Nokia and Real add Rhapsody to the N800

Well today's a really good day for anyone who subscribes to Rhapsody AND owns one of those Nokia N800 internet tablets: Nokia and Real have teamed up to release a firmware update that adds Rhapsody support to the N800. The update basically turns the N800 into a celestial jukebox and lets you access anything in Rhapsody's music catalog, no PC required (it sorta reminds us of the Rhapsody integration that Sonos added with Sonos System Software 2.0). The update should be available today, you can download the update directly to the N800 via the Tableteer menu.

[John Laur @ Mar 27th 2007 11:53AM]

From what I understand there is no A2DP profile aupport on the N800 so therefore there's no way to get that music playback out of the device (and presumably back to a stereo somewhere) without a wire.

Booooo!

[Mrmean @ Mar 27th 2007 11:58AM]

lol @ Real

[Kamokazi @ Mar 27th 2007 12:02PM]

A Linux device with DRM'd music? That just sounds so...wrong.

[Olivier @ Mar 27th 2007 12:08PM]

The intersection between N800 owners and Rhapsody subscribers cannot be anymore than 100 people.

How about we get some full screen and full res video playback going onto the N800?

[Matt @ Mar 27th 2007 2:32PM]

The intersection of people who owned CDs and cars in 1988 couldn't have been more than 100.

It's an internet tablet first and foremost. The developer community will add video.

[John Stracke @ Mar 27th 2007 12:58PM]

I'm annoyed that they haven't released this for the 770. It's not like it needs special N800 hardware.

[Brian @ Mar 27th 2007 2:20PM]

Is that the album Nokia/Real chose to pimp or was that your selection? Great album either way.

[karlk79 @ Mar 27th 2007 3:04PM]

I just tried it out, not bad. It seems like it will only stream music. I didn't see an option to store it. The interface is ok as well. Three panes and the screen only shows two at any one time. It does a slide thing to control the panes. Its not to bad. I have a headphone jack connected to RCA outputs on my stereo and it sounds like MP3 quality to me. You also get a free one month subscription. No sign-up needed just click you want a month free and it goes right into the program. I guess you might eventually need a username/password combo. But like I said it plays right off the bat no info needed. Its not DRM that I can tell just streaming off their library of music / spoken word stuff.

[Sean O @ Mar 27th 2007 9:09PM]

Why are they releasing this for just one phone? Very annoying. I've been hoping to get Rhapsody streaming on my WM5 device.

[elam110 @ Mar 28th 2007 3:04AM]

Its not a phone Sean O, its an Internet Tablet. It would be cool if they had that on phones, but without some nice wireless highspeed it might be a bit tough to stream on a phone network.
I'd probably agree about the WM5 though.

[Sean O @ Mar 28th 2007 5:08PM]

Not sure if you live in a cave, but high-speed wireless has been around for a while.

[elam110 @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:26AM]

I live in a cave? I was just trying to correct you for calling the Nokia N800 a PHONE... and I don't know where you get your High Speed internet from, but I don't consider 200Kbps fast... Don't be a prick to people because you are wrong.

[Ryan @ Mar 29th 2007 7:44AM]

The firmware update didn't add this, it's a separate application (basically Nokia's Media Streamer app with the Rhapsody logo—really good for finger navigation) they just happened to coincide.

I've been using it at school between classes to stream music (it's nice not having to pre-pack stuff, just search for whatever you're in the mood for) and it works really well. Plugged it into my Onkyo/Axiom M22ti setup at home and it sounds about the same as 128Kbps MP3—not great, but it's acceptable for a mobile device (internet tablet, not phone).

[John Bailo @ Apr 1st 2007 10:16PM]

As a Rhapsody subscriber who has to dual boot Linux/XP this article is unclear to me. Right now, I can only use Rhapsody To Go to transfer mp3s to my Sansa m240 using Windows. The N800 would seem to eliminate the need for both the mp3 and the ToGo service if I could download songs to the N800 the way I can to my PC and then use it offline (like in my car).

So, question: can I download songs and listen to them offline? It would save me $5 a month ($10 for basic subscription instead of $15).

[Bergie @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:42PM]

I wrote a quick review of the Rhapsody app for N800 last week:

http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/first_look_at_rhapsody_for_n800.html

[Vince @ May 11th 2007 4:40PM]

It's buggy. I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for about a year and I just started using it on the N800. Even with good signal strength and internet capacity, songs will stop playing and the message "Internal Data Error" appears on the screen. This is on an out-of-the-box N800.

Other problems I've seen:
-Rhapsody channels always drop out after a few minutes.
-"Account login failed" error, again even when there is good wifi signal and internet access. This problem will last for a few hours or a whole day and then clear up again, probably after they've booted their authentication server.
-Rhapsody won't load at all. Again, this will happen once in a while and then go away again.

Rhapsody and Nokia support have been unresponsive.