“I was prepared to love the new version of the music streaming service Rhapsody, which adds portable subscriptions to its list of optional features. I’m a longtime Rhapsody subscriber with a lengthy commute, so the promise of being able to take the music I subscribe to anywhere I want is exciting. Unfortunately, in my experience, a big part of the new service just didn’t seem to work,” Edward N. Albro writes for PC World.
“It’s supposed to work like this: You download Real’s new Rhapsody 3 player, and for $10 per month you can listen to music you stream on demand from Real’s servers, or you can store as many tunes as you like from its million-song collection on your notebook’s hard drive. For an extra $5 per month, you can upgrade to a Rhapsody To Go subscription, which, in theory, lets you transfer those tracks to a few supported portable digital audio players (not including any Apple iPod),” Albro writes.
“As long as you maintain your Rhapsody To Go subscription (and sync your player regularly), you can play the music, whether or not you have an Internet connection. And, subscription or no, should you deem a song worthy of ownership, you can now purchase and download the file directly from Real. Previously Rhapsody subscribers could play music only when they were connected to the Web; and if they wanted to buy music, they had to burn the tracks directly to CD,” Albro writes.
“In my tests, transferring tracks to a notebook and playing them while I was unconnected to the Net worked fine. Of course, that’s no great accomplishment–other music services have been allowing something like that for years. But despite trying with two IRiver H10 MP3 players, two Rhapsody accounts, and two PCs, and getting suggestions from Real engineers, I was never able to transfer any Rhapsody track I hadn’t bought outright onto a portable player. For me, at any rate, Rhapsody To Go just didn’t work,” Albro writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Real is a joke. They’re so desperate that they have to repeatedly try to hack into Apple’s iPod platform (which to us shows a decided lack of confidence in iRiver and whatever other also-ran players Real’s pushing). Our advice: stay away from Real and watch the death spiral from a safe distance.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Time Magazine article about RealNetworks’ Rhapsody makes no sense – April 27, 2005
RealNetworks says ‘Harmony’ hack once again compatible with all Apple iPods – April 26, 2005
The Motley Fool: RealNetworks’ new Rhapsody ‘is still largely on the sidelines of the music war’ – April 26, 2005
RealNetworks launches new Rhapsody services, gives away 25 songs per month – April 26, 2005
Apple iTunes Music Store killer? Real expected to add subscriptions to Rhapsody music service – April 26, 2005
Real CEO Glaser calls Apple ‘deceptive’ with iTunes Music Store – March 07, 2005
Real CEO pitches to half empty room at tech symposium; Apple draws standing-room-only crowd – February 25, 2005
RealNetworks’ CEO Rob Glaser grabs 3 of top 10 spots on ‘Dumbest Moments in Business 2005’ list – January 31, 2005
RealNetworks ‘Harmony’ stops working on iPods but nobody notices for a month and a half – December 15, 2004
Bono-Glaser photo caption contest now open – October 25, 2004
Real’s CEO Glaser: ‘Harmony’ hack legal, Mac lovers are very sensitive to Apple criticism, and more – September 14, 2004
Analyst: Rob Glaser’s ill-advised war against Apple ‘is going to bite RealNetworks on the ass’ – August 30, 2004
RealNetwork’s CEO Glaser crashes Apple’s music party – July 30, 2004
Real CEO Glaser: Steve Jobs’ comments on Real ‘not succeeding’ are ‘ridiculously humorous’ – April 29, 2004
NY Times: Real CEO Glaser was close to having ‘iPod’ before Apple, but let it ‘slip through his fingers – April 24, 2004
Real’s CEO Glaser: Apple’s iPod/iTunes combo ‘threatens to turn off consumers’ – April 20, 2004
Jobs to Glaser: go pound sand – April 16, 2004
Real CEO Glaser begs Apple to make iPod play nice with other music services – March 24, 2004
Real CEO Glaser: ‘iTunes is only going to be used for playing songs you bought using the iTunes store – January 16, 2004
MDN Magic Word: “water” , as in the iRiver is dry.
I’ve been keeping my distance from REAL for a REAL long time now.
MDN Magic Word: Good as in: Now is a good time to move from Rhapsody to iTunes.
Let’s hope that when it comes to streaming more broadcasters pick up Quicktime. I’m sick of being offered Real or WinMediaPlayer…
REAL is what I used to call my nephew: A WASTE OF SPACE!!!
No really, these people would be doing everyone a favor by leaving the scene — and the sooner the better. Kind of like how everyone feels about American Idol. No, I keed the bereft of talent, like REAL and Seacrest.
Okay, not this time.
hehe
I’m not sure real’s system or the iriver should qualify for the “plays for sure” logo.
But then again, they ARE qualified, huh?
What a load of marketing bull.
DC
for fragmenting the digital music scene with their proprietary formats. Damn that apple. Damn them.
They should be forced to make iTMS, iTunes, and iPods unreliable and difficult to use.
Two stars out of five is what you’d expect a professional reviewer to give to a POS.
hahaha.. wow.. I really thought they were gonna “revolutionize the music business” this time (like Glaser said they would)