[Adam Krebs]

I've used URGE for over a year now, and have always enjoyed the way the Windows Media Player software allows you to discover music, and search efficiently. A fair amount of time, however, I find the catalog is lacking some of even the most basic music (more so than other services), and that Rhapsody tends to have what Urge does not, especially in the esoteric genres that I enjoy so much.

Conversely, WMP and Zune have a much better layout, which feels more intuitive, less cluttered, and more useful. The word wheel is one feature that I'm starting to miss, even after just one day of using Rhapsody full time. It is too difficult to find a specific song within an artist's page if you don't know what album it comes from, especially from prolific artists.

But at this point, it seems that the Windows Media group is coming to a crossroads: support the "never worked, never will" WMP/P4S, or bet on the new horse, Zune. With URGE out of the picture, I think the choice should be fairly obvious. I just hope they hurry up with it. We're nearing the 1 year anniversary of Zune (and subsequently the holiday season), and the only real firmware update we got was at launch. As Jason said, we don't have much of the functionality that the also-ran P4S players have, and the new URGE/Rhapsody/V-Cast deal should throw in over-the-air downloading and other integrated goodies. I want in.


And P.S., Williamc: There's been no updates to Rhapsody either... Weird.

[Adam Krebs]

I've used URGE for over a year now, and have always enjoyed the way the Windows Media Player software allows you to discover music, and search efficiently. A fair amount of time, however, I find the catalog is lacking some of even the most basic music (more so than other services), and that Rhapsody tends to have what Urge does not, especially in the esoteric genres that I enjoy so much.

Conversely, WMP and Zune have a much better layout, which feels more intuitive, less cluttered, and more useful. The word wheel is one feature that I'm starting to miss, even after just one day of using Rhapsody full time. It is too difficult to find a specific song within an artist's page if you don't know what album it comes from, especially from prolific artists.

But at this point, it seems that the Windows Media group is coming to a crossroads: support the "never worked, never will" WMP/P4S, or bet on the new horse, Zune. With URGE out of the picture, I think the choice should be fairly obvious. I just hope they hurry up with it. We're nearing the 1 year anniversary of Zune (and subsequently the holiday season), and the only real firmware update we got was at launch. As Jason said, we don't have much of the functionality that the also-ran P4S players have, and the new URGE/Rhapsody/V-Cast deal should throw in over-the-air downloading and other integrated goodies. I want in.


And P.S., Williamc: There's been no updates to Rhapsody either... Weird.

[Sage]

Does Rhapsody use Microsoft DRM? If so, shouldn't it be easy enough to convert ZM to use the Rhapsody back-end?

[williamc]

Originally Posted by Sage

Does Rhapsody use Microsoft DRM? If so, shouldn't it be easy enough to convert ZM to use the Rhapsody back-end?

I think you're right. But I wonder if MS wants their Zune to be seen as connected or dependent on anther vendor's platform after this? And it could be argued that Urge's doom was initially sounded when Zune decided against plays-for-sure compatibility, so perhaps they should have seen it coming..?

That said, a Zune/Rhapsody pairing, or at least cross-compatibility, would be a terrific move for customers.

Still no updates to marketplace, so obviously something has got to happen soon.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Sage

Does Rhapsody use Microsoft DRM? If so, shouldn't it be easy enough to convert ZM to use the Rhapsody back-end?

If I'm reading things correctly, they have the ability to work with PlayForSure devices, but they consider them "legacy" devices.

This comments in this article are quite telling.

[priesmeyer]

Amen. I still have a bitter taste in my mouth because of Real's past actions and RealPlayer practices.

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, so some good news - the sale of URGE will have zero impact on the Zune Marketplace. I have that from a trusted source inside the Zune team. I'm working on getting him to do a Q&A with me to help us all understand exactly what the relationship between URGE and the Zune Marketplace is...