Rhapsody Unlimited Subscription
v3.0, tested January 2007
(See below for Conclusions, Free Trials, System Requirements, Rhapsody To Go and SuperPass)
Based on my experience with Real.com in the past, I was ready to really dislike Rhapsody. The company likes to try to hijack your desktop with its media player, and this had caused my old computer to misbehave.
But things were looking up as I get started with the service. The software is easy to download and use. The player is intuitive. The selection is strong, combining new and popular releases with more obscure artists. Browsing the catalog is easy with a selection by artist, genre and new releases. Downloading and buying are very straightforward and happen in the background while you continue to browse or listen to music. The subscription is somewhat expensive at $12.99 per month, but the 10% discount on downloads for subscribers (89 cents) is a nice touch. On ease of use, price of downloads and ability to find music, Rhapsody was beating Napster.
Rhapsody's intuitive dashboard
iPod compatibility
Perhaps most interesting is the compatibility with either WMA portable devices or iPods (for purchased tracks only, not the Rhapsody to Go service). This makes Rhapsody among the most flexible services along with eMusic. A convenient feature is the ability to migrate over iPod users to the Rhapsody library.
In the extra bells and whistles category is the ability to play songs from your Rhapsody subscription over a home stereo, using a separately-purchased device. Think your great taste in music needs to be shared with the world (or at least with your friends)? With the Share features, your friends can listen to up to 25 tracks for free from your "shared" library posted online. Finally, Rhapsody gives you the ability to create and edit your own radio station based on selected artists and listen to the results via streaming media.
Oh the wonderful things you can do
If only that was the end of the story. I found the ".rax" file formats difficult to transfer between computers and to my portable device. I eventually had to burn downloaded songs that I had purchased to a CD and then rip them to a new computer and to my portable device. The Rhapsody software weighed very heavy on my computer, and seemed to be the culprit for some very slow performance and a couple of computer crashes. I wasn't ready to give Rhapsody the benefit of the doubt for my computer and portable device compatibility problems, so I tried to cancel the free trial. This resulted in some long hold times (you have to cancel by phone), serious frustration and some not-so-nice comments to a customer service rep in India.
Other Opinions
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CNET Editors - 8.0 (out of 10)
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CNET Users - 6.5 (out of 10)
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ePinions - 3.5 (out of 5)
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PC Magazine - 4.0 (out of 5)
System Requirements
Conclusion
Now Rhapsody has won enough awards and garnered positive reviews from professionals and end users alike. So there's a decent chance that I'm the problem here. See for yourself with the free trial. Bottom line: We'd recommend Rhapsody if you're an iPod owner who wants to explore new music from your desktop. If you're a non-iPod MP3 player owner, go for Napster.
Free Trials
There’s a 14-Day free trial to Rhapsody Unlimited to give you time to test the service, make sure it works with your PC, CD burner and portable device.