Best music download/subscription service for PPC + iPod?

[beq]

Here's the problem -- my significant other uses the iPod Photo whereas I of course use the Pocket PC as my music player.

I would like to find a music download service with a per-song fee, or even try a monthly subscription with unlimited songs. But I would really like to be able to transfer songs to both the Pocket PC and iPod without having to purchase two of every song or subscribe to two different accounts!

I haven't researched all the choices, but I see that the RealPlayer Music Store (which has 99-cent per song pricing model as opposed to their Rhapsody streaming subscription) alleges to support both the iPod (using iTunes/FairPlay) and the Pocket PC (using Windows Media). Has anyone tried how well this service works with both players?

I'm a bit surprised how this can work when you're supposed to be using the RealPlayer application (with its own DRM) on the desktop PC to manage your songs. Especially as I imagine Apple must be working hard to block their iPod from being used by other music stores.


P.S. In terms of just Pocket PC support, what's the most popular music download services, just curious?

[ChristopherTD]

A solution won't be easy as all the main online music shops have some form of DRM protection and they don't work well together. The only DRM that the iPod will understand is the iTunes DRM, whereas that is the only one that the PPC definitely doesn't understand.

My advice would be to buy CDs, then you can rip them in MP3 format at the bitrate of your choice, and then they can be used on both the iPod and PPC.

Any other solution will involve bypassing or stripping the DRM from the songs you buy online or subscribe to online.

[Phillip Dyson]

Or, you could buy CDs rip into AAC and use BetaPlayer with its AAC plugin. I don't think this plugin will play iTunes DRM, but definitely works with unprotected AAC.

Of course none of this helps with any online stores.

[GSmith]

And when you're ready to break from DRM forever, try listening to podcasts and "podsafe music". It is very liberating! Use iPodder, iPodderX, or iPodder Lemon to download music feeds to your desktop and to your wife's iPod. Use FeederReader to download directly to your Pocket PC.

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - The Pocket PC RSS, podcatcher, videocatcher
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[beq]

Thanks much for the suggestions guys. Ripping CDs and sticking to podsafe music sound good, but these days we're all very lazy and want the convenience of point and click access to all the latest popular music with the shortest amount of time/effort involved, hehe :mrgreen:

What I find interesting are the claims made by RealPlayer Music Store (which I have not tried). It seems funny how that would work. You'd use RealPlayer on the desktop as your music player/manager, but then transfer music to iPod which uses Apple's software with FairPlay DRM, and transfer to Pocket PC which uses Windows Media software & DRM. Three completely separate music software and DRM systems, how would that even work...

FAQ: http://service.real.com/musicstore/

http://www.real.com/musicstore/
http://www.real.com/harmony/
"Harmony Technology lets you buy and transfer music to over 100 portable devices including the iPod"

http://music.guide.real.com/musicstoredevices
http://music.guide.real.com/realplayerdevices
The top two featured players on the above pages are "Apple iPod" and "Windows Media Devices" (PalmOne PDAs are also supported using RealPlayer for Palm).


Edit: ARGH never mind, I just scrolled through the full list of supported devices, and apparently "Microsoft Pocket PC" is not (yet?) supported! :( I don't understand why not, when they advertise "Windows Media Devices" as supported and my PDA2k running WM2003 SE Phone Edition obviously has WM9 built-in.

Anyways I realize Real is still maligned by many users due to their history and reputation, but as it stands my so has actually been using Real a lot (for SuperPass sports broadcasts, etc), go figure. I was willing to use it too, except now I see Pocket PC is not supported so I'm back where I started.

[beq]

Hmm I just saw a post at this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=340096#340096) about how some people have been able to load WMP10 on their PDA2k from the latest leaked image for Blue Angel. Maybe WMP10 is what's missing to be able to be supported by RealPlayer Music Store? My PDA2k still only has WMP9...

[surur]

The best solution is to use itunes and just strip the drm using hymn project. Then use itunes to convert it to MP3, and keep the M4P archived somewhere. As the Ipod plays mp3's fine, you can use your song fine on your ipod, and also play it on any other device, including mp3 cd players, cell phones and probably toasters soon :) It only takes about 30 second per song so its not very onerous.

Surur

[beq]

Thanks Surur (I'll PM you). Looks nice, I'd thought you were referring to PyMusique (http://news.com.com/2102-1027_3-5625991.html?tag=st.util.print) but I guess it's different.

[dean_shan]

I agree with Surur, the best way it to buy your stuff off iTunes and then strip the DRM with JHymn. It's fast and simple way to play all your music on all your devices. Keep in mind this is just for your personal use as it still leaves all your information in the files (ie Apple ID).

[Hrun]

I use www.allofmp3.com to purchase my music. Downloaded to my PC as an MP3 l can do what I like with it.

