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Rhapsody Relaunches with iPod-Compatible MP3s
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Competition is great and I am happy to see it. However, they need to bring something new to the table. Full previews is nice and all, but I am not the type to purchase music without having good exposure to it before hand. I only buy stuff I know I will enjoy.
Even if they brought a lower price in, that might attract me to look into it. However at the same price as iTunes I would rather support iTunes. The DRM is only mildly inconvenient. All the devices I play my music on is Apple hardware and/or software.
Even if they brought a lower price in, that might attract me to look into it. However at the same price as iTunes I would rather support iTunes. The DRM is only mildly inconvenient. All the devices I play my music on is Apple hardware and/or software.
I don't want SuperCD or DVD audio, and CDs don't allow me to purchase single tracks.
All I want is to get the best possible audio quality for my 99 cents, and MP3 isn't it. It either is of lower quality than AAC or requires double the storage space.
The fact that most music-selling websites only sell to USA customers doesn't help me either.
As usual, there are people who don't understand
that some consumers may simply prefer shopping at the iTunes Store.I have an emusic account and have also bought a few MP3 tracks at Amazon now and then, but the shopping experience is far more fun at iTunes. I think this is because the store design is so attractive and the navigational options are outstanding. You can get sidetracked if you want to, and still easily get back to where you left off, without having to focus on the mechanics of that process. And I like the options to explore "just for you" and the slow-fade ads at the top for new stuff. It's there for the looking, but unobtrusive.
And about sound quality: if there's an iTunes Plus version of something I'm looking for, I'll go for that over an MP3 anytime. It's just personal preference but the AAC format sounds less squashed to me.
For pop music I don't mind the 128AAC format on the DRM'd music, and the DRM itself doesn't faze me because the iTunes terms are so generous. If I want to stick one of those tracks on my cellphone I just burn it, re-import it as an MP3, and drag that onto the Juke or my LG CU515. I'm not in audiophile mode when I'm listening to music on a cellphone... I'm probably sitting in rush hour traffic and slightly annoyed that I forgot to bring along an iPod
Do you know Amazon is cheaper than iTunes for almost everything and is DRM free?
I also suspect that number 2, or some variation on it, is the real reason. I imagine the labels and Apple have exchanged some sharp words over this issue. I have to also be a bit surprised by how the stories I've read on this topic haven't picked up on the obvious fact that pricing has nothing to do with why other online music retailers are able to sell more DRM-free music than Apple.
At first, I wasn't sure, but once Amazon was able to sell DRM-free songs for it's entire catalogue, including songs which were encumbered by DRM with iTunes I decided the labels were trying to game the situation. Pricing has been used as an excuse, but I didn't buy it before and I certainly don't buy it now.
As for why the story hasn't been picked up, I dare say that the media, especially the tech-media is an inherently lazy bunch. They're very good at picking at the bones press releases, but not so good at stalking their own stories.
Or even reading what they write themselves, it seems. The story I read this morning contained this obvious contradiction, right there in black and white. How could anyone write in one story that the label's conflicts with Apple are over variable pricing, then later in the same story state that Rhapsody is selling their tracks for $0.99 and albums for $9.99? Not only haven't they stalked out their own story, they haven't noticed the blindly obvious logical contradiction in what they wrote!
That has nothing to do with Apple. Did you not read the letter Steve Jobs wrote a while back??? Apple is all for DRM free and was before most others. It is the record labels that won't let Apple sell DRM free because they are trying to screw them over and take away their power. SCREW THE LABELS!
They are just as stupid as Hollywood!Rhapsody answers ...
OK I've been using Rhapsody's subscription service for a couple years now and I can answer the questions that seem to be ignored in this thread.
They've actually been selling DRM-free MP3's for some time, they are just officially launching now. I've bought quite a few albums from Rhapsody and they import automatically into iTunes with their album art. The album art is lower quality than the iTunes artwork but the MP3's are encoded at 256kbps so they sound quite good.
I also subscribe to the streaming service (~$120/year) and as a subscriber I get a 10% discount when I pay to download a track. Some tracks I am content to hear once in a while as a stream, others I want to take with me on my iPod. The streaming service jukebox is unfortunately built around the internet explorer engine and is therefore Windows only. You can use the streaming service through any web browser (I use OmniWeb myself spoofing Safari) but the jukebox is Windows only.
The previews appear to be the same quality as the streamed version. The streamed tracks sound very good. As to their encoding I'm not 100% sure but I certainly have no complaints.
