted Rhapsody Live Support and they got me going in less than 5 mins.- had to change some registry values. I mainly listen to the Radio stations- excellent sound quality I just cnnot live without it now!!
out of 151 user reviews
Excellent selections, but tech support sucks
Pros: Musical Selection
Cons: Technical Support
out of 151 user reviews
Excellent, comprehensive streaming music svc w/ the least accessible customer svc ever
Pros: music quality, expansive library and navigation, some inexpensive downloads
Cons: customer service access the worst, svc plans limited
out of 151 user reviews
The best subsciption service I have used!!! ( I have tried all the biggest ones)
Pros: Fast downloads, easy interface, great band pages, same music as everyone else
Cons: Naming of bands example: kinks, the or the kinks. IT uses them both after you have downloaded them, but when you get to thier page all the albums are there it isn't a big deal
All in All Rhapsody is a great program, similar to Napster in my opinion but better. It is easy to use and I have had zero issues saving the songs and transferring them. And the songs have actually "played for sure". One thing that I really like is the little notes they give you while the song is playing. Notes about the band, album and bands that were influenced by them. It gets 9/10 because of this slight annoyance of how when I download albums by a band the albums will go in my library under different band names names. Like "the kinks" and "kinks, the" it is not a big deal you can easily change the names to put them all under the same band name, but that is a slight. The program is not perfect, but for the "to go" addicted this program does it right now.
out of 151 user reviews
Exceptional value
Pros: Chice and selection of music is unlimited
Cons: I wish I could get it on my radio.
out of 151 user reviews
Going no ware
Pros: Good music
Cons: Can't buy from them
out of 151 user reviews
Quirky at times, but definitely worth it
Pros: An incredible library of at-your-fingertips music
Cons: Minor bugs and "To Go" not compatible with many devices on the market
For those not familiar with music services like Rhapsody, you do not have to purchase individual tracks. Nor do you need to wait for an entire track to download before it begins playing. A broadband connection is a must. The sound is near CD quality, so no tinny compressed audio. It's literally like having an entire record store worth of CDs ready for you to enjoy.
A word of advice -- if you're in the market for an mp3 player and are thinking of using Rhapsody To Go, make sure you look at the compatibility list on Rhapsody's site. Many devices do not support subscription songs, so do your homework before purchasing.
Bottom line: Instead of paying $15 each month for 1 cd, you can get access to a huge variety of music on Rhapsody.
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody bites; can I go lower than 1?
Pros: Great misleading webpages
Cons: Misleading product, crappy billing practices
out of 151 user reviews
great....when it works
Pros: good music selection/good library categories
Cons: tech support (which is needed a lot) acts quickly to emails however, it takes days to get problems (a lot of them) corrected
Good luck getting any rebates in a timely manner. I purchased a Sandisk M240 which supposedly had an $80 rebate if purchased with a 6 month Rhapsody To Go subscription. I sent in my rebate on December 27, 2005 and as of April 28, 2006 still have not received it. They have a special web site to check your rebate status, and it says still "processing". Rhapsody has not replied to my 2 previous emails regarding the status of my rebates and good luck getting a live human being on the phone. The Sandisk player is a good little player, but after using Rhaspsody for 4 months (or trying to) I don't have anything good to say about this music service. By the way I have a 1 year old Dell 5550 with XP home and have had all kinds of problems with the actual Rhapsody software, burning CDs, and downloading to the Sandisk player. My rating? - 1.
out of 151 user reviews
easy downloading as long as u can download the software..
Pros: great preformance and pretty much everything about it
Cons: it took quite some time to get this thing downloaded
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody Sold My Address to Spammers
Pros: The service does what it is supposed to
Cons: Either security lapses or managed by sleazeballs
out of 151 user reviews
good... but not without drawbacks
Pros: many songs, can access account from any computer on website, nice artist information, top song and top artist lists, awesome radio, constantly updating, nice interface
Cons: MAJOR problem with windows media licensing, no song lyrics, not much music videos, many songs can't be listened to without coughing up an extra dollar... even if you have the "unlimited plan"
out of 151 user reviews
SWEET!!!!!!!
Pros: Not Available
Cons: Not Available
out of 151 user reviews
This is sweet
Pros: Flat rate per month for a lot of music
Cons: Some albums have songs that aren't available for download
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody 3.0 software has been updated and improved.
Pros: Selection of Music is awesome. The price is right. Many helpful features.
Cons: Some tunes can not be downloaded to portable device.
Each music service seems to serve a few special music genres better than others. So, it is up to the consumer to discover which best serves his musical taste.
I recently upgraded to the Rhapsody-To-Go service. I couldn't be happier. Most of the tunes I want are still available for download to my portable. It just depends on what music you are interested in. The music that is not for sale on-line can not be downloaded. This is more of a decision by the recording companies then the Rhapsody service. Guess what? If they pull the music off Rhapsody - you probably won't find it on iTunes either. If you see something you can't live without on Rhapsody - there is always the option to purchase the track.
out of 151 user reviews
Poor customer service, but average searching capabilities
Pros: Nice look and feel
Cons: Difficult to find where to cancel and have to dial a telephone #; Not every song listed; Takes a long time to get through to customer service
out of 151 user reviews
Best service so far
Pros: Knowledgeable music info
Cons: No cost summary before starting burning process
out of 151 user reviews
Truly AWESOME
Pros: Works more or less flawlessly
Cons: Missing an artist or two I like.
