MTV Urge Review
Tested July 2007
***AS OF OCTOBER 26, 2007, URGE HAS BEEN ABSORBED BY RHAPSODY****
Any unused balance on Urge has been transferred over to Rhapsody. Paid monthly subscribers will need to download and install the Rhapsody software (no small feat) while by-the-track members can use the Rhapsody 25 free account (i.e. 25 free song streams per month).
Summary
Bottom line: not the best, not the worst, not the cheapest nor the most expensive. But MTV Urge excels in guiding you to new music and exclusive content. Since it's a plug-in to Windows Media Player, it's less likely to bog down your computer than competing services. And don't be turned off by the MTV name if, like me, you tuned out around season 2 of the Real World. MTV Urge has a strong music selection across all genres, not just for the 13-18 year old crowd.
Our Ratings
- Software and Interface – 3 out of 5
- Music discovery and selection – 4/5
- Value – 3/5
- Extras – 4/5 (videos, exclusive content, no cancellation required)
- Overall – 3.5 out of 5
Music Download Options
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MTV Urge - $9.95/month for PC-based subscription
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MTV Urge To Go - $14.95/month for a PC and portable music device subscription
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Pay Per Download - $0.99 per song
Review
Following in the footsteps of Napster and Rhapsody is MTV Urge from MTV parent company Viacom. MTV Urge offers monthly PC-based and portable music device subscriptions. Like the other leading services, you get all-you-can eat access to music as long as you're a subscriber, but you can no longer access this music if you cancel your subscription unless you pay to download each song.
MTV Urge is a strong offering, but ends up in the middle of the pack in this competitive space: not as cheap as Yahoo Unlimited and not as intuitive as Napster. The best reason to subscribe to MTV is the ability to discover new music through hand-picked selections from the site's editors, "celebrity playlists" and MTV and VH1 exclusive content. While all music services try to help you discover new music, MTV excels in this area - which makes sense since they are a publisher rather than a software developer. For instance, I'm listening to Massive Attack while I'm writing this based on a "artists you may also like" link, which is a nice surprise. In contrast, I'm rarely pleasantly surprised by a Napster recommendation. Being that it's MTV, there's also a wide selection of music videos - when a track has a video available, a reel of film icon appears. A nice touch if you care to watch videos from your computer
Which brings up the software. MTV Urge is built around Windows Media Player 11, which proves to be both familiar and frustrating at the same time. On the plus side, the software does not require large downloads and plug-ins that can interfere with your computer's operation (see Rhapsody). The WMP 11/MTV Urge software scanned my computer and successfully cataloged my music selection. Downloads were easy. Music results can be sorted by star rating, title name or album name, However, searching on artists, albums, songs (2 million of them) and my downloaded tracks should be easier and quicker. Pages often take 15 seconds or more to load. It takes me longer to find music, add it to a playlist or burn it than it should. After several minutes, I did succeed in buying one track ... twice.