HTH giles

[beq]

P.S. Having mentioned Real previously, their new Rhapsody 3.0 announcement (including the new Rhapsody To Go service) is interesting:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1784313,00.asp

Anyways, I guess if one wishes to try one of these $15/month unlimited portable music "rental" services like Napster/Rhapsody To Go, there's still no solution to use on the iPod.

To use with Windows Media requires WMP10 for the Janus DRM, so I'm hoping WMP10 on the Pocket PC will support this in the future (does anyone know for sure?).

For now I guess I'll stick with iTunes 99-cent purchases per Surur et. al, and if in the future I want to try the $15/month rental service I'll just have to convince the so to switch to a Pocket PC (when WMP10 is available)...


Edit: Oh wait a sec, I just saw that our JAM already comes with WMP10 (whereas the PDA2k comes with WMP9 out of the box). I guess I'll have to try out the WMP10 on the JAM to see if it's supported by Napster/Rhapsody To Go...

[beq]

That's strange, the Rhapsody To Go service recognizes my i-mate JAM (aka HTC Magician / XDA II Mini / MDA Compact) as being a supported Windows Media "PlaysForSure" device equipped with the Janus DRM (thanks to WMP10).

But the Napster To Go service does not seem to recognize the same i-mate JAM :? I wonder why not...


Both services do NOT recognize my i-mate PDA2k (aka HTC Blue Angel / XDA IIs / MDA III), presumably because it comes out of the box with ROM v1.22 which only includes WMP9.

I wonder how soon i-mate will release an official ROM update for the PDA2k that includes WMP10? Those at xda-developers.com have already had leaked Blue Angel ROM v1.33 image, and now even v1.40 (both include WMP10).

[surur]

How well does Rhapsody to go and WMP 10 work together. Can you just press a button to synchronise your current playlist to your device? How well does it handle smaller SD storage (vs multi-gigabyte HD's?)

Surur

[beq]

To tell you the truth I haven't actually tried it because Real does not yet offer a free trial for the $15/month Rhapsody To Go service which is supposedly still in beta technically (they do offer a free trial for the normal $10/month Rhapsody service which I'm on). Both Rhapsody and Rhapsody To Go use the same Rhapsody software though (which is completely separate from RealPlayer software). And when I tried transferring songs to the JAM, Rhapsody automatically detected that it's a supported Janus device and prompted me to upgrade my subscription to Rhapsody To Go. Whereas with the PDA2k, Rhapsody just prompted me to purchase the song first (89 cents).

Napster To Go (which I'm also on a free trial on) doesn't even seem to recognize any of my Pocket PCs as it doesn't show up in the list of devices. Whereas with Rhapsody, all my Pocket PCs and storage card readers show up as devices, but you only find out which ones are supported for "To Go" when you actually try to transfer a song without outright purchasing it.

Just to explain to others, the $15/month "To Go" services let you freely transfer most any songs to supported MP3 players in addition to streaming/downloading them to play tethered on your PC (which the $10/month rental services already offer).

But to burn to CD or to transfer to unsupported players, you'd still have to purchase each song individually (Rhapsody only charges 89 cents vs 99 cents though, plus Rhapsody also supports the iPod FairPlay to transfer purchased songs to -- not factoring in any hacks).

And Surur to answer your other question, I'm not well versed in Rhapsody (and I don't actually have a To Go subscription yet), but I can drag-n-drop individual songs or whole playlists to the device transfer list, and there's also a sync button to transfer your whole library. Not sure what would happen when your library/playlist is bigger than the SD card. But now I'm really wishing I have a PPC with built-in HDD, or a CF slot to take a CF HDD :roll:

What's worse is having to junk the barely used iPod Photo and all its accessories that I'd bought for my so (if we do go the "rental" route)...

[beq]

The good news is that far182 from xda-developers.com said his PDA2k upgraded to WMP10 is recognized and supported by Rhapsody To Go too:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=111432#111426

Similarly he said Napster To Go does not recognize his updated PDA2k natively, but mentioned it can still be transferred via the WMP10 application on the PC (instead of the Napster app) :oops: Duh I never thought about trying that, will try it now with the JAM too...

[beq]

Heh, I could transfer songs from Napster To Go to the JAM after all, by way of the Windows Media Player 10 application on the PC.

In fact, after I installed the Napster plugin for WMP10, it would seem that I can just use WMP10 for everything and disregard the stand-alone Napster application altogether :roll:

But now must still decide between Napster 2 Go (N2G) vs. Rhapsody 2 Go (R2G) service subscription... ???

Anyways I heard from my i-mate seller DWeiniger that supposedly another customer of his is preparing a ready-made pre-tested installer for the PDA2k 1.40 ROM update (including all the ExtROM). I plan to try that (since i-mate told me their own PDA2k ROM update is supposed to be released "SOON" but can't give exact date).

Then with our two PDA2k's plus a JAM, plus the 2GB SD cards I just ordered (to complement our current batch of 1GB SD cards), things should be rolling along pretty well for the N2G/R2G music subscription :mrgreen: I'll just eBay the iPod Photo I guess.