There're a couple of country artists that're missing from their library, but it's not really that big a deal for me.
I LOVE this service.
(Recently, my wife got me an iRiver H10, and I got a subscription to Rhapsody to Go. The interface for that seems a little clunkier... you can only sync things in your 'Library', etc., and I've had a few hiccups with the DRM duration, but all in all that service works very well, too.)
out of 151 user reviews
Excellent--Better than the software that came w/ my MP# player
Pros: Simple, Recognizes most MP3 players, large library
Cons: Initial bug due RealPlayer out of date
out of 151 user reviews
Wouldn't Install
Pros: Didn't Cost Anything
Cons: Wouldn't Install
out of 151 user reviews
This is the BEST subscription music service
Pros: Huge selection, great value, sleek - easy-to-use interface, UPNP Server
Cons: Signs you out after 8 hours of streaming and not "interacting" with program, sometimes sluggish response when adding items to playlist, SO MUCH music - can be addicting
First off, the selection is outstanding. They have new music added every day and you always have the latest music as soon as it comes out (including editor comments). The Music Guide is well organized and search results are simple to navigate (unlike some other music services).
Secondly, the sound quality is great (including CD burns)! I have Sennheiser HD515 headphones and listen to Rhapsody at least 5 hours a day. The addition of the EQ in version 3.0 is MUCH appreciated.
About 9 months ago, I bought an Omnifi DMS1 Wifi streamer to play music in the living room from this box. The included UPNP server works like a charm. The only caveat is that if you don't interact with your computer for 8 hours (ie overnight), Rhapsody will sign you out - even if you are streaming music to a UPNP box or if music is playing on the machine. I also setup a "Rhapsody network jukebox" as an office music setup, and that works great too. Just have to login every morning and get it logged in. Also, I've occasionally had the UPNP server simply stop. I go to preferences and click Start again, but as soon as I click Ok, it stops again. This can be resolved by restarting Rhapsody.
I highly recommend using Rhapsody with a music streamer as it expands the value of the service even further. You'll have music for every occasion!
Overall, the program is very easy to use. Playlists, Library, and the Music Guide are all intuitive and attractively designed. The 'My Rhapsody' portion of the service shows you new releases and just added music for genres you've selected. There is also an "Artist Alerts" section, where they claim to email you when there is activity for the artists you have selected. I have yet to receive a single email even though there has been activity with artists on my alert list. I've used Napster 3.0 and Yahoo Music Unlimited. This is the easiest to use of the 3 services.
Local media can be imported and played through Rhapsody - It won't tell you if imported tracks are already in the library, so you can end up with some duplicates.
One nice feature is the "mini player" which allows you to quickly navigate to the next song and then hides in the corner or your screen until you move your mouse there. It can also be docked to the top or bottom of the screen, but doesn't provide you with any additional information or controls by doing so (like Napster's does). Rhapsody doesn't work with my Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro's Next/Previous track buttons. There is also no "crossfader" option, but the next track begins buffering before the current song ends, so music play is pretty seamless.
I guess my only other problem with the program is I find myself often asking myself "I could be listening to anything I want - do I really want to be listening to *this* song?". It's like having Borders or Barnes & Noble in your house.
In conclusion, I am very satisfied with Rhapsody's service. The value for the money is excellent, the selection is incredible, and the program is very easy to use. If you are looking for the "celestial jukebox", look no further! This is the best!
out of 151 user reviews
Not for Casual, Per Song Buyers
Pros: The free version gives you 25 free plays, decent radio stations. Good for sampling new music
Cons: Poor streaming audio quality (P4 3GHz); Poor compression on downloaded songs; DRM real strict;
out of 151 user reviews
Great Great Great
Pros: A complete library for 14.95 a month
Cons: Missing some artists and tracks
out of 151 user reviews
Not worth the aggrevation
Pros: Everything I heard but could not try
Cons: Support, or better stated, the LACK thereof.
out of 151 user reviews
Love Rhapsody To Go. Now I can download to my hearts content.
Pros: I love being able to download directly to my subscription device for $15 a month.
Cons: None that I can think of.
out of 151 user reviews
Great music service, abysmal support line.
Pros: Great selection, wide variety of music
Cons: Customer support is terrible.
Great product, but not worth the hassle.
out of 151 user reviews
Poor technical support, major glitch in updating from 2.1
Pros: When it works it's not bad. I like the download options.
Cons: I don't like the way it organizes playlists and artists.
Rhapsody 3.0, however leaves alot to be desired.
I have it working on one computer (Win 98) without a problem, so far. However, it just will not update (or work from a download) on the other computer (Win XP). I've tried all the published tech support "answers" to no avail.