The one word of caution I would give with Rhapsody is that they don't always alert you that one or more tracks are not available if you buy an album. This can be frustrating if you aren't paying very careful attention and twice now I have gone to iTunes and paid the $0.99 to complete the album.
OK I've been using Rhapsody's subscription service for a couple years now and I can answer the questions that seem to be ignored in this thread.
They've actually been selling DRM-free MP3's for some time, they are just officially launching now. I've bought quite a few albums from Rhapsody and they import automatically into iTunes with their album art. The album art is lower quality than the iTunes artwork but the MP3's are encoded at 256kbps so they sound quite good.
I also subscribe to the streaming service (~$120/year) and as a subscriber I get a 10% discount when I pay to download a track. Some tracks I am content to hear once in a while as a stream, others I want to take with me on my iPod. The streaming service jukebox is unfortunately built around the internet explorer engine and is therefore Windows only. You can use the streaming service through any web browser (I use OmniWeb myself spoofing Safari) but the jukebox is Windows only.
The previews appear to be the same quality as the streamed version. The streamed tracks sound very good. As to their encoding I'm not 100% sure but I certainly have no complaints.
The one word of caution I would give with Rhapsody is that they don't always alert you that one or more tracks are not available if you buy an album. This can be frustrating if you aren't paying very careful attention and twice now I have gone to iTunes and paid the $0.99 to complete the album.
Like I said, I've been a customer for Apple for almost 15 years and have seen their very "underdog" days. As I am also a stockholder and a fan of their products, I want them to do well. I want them to win. It's about time. While most companies find a hit and milk it to death, Apple doesn't. The innovate and innovate, pushing their own hits to the graveyard to build bigger and better products. They are far more for the consumer than other companies. This is just idle and blind fanboy stuff either. Their stuff is by far the best. I reward the company that continues to give back and do more than the others.To Who? and why? They are charging more than the market can stand. Greed is not something to be loyal to. or the greedy leader.
As far as music, Mostly, I buy the CD as I want 320kbps for my rips and I want a physical back up. But the times when I want a track and it's not EMI unprotected music, I still will buy from iTunes because of the loyalty I spoke of. Between my wife and I, we have 4 iPods and 2 iPhones -- we have 5 Macs and everything plays everywhere anyway. Even in the car with the Mini AUX input. I would rather continue to reward Apple and buy the single song I want there than give it to another company. Again, it's called loyalty. I know a lot of people here just don't get it. But when their stock does well, I win, too.
Argh...
Repeat after me. Apple will make all their music DRM free when the music companies let them.
crap interface
What a horrible shopping experience that was. Can't reward them with my cash for such a piss poor user interface. Can't sort searches. Try looking up a song title and you'll get a mish mash of results that you can't sort in any way.
You would think this deep into the game that they would have learned a thing or two about the user experience. Back to iTunes for me.
What a horrible shopping experience that was. Can't reward them with my cash for such a piss poor user interface. Can't sort searches. Try looking up a song title and you'll get a mish mash of results that you can't sort in any way.
You would think this deep into the game that they would have learned a thing or two about the user experience. Back to iTunes for me.
Very tangible - The Rhapsody shopping experience for me was very frustrating and confusing. I asked to see all the songs by Boz Scaggs and was rewarded with all the A-H songs with no way to see more. I did a search for a particular song title and got a ton of stuff with little connection to what I was looking for and no way to sort the results. I couldn't see the total length of the song, so I couldn't tell if it was a shorter or longer version of a song which happens quite often when a song has been put out on many albums. I could go on, but that was enough for me to not shop at Amazon or Rhapsody again. It's just too painful an experience.
"We're no longer competing with the iPod," Rhapsody Vice President Neil Smith said. "We're embracing it."
So correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the intent of the record companies decision to not allow DRM free music on iTunes to steer consumers AWAY from the iPod?
What the labels are unhappy with is Apple's SUCCESS. They don't like so much power being in the hands of this newcomer in their industry.
They want to smack Apple down and get multiple online stores in competition, and ironically, giving up their precious DRM--which they surely HATED to do--has proven to be the only way to pull that off.
And for extra irony, this particular situation puts the music labels (kicking and screaming) on the same side as consumers: promoting DRM-free music and the competition between multiple vendors to choose from.
I welcome the new options like Amazon and Real. (The iTunes store isn't going anywhere, and neither is the iPod.)
"We're no longer competing with the iPod," Rhapsody Vice President Neil Smith said. "We're embracing it."
So correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the intent of the record companies decision to not allow DRM free music on iTunes to steer consumers AWAY from the iPod?
It's an anti-Apple move in general, and specifically an anti-iTunes Music Store move. Not so much an anti-iPod move: iPod owners are a huge portion of the labels' market to sell music to.
In addition, I think they saw DRM-free music as a risky, scary experiment--one they had resisted for a long time. They didn't want to start that scary experiment with the leading biggest music store (iTunes)--better to experiment with a less-established store (like Amazon).
I think you're right. Who's going to tell the press, me or you?
Makes you wonder how things might have turned out in the computer business if the PC manufacturers and software developers had taken the same tough line with Microsoft 15 years ago.
The fact is that more the half the players sold are ipods. Ipods play MP3 and AAC. AAC is a newer, better format for music. Better sound in less space. In time all players will embrace AAC, Apple just happens to be one of the first.
I have used emusic, amazon and itunes. I have never used Rhapsody, Napster or whatever. I think that just about every single song I have purchased on iTunes I ended up getting the CD. I have over 1000 CDs and will continue to buy them even if they just collect dust after I've ripped them into my MacPro. The same with DVDs, I buy them and rip them into my computer and put the disc away.
I use iTunes because the interface is done well compared to Amazon and emusic. I took a look at Zune setup and laughed. Judging by what has been said, the Rhapsody interface is not done well, I will have to give it a look and see.
Edit: Ah...Rhapsody is Realplayer, I remember them back in my old PC days a decade ago. Not bad, everything is flash-based so it will not work at work with security an all. Will have to wait till I get home.
I have used emusic, amazon and itunes. I have never used Rhapsody, Napster or whatever. I think that just about every single song I have purchased on iTunes I ended up getting the CD. I have over 1000 CDs and will continue to buy them even if they just collect dust after I've ripped them into my MacPro. The same with DVDs, I buy them and rip them into my computer and put the disc away.
I use iTunes because the interface is done well compared to Amazon and emusic. I took a look at Zune setup and laughed. Judging by what has been said, the Rhapsody interface is not done well, I will have to give it a look and see.
Edit: Ah...Rhapsody is Realplayer, I remember them back in my old PC days a decade ago. Not bad, everything is flash-based so it will not work at work with security an all. Will have to wait till I get home.
I refuse to buy any music that isn't DRM free. I tend to go buy the CD instead and then import it. I don't want music that down the road might be unplayable or won't let me move it where I want to play it. Plus Apple's DRM AAC files are only 128kbit. I want at least 256kbit. Actually, I'd prefer the option to buy Apple Lossless files (which is what I get when I import my own CDs, although I do keep a secondary database at 256 just for use with my iPod Touch since it can only hold 16GB, which is about half my collection at 256. The Apple Lossless version takes up 120GB, but it's an exact backup of my CDs. I use two 500GB drives (one for backup of the main drive so I never have to scan them all in again).
Really, with today's high speed connections there's NO reason they should NOT be selling Lossless audio files. Any ideas about copy protection or DRM, etc. go right out the window when you figure you can go buy a new CD for $10-18 (less with CD clubs) that have no protection on them at all and let's you build a lossless library.
It's not that different with iTunes and video either. I wanted the old Voltron cartoon collection and it turned out it was slightly cheaper to buy the DVDs off Amazon and they have all kinds of extras and I can move them anywhere I want to play them. What would I do with it on iTunes? I'm stuck watching it on either AppleTV or on my computer or iPod Touch. I can take the DVDs anywhere (in the car, someone else's house; handbrake them to the computer to do the same as the iTunes versions, etc.) Basically, I think there should be some kind of INCENTIVE to buy online. They should either be cheaper or they should be very flexible (how about an option to burn to DVD, for example?). It would save me the handbrake time over DVD (assuming I wanted to have them on the computer), but what if I want them on DVD for some reason? The train should travel both ways, IMO. At least with music, you can burn a CD to play in the car or whatever, but you don't end up with the same quality as the CD in the stores if you burn from compressed AAC or MP3. Maybe you can't hear the difference, maybe you can. I still don't want my master copy compressed if I don't have to have it that way.
Incorrect.
The Zune, Blackberry, Sony phones, the iPod of course, all support AAC. Except the el cheapo brands, but what is that, like <1% of the market??
I am waiting for more AAC 256 DRM-free music. From whatever source! I really like the Rhapsody model, actually, but I don't want to buy MP3s.