Wired: Rhapsody's a Raspberry

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72184-0.html?tw=rss.index' target='_blank'>http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72184-0.html?tw=rss.index</a><br /><br /></div><i>"For the last several weeks I've been trying to use RealNetworks' Rhapsody subscription music service with one of SanDisk's Sansa players. I knew there were problems, but I've been truly shocked at how crappy it is. This isn't news to anyone who's tried to use one of the many devices based on Microsoft's PlaysForSure system, which even Microsoft has abandoned with the Zune. But for someone like me, a Mac user who rarely touches a Windows PC, the nightmare has been a revelation. I knew things on Windows could be bad, but jeez. How do people put up with this stuff? As much as I like the iPod and iTunes, I'm keen to discover new music -- and so I've been interested in subscription services for a long time. ITunes is OK for buying mainstream music, but there are huge gaps in the stuff I like -- obscure indies and electronica from Jamaica or the United Kingdom. ITunes doesn't offer an all-you-can-eat subscription service, which I was curious to try out."</i><br /><br />Wow, something of a scathing article about Rhapsody. I have weirdly enough only had positive experiences with Rhapsody, although I have never really used the to-go service. However, the author simply lays it into Rhapsody and doesn't provide good alternatives. The author talks about how well the iPod serves him but I don't see how that is comparing it to the music rental service that Rhapsody provides. Hmm, perhaps there don't exist any good alternatives. What is your current solution for music rental?

[priesmeyer]

I've used Pressplay/Napster, Yahoo and Urge as far as subsription services for several years. I've only had a couple of really bad issues with licenses and having to get support to assist. In however many years that's been, that's a pretty good average.

How are these people using it for a day or a week and coming to this conclusion that these services are a piece of junk.

Today, I'm using Urge for the WMP11 integration, and my wife (who is not the most technical person in our house) uses it easily to change her Sansa player for running. Even she sees the value of being able to download as many songs as she wants whenever she wants for the cost of a mere 10 iTunes songs.

These non-subscription services simply do not offer the value that sub services offer. I just can't get over these types of articles/reviews. It really blows me away.

I love subscription services- I tell everyone I meet how great they are and would never go back to a 99 cent a song + 30 second demo plan again.

[egads]

These non-subscription services simply do not offer the value that sub services offer. I just can't get over these types of articles/reviews. It really blows me away.

I love subscription services- I tell everyone I meet how great they are and would never go back to a 99 cent a song + 30 second demo plan again.

I'm just the opposite; I can't see why anyone would shell out a monthly fee for a subscription service. Personally, after all the crud I've gone through all of the years ever time I've installed Real's software I would not use Real's Rhapsody if it was free.

The only way I would ever join a subscription service is if it was $10 a month and my WHOLE family could use it. There is no way I can afford $40's of music subscription services per month.

[Jason Eaton]

I think it really has to do with your music purchasing styles.

If your constantly buying music and getting new music over and over, then sure the subscription service works. If I were to put myself in focus, I haven't purchased any new music in the past three months. So at zero new music I am out 30 bucks...

So I don't disagree with the article but I don't agree with it fully either. There are just two different purchasing styles. Unfortunately it isn't an easy apples to apples comparision but fruit stand to fruit stand.

Just two cents...

[priesmeyer]

Your whole family can use it. If your whole family is less than 5 devices (I think that's what most limit you to).

And I agree -- I stopped using Rhapsody after Real bought them. I think I need to clarify any earlier statements I made to that effect. I have no love for them although I did use the service prior to that.

Personally, I sync my wife's MP3 player and my Portable Media Center from the same Urge account (and also recently on my former Yahoo account). When I get my daughter an mp3 player for Christmas, I'll add her as well.

[Janak Parekh]

So I don't disagree with the article but I don't agree with it fully either. There are just two different purchasing styles. Unfortunately it isn't an easy apples to apples comparision but fruit stand to fruit stand.
Jason, I'm confused. I feel like we're reading different articles. The author agreed with the premise of subscription music; it's just that he was having a horribly buggy experience.

I can't speak for dedicated PFS players, but I have extensively tested PFS/Janus with the Pocket PC using both Rhapsody and URGE, and I can tell you that it sucks. Really badly. Buggy as hell. I can give more details if people want. I was ready to throw my Pocket PC against the wall several times during the experience. And I'm not a Microsoft newbie; I've been using Windows for decades, and hell, I'm a Mobile Devices MVP too. ;)

I've decided to keep Rhapsody, but only as a streaming service, not for On-The-Go/Janus. This has also been a strong factor in me keeping my iPod. I just don't want to deal with the hassle, even if it means I lose access to subscription music when I'm not at my desk.