Ver. 3.0 does offer nice options to download individual songs to computer, rather than having to burn them to CD (as in the 2.1 version). It has potential. I just wish the developers at Rhapsody would get their act together and fix ver 3.0 (or come up with a new version entirely) so it works on all platforms with no major glitches.
out of 151 user reviews
Customer Service Lacks Professionalism
Pros: Nothing except that it looks nice.
Cons: Limited artist search and genres are inadequate
out of 151 user reviews
Great for streaming
Pros: Streaming and Radio is great
Cons: Doesn't do anything for storing music or portable devices
out of 151 user reviews
Abysmal is the best possible rating
Pros: Plays music
Cons: You will suffer like never before
I paid $14 to burn songs which failed to burn, but I was charged anyway (some DRM issue), and you cannot cancel their service from online. You have to literally call a phone number, from 9 to 5PM, to do it. Then they try like crazy to get you to not cancel this service.
I'm am sick of RealMedia and all their crap. To be, that company is one step high than a group of hackers, spammers, and ad-ware companies. I will never use anything tied to the RealMedia group ever again.
out of 151 user reviews
Best Out There. Bar None.
Pros: Great selection, wonderful organization, fast streams
Cons: Apparently transfer is buggy...haven't had a problem yet
As far as the software, it is very seamless. The organization is brilliant...and so simple you would think Google was involved :-P
I've tried Napster. Needless to say, I went back to Rhapsody within an hour. Rhapsody delivers, you won't be disapointed!
out of 151 user reviews
Streaming Option is Crack to the Music Fiend, but To-Go Option is Hurting
Pros: Sexy Interface, Seamless Streaming
Cons: Incomplete Streaming Catalog, To Go Selection Full of Holes
The only problem here is, I don't know what I'd do without this incredible application. As detailed by many other worried reviewers, the danger is that Rhapsody could kill the service at any time and we would be out of luck with zero music in hand. Fortunately, I don't believe this will happen any time in the near future. We can all see that the digital music revolution is coming and there's not much anyone can do about it except get on board and embrace it. I understand the apprehension of other reviewers who insist that by not owning their tunes, they have no ultimate control over them. That said, the past six months "renting" my music has been amazing. Once you give it a try, like me, you'll feel stifled if you ever have to resort back to a cd collection.
Rhapsody does have it's limits, though. As outlined by Eliot Van Buskirk on this site and on mp3.com, none of the subscription services, Rhapsody included, carry the entire catalog of digital music. This means the digital music user that's attempting to keep it legal, such as myself, is left out in the cold on much of the music out there. And Rhapsody's To-Go option is even worse. Initially, I was thrilled when I heard about the new service. I went out and purchased my first mp3 player (Creative Zen Micro) and signed up for the To-Go option. After upgrading the firmware on the portable device, Rhapsody did a fair job of transferring files and the music sounded just fine. That is, the music I was able to transfer. The ridiculous part of the service, which is not advertised, is the number and selection of files one can, or rather cannot, transfer to an mp3 player. Although one can stream a good number of tunes, only about 1/3 or less of each album could actually be transferred to my mp3 player. And guess which songs they allow this for. You got it, only the songs that Rhapsody doesn't believe anyone would want to pay extra to download. This renders the To-Go option absolutely useless. So I cancelled my To-Go subscription within a week of starting it. The good thing is that at least the program was well designed so that my account was not unfairly affected. The monthly subscription was prorated and I only paid for the time I used the service.
Recap: The Rhapsody streaming service is undeniably amazing and addictive. I could not live without it and I don't plan on trying. The Rhapsody To-Go option is completely worthless. Don't waste your time on it.
out of 151 user reviews
Way to buggy, even with updates as of 5/31
Pros: Awesome concept
Cons: Disastrous execution. Hard to impossible to unsubscribe.
I purchased the Iriver h10 and rhapsody to go for a year (web deal with $100 rebate). Rather than update my old service (as it said it would), it created two separate accounts with the same password, CC, Login, username, etc. Just getting that sorted with their billing took ages! Had to call billing and tech support (they tried to help me with the bugs too). But that’s not the real problem…
The service is WAY to buggy. After terrible performance I updated the rhapsody software and the Iriver firmware and even then it didn’t work consistently. I could transfer tracks sometimes, but inexplicably not others. Some tracks would show up double, some tracks would play and others would not. There are five second gaps between songs, ten second gaps to fastforward to the next one (this was marginally improved with the latest Iriver firmware). I tried this on two separate laptops both running XP.
Since 3.0 some of the songs are no longer available in full length as they were in 2.1.
The interface is terrible. The window for seeing album names is too small and can’t be made larger. Run a search for an artist with lots of albums (Miles Davis, Beethoven) and you will have no idea what all those albums are unless you open them up.
