Rhapsody music downloads digital service getting a Good rhap.
Rhapsody music, from RealNetworks is one of several
reputable legal digital services for legal music downloads.
These are the types of services where you have to pay in order
to download online music or hear songs from them. Along with
Rhapsody, these also include iTunes, Musicnet, Musicnow,
wal-mart downloads, and the newly revived Napster.
Rhapsody continues to improve by leaps and
bounds with over 1.2 million tracks in its catalog,
thanks to nitching deals with all five label giants and over 500
independent labels.
It now has a fully-featured jukebox that makes searches a
snap and importing tunes from, let's say, a CD a sinch. Other
elegant features include the ability to incorporate different
files such as MP3, WMA, AAC (M4A), and RealAudio to your main
Library - named "My Library". And you can mix these files
in the library any way you like and develop different playlists.
I'm very sure that this superb service will only improve with
time.
So how did it all start?
Well, we need to rewind the clock some four years ago...
During that time iTunes did not exist, and Napster's outlawed
ancestor had reached its demise a few months prior. Nonetheless,
there was... drumroll... Rhapsody.
While part of listen.com, it was launched in December
2001. It wasn't until July, however, that songs from all
major labels became part of its diverse catalog.
RealNetworks acquired listen.com in August 2003. After
thus changing the name to RealRhapsody, the service regained its
classic title, "Rhapsody".
Downloading the software is fairly straight forward. Be advised
however that this is not for Mac users. The tracks streamed from
Rhapsody are compatible with Windows Media devices,
which, of course, are only found on Windows PC's and compatible
portable devices.
The interface consists of your simple Play, Stop, etc.
functions on the upper lefthand corner. Next to this is track
information including: the title, the artist, and the album.
A brief bio plays to the right of the track interface.
So how do you search for your favorite artist or song? Easy...
just type it in the Search bar and press go. Once you
have found your song, you usually can INSTANTLY play it without
downloading it - i.e., you can stream it. Note: sometimes when
you press play, a "!" will appear in a triangle meaning that the
stream is unavailable. In this case, you need to press the "+"
sign. This adds the track to your Library where you can access
it from there.
The streams are of such excellent quality that it seems that if
the song is already downloaded on your computer.
Note: once you press "PLAY" the song is automatically added to
your library for good. The library need not consist of
downloads. It could consist only of streams.
When you press "PLAY" the song is added to a temporary playlist.
When you add the song on your playlist by pressing play it will
play immediately.
If you don't want the song to be played immediately (such as if
you're in the middle of listening to another song) you can just
press the "+" sign to the left of the song title. This will
automatically store the song to the main library. In
order to bring it to the playlist, you will have to open up the
Library first and then drag the song to your playlist, much the
same as how you would do with any other digital music downloads
service.
If your library is large, don't worry. The library search tool
is similar to that of iTunes - very easy peanuts to find
your tune or artist.
OK. So these are some of the handy-dandy features of Rhapsody. But do they contribute to a pleasant
experience for music downloads fans?
Stay tuned for my next article...