--janak

[whydidnt]

My experience with "Plays for Sure" and Windows Mobile is about the same as Janak's. I finally gave up on Yahoo Music Unlimited, because I CONSTANTLY had re-download the same music to get the license to work on my WM device. Kind of defeats the purpose of a portable player if you have to re-download the music to it over and over again. Simply connecting and Syncing once a week as advertised did NOT keep all of the licenses up-to-date.

I probably shouldn't, but this leads me to another DRM rant. Companies seem so interested in stopping EVERY bit of potential piracy that they have made it difficult on themselves to actually sell whatever it is they are selling. My guess is that many have spend far more on trying to protect content than on what their real losses are as a result of piracy.

If your DRM solution makes it difficult or impossible for your customer to actually use the product he or she paid for then something is dramatically wrong. The big issue is one that has been brought up before the license needs to be tied to a person not a device. Let's be real here, the only thing DRM is accomplishing today is keeping a very small number of honest people honest. Anyone that really wants to crack the technology can and has. Why not take the sane approach and make a very simple user validation system that's only used ONCE when content is first accessed on any device, such as a user name and password, without ANY of the other encryption BS. If the user name and password are found in the wild it will be easy enough to track down.

[ale_ers]

Your whole family can use it. If your whole family is less than 5 devices (I think that's what most limit you to).


Actually I think you are limited to two devices with the subscription service, 5 if you purchase the song.

This has been a sticking point with me. I love the subscription service, but I think this number should be higher. Both my wife and I have players that we sync and I think I should be able to add 2 to 3 more. Most people have a flash player for running and a hard drive for everything else, not to mention having one for the kids.

[ale_ers]

I can't speak for dedicated PFS players, but I have extensively tested PFS/Janus with the Pocket PC using both Rhapsody and URGE, and I can tell you that it sucks. Really badly. Buggy as hell.
--janak

I think your problems are more with Pocket PC's then with the service (as you alluded to). I had tons of problems using my PPC with a subscription service and finally gave up. I had the same opinion as you (that it was the service) untill I tried again with a dedicated DMP. Now I have not had any problems (to speak of) in two years with dedicated players.

I currently use Urge with a Sandisk Senza e200 and it just works. I plug it in and it even dowloads Urge's feeds (an ever changing playlist). This feature alone makes the subscription worth it. You constanly have new music on your player that chages every week.

If you ever get the chance to try it (the right way...not with a PPC) I think you would change your mind about the service.

[Janak Parekh]

I think your problems are more with Pocket PC's then with the service (as you alluded to). I had tons of problems using my PPC with a subscription service and finally gave up. I had the same opinion as you (that it was the service) untill I tried again with a dedicated DMP. Now I have not had any problems (to speak of) in two years with dedicated players.
I'll freely admit that's entirely possible, although to me the original article's author seems to have similar problems, and Jason's ranted on PlaysForSure unreliability in general on Zune Thoughts as a motivator as why Zune broke with tradition. So maybe different people are having different levels of success. iPod DRM, while limited and not supporting subscriptions, is absolutely rock-solid and absurdly simple. It works on an unlimited number of music players, so there's never the threat of a mistransferred or expired license.

This issue came to a head with Janus DRM even when I worked around the bugs, and perhaps you can clarify if the behavior is different with a DMP:

When a track is first sync'ed, an expiration date is set on the license (typically one month after the license is acquired). On the Pocket PC, this was not a sliding expiration date. For example, say a license was set to expire on December 1, 2006. If I plug in the Pocket PC today (November 29) and sync, the license expiration date remains the same. If I then don't sync on December 1, 2006, I can no longer hear my music until I go back to the computer and plug it in. This time, WMP would notice the license is expired and would acquire a new one, and sync it to the device.

Now, for me this is terrible behavior: I don't sync my music player daily, and certainly not the first thing in the morning when I'm out the door to catch my train. The times I was able to get the Janus sync working reliably, on several occasions (especially Monday mornings) I would get on the train, plug in my headphones, and notice I can't listen to anything, because the license expired. What I would consider essential is that the license is renewed each time, and is set to one month from last sync.

Can you provide feedback as to whether this differs with a DMP? If not, I consider that a showstopper problem, because I most use my DMPs when I don't want to interact with a computer, be it on the train, travel, etc. I still like Rhapsody and use it with my computer, but the value of On-The-Go is diminished considerably.

--janak

[Phoenix]

"Real" is still around?

Wow. I guess the movies are true. Some zombies just never seem to die off.