Rhapsody makes it very hard to separate the tracks that you own with the ones that you are renting. When you decide to add an album to your library, you either have to just add the stream link like in 2.1 or you have to download all albums tracks to your rented library. There should be four options for sorting music: All Music, Rented Music, Music owned on HD, Music bookmarked for streaming. This should be a no-brainer! As it is now you only get chaos in your library
I was so hungry for this to work I spent hours trying to sort out the bugs. Finally I thought I had it all dialed in and then certain tracks would play on the Iriver for a few days and then freeze out. So frustrating.
Finally I decided to give Yahoo’s service a try. Signing up was easy, transferring files was easy. Everything worked the first time. The FIRST time!! And so far all the tracks show in full length (although I’ve only looked at a few albums so far). I don’t like the radio stations as much, but the bottom line is this service at least works. No problems at all with the Iriver and Yahoo. (BTW the Iriver is terrible. The color screen goes dark quickly and you have to wake it up before you can do anything, like advance to the next track, and songs take too long to start once selected, plus to load songs on the device you need a dongle that also connects to the power supply. A dongle! So lame.)
I hated to do it, but I had to unsubscribe from Rhapsody. So I went to the website and even the unsubscribe process was buggy! Unbelievable. I typed in my reasons for unsubscribing and then hit the link and then another, and then ended in a dead end! Tried another route and finally had to type in my reasons again, and then I had to call! On the phone I told them I was going to Yahoo because I could not get the Rhapsody to work. I told them I wanted my money refunded. She told me she had to get approval from her boss. She came back on the line a few minutes later and said they would not refund my money unless I talked with tech support again! What’s that?!! I told her I had already spent hours, hours (!) on this. Too bad, she said. I told her Rhapsody could keep the money, but just cancel my account anyway. I figure they are going to need the money, because with this garbage product and pricing way higher than Yahoos, I can’t see them being around much longer.
Final note: Whatever you do, don’t get a year subscription! Just try it for a month if you must. Also try Yahoo’s (it’s really cheap), and then you can decide for yourself!
out of 151 user reviews
Good music selection, but the software sucks.
Pros: Great music selection.
Cons: Lots of luck getting the software to work.
out of 151 user reviews
I am livid!!
Pros: $100 rebate on an iRiver H10 for an annual subscription; compatibility with Roku Soundbridge intriguing
Cons: The download and the customer service
I downloaded the previous Rhapsody version over the winter via Comcast. Equipped with a new iRiver H10 and stoked about Rhapsody to Go and the $100 rebate they are offering for the H10, I eagerly attempted to download v3.0.
No luck - over and over again. I tried everything lsited on their website which was frustrating in itself in that each page of instructions for fixing the problem had more instruction links behind it.
Ultimately gave up and submittied a support request via email. It took 2 days to get a response. Isn't Real a big company? I couldn't beleive there was no chat support not to mention the 48hr turnaround. Awful.
Finally decided that $100 rebate was not worth it - a 1-year committment to a service I couldn't rely on was not going to fly with the wife. Signed on with Napster instead and so far so good.
Here's the kicker though - I go to cancel my 14day free pass and you can't do it online, you have to call. The problem is that when I clicked on the link to the phone number, where the number was supposed to be displayed there is an empty space. UGHHHH!!!!
out of 151 user reviews
Version 3 is awesome, just give it some time 2.1 users
Pros: bigger catalog, music recommendations, good price, proven
Cons: bad upgrade path from 2.1, no developer API (I want one!)
New things I like:
- My Rhapsody (recommendations based on preferences and use)
- Rhapsody to Go (take the stuff on the road)
- Huge catalog
- Great new playlists
I'm not sure why another reviewer complained about a reducing catalog... I actually see the opposite... i.e. a lot more music has become available with this new upgrade, previously certain songs were not available at all, and now you can lsiten to the first 30 secs.
All I want now is a good API, so us developers can create tools for Rhapsody just like we did for Flickr.
Oh, one final tip: if you are not happy about the streaming performance (hickups that you didn't have previously, just increase the processing priority, it works like a dream)
out of 151 user reviews
Doesn't Do What It Says It Does
Pros: Easy interface, looks like iTunes
Cons: No support for MP3s, uses a weird format for music
out of 151 user reviews
Step down from 2.1
Pros: Some nice uses of data mining
Cons: Do I really want data mining?
out of 151 user reviews
Was Great now No Good
Pros: It used to have a huge catalog of music to stream
Cons: A shrinking catalog
out of 151 user reviews
Downgrade from 2.1
Pros: More sharing between users
Cons: You can't save playlists and distribute, more Big Brother is Watching You!
out of 151 user reviews
Frequent installation faiures
Pros: Tons of Music. Easy to get what you want
Cons: Installation fails too often
out of 151 user reviews
Needs more work, too resource intensive
Pros: Nice new features, if you need them
Cons: 10 times the processing resources needed on my computer
out of 151 user reviews
Not ready for Prime Time
Pros: Concept of Rhapsody to Go is great
Cons: Limited Support
out of 151 user reviews
Fantastic!
Pros: Great new interface, even more songs, same easy to use service,
Cons: there are none
You can listen to the WHOLE song before you buy. Great selction, terrific prices, and unbeatable service. The Best!
out of 151 user reviews
Download/upgrade has altered my account info ?
