Rhapsody hits the big 4.0

Along with all that SanDisk and Best Buy fraternizing that Real announced this morning, they've released the new 4.0 version of their Rhapsody music service. Perhaps the biggest change is under the hood: they're basing the player on the new "Rhapsody DNA," which is a technology platform that combines Real's Helix DRM, custom firmware for players (like the Sansa), and a web service API that allows for Sonos integration and other capabilities. What this means for the consumer is that Rhapsody 4.0 operates with the Sansa player in a much more integrated fashion than your average PlaysForSure syncing scheme. The new Rhapsody allows you to subscribe to genre or artist "Channels" which are automatically refreshed on your Sansa; drag and drop tracks into your library or onto the player; and create dynamic playlists that are, again, synced to your player automatically. There are other minor enhancements, mostly based around music recommendations, along with a decent facelift and a library import feature that can pull in stored music files, including files from "other services" -- which we're guessing refers to PlaysForSure files only. Prices are the same as ever: $9.99 for "Unlimited," and $14.99 for "Rhapsody To Go." Real is also promising week-early access to certain "hot new albums," and while all Rhapsody features will be available in the Best Buy Digital Music Store, there's going to be some exclusive content there as well. Real also announced today that they'll be pre-loading 30 hours of Rhapsody music onto all Sansa Rhapsody players sold.

[Jeremy @ Oct 5th 2006 3:02PM]

Well at least they have good taste in music featuring 'Bar 17' by Trey Anastasio! It'll be interesting to see how this relationship works out.

[Lee Glantz @ Oct 5th 2006 3:04PM]

This looks pretty cool...if I were interested in a subscription-based DRM service. But I'm not! There are some months where I buy absolutely nothing on iTunes and others where I buy a few tracks here and there, or maybe one soundtrack or tv show. Most people already own the majority of their music and aren't buying that much on a monthly basis. If I was, I'd definitely do a subscription service, but because I don't want another guaranteed 10-15 dollars to disappear from my bank account each week with the promise all the music I "purchased" to disappear if I don't pay it, why do it?

[CharlieX @ Oct 5th 2006 3:09PM]

"Wierd Al" is #1 on their artist chart? whoah.... timewarp.

[Nick @ Oct 5th 2006 3:13PM]

iTunes much?

[Jake @ Oct 5th 2006 3:17PM]

Real seems to be doing some cool stuff with Rhapsody and also finding very good partners.

I use Rhapsody and I love it.

I haven't tried either the Sansa player or the Sonos system but both of those platforms are supposedly excellent.

Unlike Lee, I think the subscription based service is definitely the way to go.

Now, if the Sansa would just play audible.com files (audio books) and if they could add in a podcast aggregator/synch function they might actually be able to compete with iTunes -- someday.

[Ryan @ Oct 5th 2006 3:28PM]

The only thing keeping me with Real's Rhapsody is their Rhapsody Online service, where I can access their music library from my Macbook Pro. Otherwise I'd switch to yahoo or urge.


Their Rhapsody Online (rhapsody.com) was also updated today as well.

[shon Dempsey @ Oct 5th 2006 3:42PM]

well at least its not a complete itunes ripoff. well done.

[ghost @ Oct 5th 2006 3:56PM]

I'd jump in if the To-Go feature was $9.99 instead of $14.99.

[Ben @ Oct 5th 2006 4:14PM]

Then get Yahoo music. It is only 9.99 per month for "to-go" service and 4.99 a month for computer limited service. I have been using the to-go service for a year and have enjoyed it immensely.

[Chris @ Oct 5th 2006 4:19PM]

I've used Rhapsody for years now (at least it seems that way...). And for ~$120 bucks a year (WAY more than I spend on CD's), I have a huge library available at home and work.

Subscription is the way to go.

[Dom @ Oct 8th 2006 10:26PM]

Heh, I thought it was a new iTunes.

[Steve @ Oct 5th 2006 4:35PM]

I have tried Yahoo, Napster, & Urge. Subscription is the way to go. For only $15 bucks a month I fill my 30 gig Zen Vision and have discovered massive amounts of new music I never would have known about. I like Rhapsody the best because it is user friendly, seems to have the most songs, and does not bring my computer to a slow crawl like other services. I also have an iPod but refuse to pay .99 for a DRM'd song.

