Copyright 2003 by Zittware.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copying prohibited!
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Rhapsody is a service offered by listen.com which is owned and operated by Real Networks (the makers of the Real Player). Rhapsody provides content protection (DRM) to keep their downloads legal and keep the RIAA off their back - this is done by streaming the music to your computer instead of allowing you to store any files. This turns out to be a main reason why this service scored so low in our review.
With this service; you pay a monthly service charge which allows you to stream music to your computer. This monthly charge starts from $4.95/mth; but most die hard music fans will need the more expensive plan for $9.99/mth. Access to the Rhapsody service is provided by a proprietary windows application and you cannot stream using any other software.
V2.1 of their application allows burning music to AudioCDs but does not allow the user to download to portable MP3 devices. Luckily; since the application creates standard AudioCDs; you can burn the music to CDRW disks then use CDMaster32 to rip the music back to MP3 so it can be used in MP3CD players or other MP3 devices. While it costs $0.79 per track to burn these music to AudioCD; Rhapsody currently offers the lowest cost per-track burning.
Rhapsody gets 4 out of 10 stars for their current offering.
Pros:
- Good Selection of Artists / Music.
- Most tracks seems to cost $0.79 to burn to CD.
- Best Song / Artist cross reference allowing you to find more music.
Cons:
- Files exist on their server. You don't receive any files; preventing "offline" streaming.
- Requires monthly service fees.
- Access to service only available with their Windows Application. No WWW streaming available.
| Service | RHAPSODY | ||||||||||
| URL | http://www.listen.com | ||||||||||
| Criteria | Sub Criteria | Specifics | Score | Total Possible score | Notes: | ||||||
| Overall | 4.13 | 10 | |||||||||
| Compatibility | 0.5 | 3 | |||||||||
| Format | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| Open / Standard Format | 0 | 0.5 | Files are stored on server; no way to directly access the files. | ||||||||
| Digital Rights | 0 | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Application Compatibility | 1 | ||||||||||
| Default format supported by CDMaster32 | 0 | 1 | Files aren't local to user's computer. | ||||||||
| Audio CD Format | 0.5 | 0.5 | Rhapsody application will burn to AudioCD for $0.79 per track | ||||||||
| Portability | 0.5 | 1 | |||||||||
| Burn AudioCDs | 0.5 | 0.5 | Rhapsody application only allows burning. | ||||||||
| Portable non-CD Devices | 0 | 0.25 | Cannot download to portable players. | ||||||||
| MP3CD Format | 0 | 0.25 | |||||||||
| Costs | 2.13 | 4 | |||||||||
| Service Fee | 0.63 | 1 | |||||||||
| Up-front Costs or Per Month | 0.33 | 0.5 | |||||||||
| None | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| <$10 | 0.33 | 0.33 | |||||||||
| $10-$20 | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| >$20 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Number of Plans | 0.15 | 0.25 | |||||||||
| N/A | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| >2 | 0.2 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 0.15 | 0.15 | $9.95/mth is the only plan which allows burning of AudioCDs. | ||||||||
| 1 | 0.05 | ||||||||||
| Type of Plan | 0.15 | 0.25 | |||||||||
| Unlimited | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| Per Month | 0.15 | 0.1 | Per mth service fee starting from $4.95. Discounts for pre-paying 3 mths at a | ||||||||
| Per Year | 0.1 | ||||||||||
| Downloads | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| Cost To Download | 0 | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Unlimited | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| limited | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| pay per | 0.1 | ||||||||||
| none / on server | 0 | 0 | no local files | ||||||||
| Available Players for Downloads | 0 | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Supplied / Proprietary | 0 | 0 | only app can stream music | ||||||||
| Standard | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| Any | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| Burn | Cost To Burn Audio CDs | 0.5 | 1 | ||||||||
| N/A | 0 | ||||||||||
| 0-$0.50 | 1 | ||||||||||
| $0.51-$0.99 | 0.5 | 0.5 | $0.79 per track. Best price available at review time. | ||||||||
| >$0.99 | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| Free Trial | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| No Trial | 0 | ||||||||||
| Sample Access | 0.25 | 0.25 | 30 second samples availabe with free preview. | ||||||||
| Full Access < 7days | 0.5 | 0.5 | free 7 day full access trial. | ||||||||
| Full Access > 7days | 0.25 | 1 | Unlimited preview to browse catalog. | ||||||||
| Availability | 1.5 | 3 | |||||||||
| Selection | 0.9 | 1.5 | |||||||||
| Number of Labels | 0.25 | 0.5 | |||||||||
| All | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 5 major | 0.25 | 0.25 | |||||||||
| Single | 0 | ||||||||||
| Selection of Songs | 0.65 | 1 | |||||||||
| All | 1 | ||||||||||
| Most Popular | 0.75 | ||||||||||
| Some Popular | 0.65 | 0.5 | Claims over 362,000 tracks available. But still missing some popular artists. | ||||||||
| Mostly Rare | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| File Rights | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| All Files have Same rights | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| Varies by Plan | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| Varies per Track | 0.12 | ||||||||||
| Listen only / No rights | 0 | 0 | no local files | ||||||||
| Song Database | 0.35 | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Free / Open Search | 0.05 | 0.1 | Must use app to browse catalog | ||||||||
| Detailed Artist / Song Info | 0.1 | 0.1 | Best of all services reviewed. | ||||||||
| Cross Reference Similar Artist / Music | 0.2 | 0.2 | Only site to give detail cross reference | ||||||||
| Exportable data | 0 | 0.1 | |||||||||
| Interface | 0.25 | 0.5 | |||||||||
| Web Based Browsing | 0 | 0.5 | no catalog via WWW. | ||||||||
| Proprietary Application | 0.25 | 0.25 | Must use app to access music | ||||||||
Rhapsody has common misspellings including: raphsody, rapsody, rapsodie
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