Pros: Appears to be improved, but I can't access it
Cons: I can't log in anymore and there is absolutely no help from any support people
After 6 days of withdrawal I heard from a tech support agent who suggested uninstalling all Rhapsody components, deleting all folders and files that may be left behind, and trying the 3.0 download again. Presto! I'm up and streaming! It seems there is an incompatibility issue with the old version and if any remnants are left it blocks your ability to log in.
The new version is a huge improvement over 2.0, but the lag time in hearing back from tech support still bugs me.
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody 3.0 Installation Sucks
Pros: Don't know, can't use it.
Cons: Can't Install
out of 151 user reviews
Long-time user, Love the version, only getting better!
Pros: New features, updated UI, support for devices
Cons: A bit buggy, but nothing not unexpected for initial release of new product
This new 3.0 version is VERY buggy and I'm very disappointed! I loved the 2.1 version...I had been waiting for something like it for a long time. Now that I have 3.0, I'll consider iTunes!
Interesting fact: The rhapsody site has instructions for reinstalling 2.1. Hmmm...maybe they know 3.0 SUCKS!
First, I love type of service Rhapsody offers. I have 0--zero--zippo problem shelling out about $10 for this type on unlimited service. For me, this is the clincher over that little Apple application.
BUT, I am continually disappointed and frustrated by the new version of Rhapsody. Fresh install of XP, its fine for basic listening...try to use a subscription-friendly device...crashes, locks up, and otherwise hangs.
I'm taking the device (iRiver T10) back today...and am strongly considering changing to another subscription-based application.
Real/Rhapsody folks...WAKE UP! You're blowing it...and losing a long time customer.
out of 151 user reviews
It has its pros and cons
Pros: Attractive, fast and intuitive interface; "My Rhapsody" feature lets you discover new tunes; artist biographies; good selection of music; good stream quality
Cons: Connection problems; equalizers distort sound; no exceptionally easy way to find new music
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody sucks
Pros: There are none worth the effort
Cons: Billing is a nightmare
out of 151 user reviews
Very nice!
Pros: Easy setup and go
Cons: Price they aren't cheap
out of 151 user reviews
very good way to listen to all your favorite songs.
Pros: I like all the variety and especialy the radio stations. they also have samplers of each artist which is very helpful when trying out new artists.
Cons: you have to wait for the new songs to be added cd by cd. and some of the time they dont have what you are looking for.
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody user for 2 years+
Pros: Very good product. I am an avid music fan (over 1500 cd's in my collection). There are some artists they don't have, but plenty to enjoy.
Cons: Buggy! Sometimes you will try to logon and it just won't work. I don't think they were prepared for new version onslaught (ver 3.0)
out of 151 user reviews
Horrible burn quality; extremely poor customer service
Pros: Cheap....Accessible online
Cons: Cheap; Absolutely horrible burn quality on 3 different computers, 4 different cd burners, and 4 different cd manufacturers...
out of 151 user reviews
Best on-demand streaming service there is
Pros: Large library, better audio quality than Napster, plays well with other programs, works on the Netgear MP101, reasonable monthly fee
Cons: Some noticeably missing artists (where are you, Radiohead?), catered toward streamers (can burn to CD, but no direct file downloads)
out of 151 user reviews
On-Demand Music Rocks!
Pros: I listen and work and people at parties love it, anyone can walk up and immediately start adding to the playlist. A Great Party Favour!
Cons: Portibles, download Directly to MP3, integrate with local songs.
out of 151 user reviews
Now this is cool!!!!
Pros: This is only for the true music lover. For $9.99 a month this thing is like renting a huge music store and giving you the ability to listen to almost anything anytime. The first time I used it I found myself surfing throught it's massive CD database for h
Cons: Some artists allow you to listen to their music but not burn it. That I don't understand.
out of 151 user reviews
Music today! Unavailable Tommorrow!!
Pros: Nice interface, very easy to use, and upon first look a lot of available artists to choose from. The "radio stations" are varied and provide a lot of music that I normally would have never heard of. The Streaming radio stations (not on demand artists) p
Cons: On demand artists and tracks dissapear at the company's will. For example, I have listened to Reanimation by Linkin Park through the On Demand (not radio station) mode for easily 4 months. The other day, Rhapsody decides it's no longer available. One c
out of 151 user reviews
Far Exceeds other music services
Pros: The highest sound quality amoung the other music services. Much easier and simplier to use than iTunes software. You can listen to over 850,000 tracks that are updated every week with new cd's as much as you want, without buying having to buy a track li
Cons:
out of 151 user reviews
Many artists aren't available
Pros: Top ten songs are always available. I don't even think that's a pro.
Cons: Many artists are "not available" and often, some if not most songs on an album are "not available" which can be very frustrating. You have to pay for the music streaming then you have to pay AGAIN to burn the song. Many songs are not "available" for burn
out of 151 user reviews
great if you know...