[Trent @ Oct 5th 2006 5:06PM]

BUFFERING do do DA DA do dum de dum BUFFERING

[Dave95 @ Oct 5th 2006 5:07PM]

"Rhapsody DNA"

Putting the 'DNA' in the name makes it sound so much more scientifically advance than PlaysForShure. In all honesty, this partnership and integration makes it much more appealing than PlaysForSome, which is why I use iPod/iTunes.

Yes the record companies would rather you pay a monthly fee for years also for Subcription, that is stuck to your computer. Pay more to have it stuck to your DAP!

[Mike @ Oct 5th 2006 5:33PM]

Holy iTunes knockoff, Batman!

I mean, metallic appearance and everything.

[Michael @ Oct 5th 2006 5:18PM]

I have a couple of friends who love Rhapsody and have been using it for years. I use iTunes and they never cared about iTunes and I never cared about Rhapsody. It's like we just never understood each other. haha. Each to their own I guess. You have to be the type that really likes alot of music and discovering new stuff every day. My friends are like that. I on the other hand usually end up skipping over 75% of the stuff on my iPod because I'm just not in the mood for it. Meanwhile I'll listen to the same track over and over again 30 times in a row.

[Rick Lyon @ Oct 5th 2006 6:07PM]

I agree, Big iTunes Knockoff! LOL

[Gary @ Oct 5th 2006 6:42PM]

First off, all you guys claiming this is an itunes knockoff can go live in your own little Mac world.

Second, upgrading to this new version totally screws any chance of using Tunebite (or any other automated WMA to MP3 software). Found this out the hard way, as the downloaded tracks are now .rex files, and cannot be easily converted to play on normal mp3 players. Anyone have a link to the old version (3.1)?

[Gary @ Oct 5th 2006 6:46PM]

Sorry for the double post, but I just answered my question. Go here to download version 3.x.

http://service.real.com/rhapsody/download/version3/

[Bryan Davis @ Oct 5th 2006 6:47PM]

ha. itunes knockoff. so they copied the cosmetics. thank god they didn't cripple the functionality to be like itunes. want all you can eat? rhapsody has it. want pay as you go? rhapsody has it. want to choose your music store? you can do it with rhapsody. want to listen to music without your system grinding to a halt? rhapsody again.

i'd say the biggest "feature" in this release though - is the IE7/Vista support. 'bout time.

[Ferny @ Oct 5th 2006 7:29PM]

I agree that it is a iTunes knockoff even though I dont' like itunes. I like WMP 11 better.

[Billy @ Oct 5th 2006 8:15PM]

Remember also that Rhapsody has a 14 day free trial to check it out. I use it and enjoy it as well.

http://roxorweb.com/12/free-14-day-trial-of-rhapsody

[solomonrex @ Oct 6th 2006 8:56PM]

Wow it took Microsoft partners... 3 whole weeks to release a competitive product after Zune was announced!

[chris @ Oct 6th 2006 5:58PM]

yea... definitely a rip of itunes... at least have some of your own design...

[3rdsun @ Oct 5th 2006 10:33PM]

When are they gonna update real player its been stagnant forever. come on get Real.

[Jeff @ Oct 6th 2006 3:48AM]

hahah it's like a fugly Bizzaro iTunes

[trotter @ Oct 6th 2006 8:04AM]

anybody know whether rhapsody 4.0 will work with my zen vision m?

[Volls @ Oct 6th 2006 1:22PM]

To me this sounds pretty interesting. I've been a long time iPod user -primarily listening to my existing library - which grows through the purchase of music from the itunes store as well as real deal store bought CDs. I've done the Rhapsody trial and it's pretty impressive... allows you to listen to what you want whenever you want.

Regardless of all that. My main question is: Is there a difference between the Sansa e260 player I can buy right now online and the Sansa e260R that they are referring to with this release? Will you be able to flash the firmware on an existing e260 or do you have to buy an e260R? Or do you even need to do anything at all?

Thanks-

[jerimiah797 @ Oct 6th 2006 3:48PM]

I don't *think* the regular e260 can be upgraded to the e260R with firmware. Of course I really have no idea, it sure would be cool if you could.

I got a sneak peek at the e260R and the stuff it has over the regular e260 seems to be the 'channels' thing, which is like downloadable radio stations you can customize, ratings which actually synchronize with the service so it helps customize stuff for you, and the artist blurbs for each track, which are pretty nifty and entertaining. The whole thing is a music geek's dream come true...

I'm waiting for the Rhapsody version.

[John Beach @ Oct 6th 2006 3:43PM]

Just got a response from support that the current e260 is not upgradable to the e260r so once again I get burned.

[Warner King @ Jan 9th 2007 11:26AM]

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