Pros: music when you want it. creating custom radio stations allows you to grab songs from artists that aren't yet 'burnable' rm2 *wink*
Cons: windows only. pay addtnl to burn songs - only way to archive. there are other ways.
out of 151 user reviews
bad first impression
Pros: seems great if all you want to do is stream music.
Cons: Tried burning to a cd and the tracks came out all scratchy. If you just want music for your computer, seems okay, but if you want permanent music, there's better stuff out there
out of 151 user reviews
No issues here... and IM LOVING IT!!!
Pros: I have had 0 (thats a "zero") issues with Rhapsody. The streaming is lightning fast, songs that are queued in the playlist will be cached by the time the current song ends, initial download speeds are OUTRAGEOUS.. the list goes on. Even bands that are
Cons: My doctor tells me it cannot be wired directly into my brain.
out of 151 user reviews
How can anyone honestly say "streaming"
Pros: Great music info and a decent selection.
Cons: The burn, then rip, then rename issue is a pain. Service plagued by "buffering"; server-disconnects; and faulty cd burning. My experience is on a very reliable broadband (cable) isp. You may think it's great at first but, in the end, you'll pull your hai
out of 151 user reviews
Great way to find songs that you want to hear for the first time.
Pros: Great interface. Loads of music to choose from. I have found music from bands that I never heard of before. The types of music categories are huge. If you can not find it on Rhapsody the band or music does not exsist. I love it. Burning a CD is a snap
Cons: No song labeling when you burn a CD.
out of 151 user reviews
Allows you to explore music that you would never listen to if you had to buy it.
Pros:
Cons: Can't download to music player.
out of 151 user reviews
Way Better Than having Kazaa
Pros: Instant music when you want, Very good price and no music lags. Have a big selection of music. I was using kazaa, but now, I will never go back, because for 10 bucks you can listen to entire albums and tracks.(No 30 sec, like I-tunes). Did I mention super
Cons: You really need Dsl or cable, to get the best out of rhapsody, and also you can't download entire albums in one download, but can download songs separtly.
out of 151 user reviews
No more CDs for me
Pros: Sound Quality, Music info, music library, user interface, .79 burn, full albumn search and play, connection quality / stability
Cons: No portable device support No download (only burn to cd)
out of 151 user reviews
Like crack for the addict
Pros: Limitless music on demand, artist bios and videos. Almost everything you could want from digital music, at a decent price and legally too!
Cons: Wish there was a way to make it portable without purchasing tracks.
out of 151 user reviews
Frequently plays only on right speaker channel.
Pros: Lots of great music. Variety. Easy to find something new
Cons: Many songs intermittently cancel out on the left speaker channel and sometimes the right. So, volume goes up and down and sound quality will drive you nuts. Hopefully a competitor will take advantage of Rhapsody's poor quality.
out of 151 user reviews
Insane Value for the Money!
Pros: Virtually complete catalog of my favorite artists. Could listen all day long.
Cons: Highly addictive! Need I say more?
out of 151 user reviews
The best thing in the world!
Pros: All the music you want for the price of one CD. The international section should be improved, but it worth every penny you pay.
Cons:
out of 151 user reviews
Finally!!! Exactly what I've been waiting for!
Pros: Only been running the service for a few days now (on a 14 day free trial from BestBuy) and I am totally impressed with what I've seen so far. It is great being able to listen to albums I haven't heard in years. And some I've always wanted to like early
Cons: Some big name artists are still missing: Beatles, Bob Seger.
out of 151 user reviews
I love this service!
Pros: Rhapsody is a great service that I'm glad I found. I can listen to songs an unlimited number of times, which is not the case with Yahoo's Launchcast service that I had been using. I love being able to type in the name of a track and listen to it (if it'
Cons: I wish Rhapsody would offer a feature that lets you rate songs, like Launchcast does. I also wish you could ban certain artists and songs from being played on your favorites station. Other than that, I have no problems with Rhapsody.
out of 151 user reviews
Excellent for exploring new music
Pros: HUGE catalog, good variety including boxed sets (& EPs & Greatest Hits & Everthing Else), everthing is well interlinked and cross-referenced, decent sound on broadband
Cons: still costs $10 for the unlimited access plan, but its worth it; i haven't stopped using this service since I got it
out of 151 user reviews
The True Essence of Music
Pros: Lately I've sampled 3 music services - Itunes, Napster and Rhapsody. Each offers well over 300,000 songs but... only fully accessible after paying the $0.99/song... except on Rhapsody. I have been moved (literally) by the abyss of music that you can list
Cons: The interface is slick, but a few tweaks can make it less prone to the rare crash.
out of 151 user reviews
rhapsody rules
Pros: listen to tons of music for 10 clams a month so long as you are hooked up to broadband...great sound quality... lots of catalog and emerging artists! great for music aficianados and aspiring music buffs alike.
Cons: whats to be said? not portable, well someday when highspeed wireless streaming exists...but for now, it's a drawback...when you are used to listening to whatever you want at home or work!
out of 151 user reviews
too many restrictions... subscription!!!
Pros: decent music library, bios...
Cons: subscription service! DRM very strict
out of 151 user reviews
Good service - need to expand support for mobile devices
Pros: I like the interface design and the loads of info
Cons: Though the burn to disc is good - but is very painful for mobile device owners like myself
out of 151 user reviews
Audiophiles Dreamland
Pros: Large variety of songs with many more being added daily. Ability to customize playlists. Cost to burn only .79 compared to .99 + oer song on other services.
Cons: Interface is a bit clunky. Unable to customize interface. It can be annoying that certain artist catalogues are not available on this service.
out of 151 user reviews
Keys to the record store
Pros: Having Rhapsody is like having keys to the record store. Why bother downloading mp3s when you can stream anything at any time. Coolest thing on the internet (except launchcast which is cooler).
Cons: Catalog is not complete but is at least as good as anyone elses and is constantly growing.
out of 151 user reviews
this one will take over your PC
Pros:
Cons: there are better music services out there that do not charge an arm and a leg. CoolCube Media offers more music, news, Fashions and International TV and radios.
out of 151 user reviews
Great selection with easy access
Pros: I never thought I would pay for a MUSIC service but this one I couldn't resist! I decided to pay for this service after I downloaded the free 7 day trial which was offered through comcast cable.I already have all songs I'v ever wanted in my Library to bur
Cons: Can't save to hard drive,But I think you can burn it then copy it to your hard drive. For me that's not important.
out of 151 user reviews
Excellent music service!! Only .79 to burn, unlimited streaming!
Pros: Selection is just about equivalent to other pay-as-you-go music services, so you can't complain about that. Excellent UI interface, love streaming all day long at a fixed rate per month. .79 to burn a track is below industry rates in competing services.
Cons: You can't burn all of the songs that you can stream, but this isn't a Rhapsody problem, it is a problem with the record labels.
out of 151 user reviews
revolutionized my music life
Pros: wonderful way to discover and listen to a ton of great music for a reasonable price. Much easier to use than P2P software, plus access to reviews, cover art, full albums, and artist reccomendations.
Cons: CD burning is too expensive at 79 cents a track, so i just listen online, unlimited for 10 a month. missing the beatles, billy joel, and madonna.
out of 151 user reviews
Im Back from Napster
Pros: I left Rhapsody, like a fool.. I believed the hype.. Well im back at Rhapsody after only one week of Napster. Rhapsody is far better IMO, the streaming music is higher quality then Napster, Rhapsody has a better collection of music (sure napster may have
Cons:
out of 151 user reviews
Bottom line, a music lover must.
Pros: I am a music fanatic and Rhapsody has changed my world. Never again will I shuffle through cd's to hear some good music. Downloading shady music from annoying and virus prone programs like Kazaa is finally over. Rhapsody is the most worthwhile 10 bucks
Cons: They don't have some musicians (Like The Grateful Dead or The Beatles????) But new music is added EVERY DAY! Can't burn a small amount of music.
out of 151 user reviews
Great music service!
Pros: Gigantic library. Unlimited streaming music. Custom playlists. Inexpensive. This is a great service if you use your pc as a home stereo.
Cons: Cannot transfer music to mp3 player. Needs interface improvement.
out of 151 user reviews
Great service for great price
Pros: vast library of information on both available and unavailable bands/artists..
Cons: occasionally I still hit unavailable artist in their system. But its understandable as they are not that mainstream.
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody Rocks!
Pros: Lots of great Music, Songs I've never even heard before are now my favorite tunes. Very good categorization of Music genres. Much better than Musicmatch radio.
Cons: No way to Vote or Rate the Artists/albums/Tracks or exclude them from the radio Stations. If I create a radio station with several artists I would like the option to Only hear those artists. I am Paying after all :)
out of 151 user reviews
Not much available
Pros: Easy to use.
Cons: I can't tell you how many times I logged on to compile a CD and the songs were not available to burn.
out of 151 user reviews
Best Streaming Service Out There...
Pros: The music library is increasing by the hundreds every week. Unlike some music services (namely AOL's MusicNet), the entire track listing for an album is viewable and searchable. The sound quality on broadband is fantastic and the selection is really goo
Cons: The biggest con is the fact that you cannot download any of the music to an MP3 player. You can burn about 3/4 of the tracks to CD...but there is no option to go directly to a portable device. I use my iPod as much, if not more, than my CD player -- so
out of 151 user reviews
The Best Music Service, Rhapsody!
Pros: I can listen to tons of songs as many times as I want. The discography feature is awesome. I can make my own stations to listen to some of the artists work that isn't avilable for on demand listening. And burning tracks is easy.
Cons: Now if only I could just download songs straight to my hard drive or mp3 player.
out of 151 user reviews
Like XM, but really not ads...
Pros: Love the ability to put my own playlists together and preview music I'm thinking about buying. The streaming is great. I can keep this thing running at work and it's like having my entire CD collection (and all of my friends' CD collections) on tap. Lo
Cons: Streaming quality is not CD level (like 128kb, but with the highs muted). Burned CD's are much better quality, but still some 132kb-style artifacts present. Still worth it for $96 a year (thru listen.com)
out of 151 user reviews
Good, if incomplete, service
Pros: Rhapsody's listen on demand service is quite nice, assuming the bands you're interested in are included among their pay-on-demand service. If not, no worries, you still have a good shot at hearing those bands on one of Listen's radio stations, which comes
Cons: Unfortunately, while their service covers more than 13000 artists, a lot of these artists choose to leave their most recent albums off the listen-on-demand service. Sure, you can listen to The Red Hot Chili Peppers, you just can't listen to anything past
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody and EMusic are the best two services, hands down
Pros: The amount of value here for $10/month is staggering. I probably listen to at least one new CD every night. If you run the music from your computer through a good stereo system (and I have a killer stereo system), you get sound quality that is close eno
Cons: The only con, really, is that no online music service has all artists available for listening - however, that is probably a pipe dream of mine - that someday you'll be able to stream any CD that was ever made through your stereo from your PC. now THAT wo
out of 151 user reviews
Reasonable cost good selection reliable
Pros: Easy to use. Reasonable price. Good selection of music. Reliable, starts up quickly almost never have had a problem with cutting out due to net congestion. I don't know why C-net complains about lack of ability to download to a player. You can burn a CD
Cons: Doesn't have a few of the artists I would like.
out of 151 user reviews
Great catalog of music, no lies like with Pressplay!
Pros: HUGE catalog. Unlimited streaming. Good sound quality. INSANE value for the money. Streams easily recordable to Minidisc or TotalRecorder.
Cons: Sound quality could be better if compared to Emusic's new LAME MP3's. Some albums aren't complete due to different licensing plans. Some albums just disappear from the catalog without explanation, then reappear later without explanation. Catalog does hav
out of 151 user reviews
Good forthose who know what theyr'e looking for
Pros: Nice Service without all the restrictions of other services. Lots of great semi local bands that you might not get a chance to hear otherwise.
Cons: However, most of the artists in the database allow taping and trading of their live music - so the fee can be a bit of a waste if you dont know what you're looking for. (see band(s)web pages for their individual policies as they do vary.) An additional
out of 151 user reviews
Awesome Service I love it :)
Pros: LYRA Wireless Compatibility
Cons: Needs Better Search Capabilities and Smarter Recommendations
out of 151 user reviews
never thought i'd use a pay-for
Pros: Very easy to use. They don't have tons of commercial hit tunes and for me that's the biggest pro in the world. Lots of world music and some great obscure jazz albums -- a lot of obscure gems in almost every category. I never thought I'd use one of the pay
Cons: Can't really think of any -- more music I guess but they seem to be working on it.
out of 151 user reviews
Awesome CD replacement
Pros: Good interface, selection, sound quality, and the price is well worth it. The discussion about paying for streaming has no merit - the data is on their servers, but you're listening to it, whenever and as many times as you want. If you want to put it on
Cons: I do notice some limits of 128kbps sound, but again, it's $10 per month. I'll live with it. Also, unlike itunes, it would be nice to have an option to buy per album vs. each song.
out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody is the best!
Pros: Best music selection. Easy to use. It just works! Most affordable way to discover tons of new music, and listen to it endlessly.
Cons: I want to be able to rate/vote for my favorite songs & bands. I'd like to be able to eliminate an artist from a radio station.
out of 151 user reviews
Like bottled water vs. tap
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out of 151 user reviews
Limited Selection, not CD quality streaming....
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out of 151 user reviews
Good Music at a Reasonable Price
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out of 151 user reviews
KILLER APP
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out of 151 user reviews
Best $10 i ever spent!!!
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out of 151 user reviews
Maybe this will make the RIAA stop whining
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out of 151 user reviews
Rhapsody Rocks!!
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out of 151 user reviews
An incredible bargain at $9.95/month
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out of 151 user reviews
The Music Industries Answer To Piracy
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out of 151 user reviews
Rebooted 4 times, and gave up...
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out of 151 user reviews
No customer service at Rhapsody
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out of 151 user reviews
Excellent streaming and radio
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out of 151 user reviews
Defeating Rhapsody with MD and DPC
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out of 151 user reviews
Great well worth the monthly subscription
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out of 151 user reviews
NO support outside the US
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out of 151 user reviews
Best online music service
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out of 151 user reviews
Get the Radio Plan not the Full Plan"
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out of 151 user reviews
worth much more than 10.00 a month
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out of 151 user reviews
Great for the diverse music fan!
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out of 151 user reviews
The One and Only Source for Online Music
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out of 151 user reviews
An excellent and legal Napster
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out of 151 user reviews
Fast streaming!
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out of 151 user reviews
yo pago cada mes 10$
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out of 151 user reviews
Why would you not pay?
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out of 151 user reviews
Great selection.
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out of 151 user reviews
Best I've experienced.
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out of 151 user reviews
great sound quality, unlimited music!
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out of 151 user reviews
Subscription music the way it should be!
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out of 151 user reviews
Perfect service for broadband customers
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