We had a feeling this day was coming. After
Spotify's subscription music app was approved, offline listening intact, there was every indication that Rhapsody was next for christening. Especially with the
feds watching Apple's every move. The free download just went hot and requires a $15 per month Rhapsody To Go subscription -- you can try it for free for a week -- and streams 64kbps quality (ugh) music over WiFi or cellular data (only, no off-line access) from a catalog of about 8 million tracks offered by the MTV and RealNetwork tie-up. Now go 'n get it.
Update: Added video demo after the break.
[Via
Komo News, thanks Bill Y.]
Read -- Rhapsody App [iTunes link]
posted Sep 10th 2009 1:31AM
and here i thought i was going to pay to use slacker radio, this work out even better.
forget it, i'm not even going to give it a try....it told me i already used up my 7 days of free trial when i have just freaking downloaded this app...
64kbps quality??? And only online. What apple crap. This is how Apple handles subscription music. It castrates it by destroying the quality of the song and by forbidding it to be played offline. For $15/mo, the same rate for getting the same music, only @ 160kbps and the ability to play offline, anywhere your mp3 player can take you.
Then it'll say ... hey ... subscription music, we tried it ... doesn't work ...
@cresentdavid
reading the article would seem to be optional in your case eh?
Real Networks, not Apple... sigh
$15/month for only 64kbps quality?!!?!?!!?!!! you gotta be shittin' me
Oh crescent... haha.
Rhapsody isn't Apple. It's actually an iTunes competitor... and a crappy one at that. I tried it a few years back and was appalled.
Good luck canceling your subscription, too. You have to call in. I got some Indian guy spending a good 30 minutes trying to talk me out of it in pseudo-English. "Sir, ah yew ah moozeek lohver?" Priceless.
There's just no satisfying the griping vocal minority. If Apple hadn't allowed the app, people's balls would have been in an uproar. Now that they have it, it's still biyatch city. 64 kbps music isn't going to kill you to listen to. It's a wee bit expensive, but you've got your millions of songs to listen to.
Steal music from Limewire or rip CDs from your local library. There's plenty of alternatives of getting free music.
I've been a subscriber to Rhapsody since they first came out in 2003 and it's the one subscription I can't live without. $15 a month to download almost any music of your choosing? I have two 4GB non-Apple MP3 players and at any time, I can cram over 1,000 songs (4MB avg each MP3) of my choosing into each one. Imagine if you have a 32GB iPhone or iPod Touch ... you can potentially cram well over 8,000 songs in your player. And since Rhapsody allows you to download songs to up to three MP3 players with one subscription, you can have three 32GB iPhones loaded with MP3s for a total of over 24,000 songs AT ANY TIME. What can you get for $15 at iTunes? 15 MP3s!
By the way, you can use a Rhapsody subscription not only on MP3 players, but you can also use it on up to 3 PCs with one subscription (sorry Mac users, Apple doesn't support Rhapsody software). Some stereo receivers like Denon and wireless music systems like the Sonos and Logitech's Squeezebox can stream Rhapsody wirelessly. All this for $15 a month. One last thing, long before Apple even introduced iTunes, Rhapsody was already selling MP3s and selling them DRM-free for 99 cents a track at up to 320 Kbps.
Cool it fanboys, looks nothing like an iPhone.
Call me when there's a Grooveshark app
What's your number?
WHAAT??
IS THIS REALLY APPLE?
Although I do notice that they've forced you into only streaming and not downloading. Basically everything that is NOT the iTunes store.
As Jobs said in the keynote, jokingly, this really is the new Apple.
This confirms iPhone with 75K apps has become the DE FACTO platform for third party developers.
Hey, last week you said 40k.
Again...all those companies that you claim makes the iPhone the de facto platform have been developing for all the other mobile phone platforms for years and years.
It's kind of like the Beatles albums. If you go to your local Wal-Mart, BestBuy, or Target they're going to have at the most 15 albums. But each of those albums is either a major release of each album they put out or a digital remaster with tons of features. Now if you look at the Beatles on the iTunes store there are countless karaoke, spoken word, cover band or other gimmicky albums. Which one would you say was better? The iTunes store with a large number of crappy albums put out by who knows who? Or the major retailer with a smaller number of albums but with high quality albums put out by the companies who own them?
It's the same thing with the App Store. There are still many many MAJOR programs and developers who have yet to write anything for the iPhone. When you do finally get somebody big that decides to take a risk, that app gets neutered by Apple.
I think that happened a while ago. There are over 40,000,000 iPhones and iPod Touches. If you were a developer... which platform would you develop for?
The platform that has 245,000,000.
insky,
I never said 40K. You must have heard from someone else and it is wrong.
75K number is the official number from Apple. Anyway, my point is developers
realize that no platform can match iPhone and iTunes ecosystem. That's
why you're seeing 75K apps and still counting. Your arguments won't change
the fact about iPhone becoming the DE FACTO platform, IMO.
If it's your opinion that doesn't really make it the De Facto standard then does it.
Having 75,000 apps still doesn't mean anything if all the GIANTS are making their apps for all other platforms first and then half-assing the iPhone apps out of fear of Apple's approval process. Seriously, besides visual voice mail show me one innovative app that debuted on the the iPhone.
I guess I will agree with you on the De Facto thing though. The iPhone platform is the De Facto standard for fart apps.
Symbian is the de facto platform.
@insky >> "The platform that has 245,000,000."
Citation needed. Show me that developers are making more software for Nokia devices than Apple devices.
And to your other point about a larger number of crappy things vs. a smaller number of quality things...
That has nothing to do with anything. There are thousands of crappy applications for Windows too... but does that make Windows a crappy platform? Anyone can make any application they want for Windows. People have created 300 FTP apps for Windows. Why? Because they can.
I'd rather have 1000 developers making both good and bad apps for the iPhone... than having a phone that no one develops for at all.
And I'm a Blackberry user... they have apps, right? I can't find ANYTHING I want to download to my Blackberry that comes close to the free and fun things I download to my girlfriend's iPod Touch.
Michael, show me the app for the iPhone that doesn't exist for Symbian, isn't in development, has an alternative or doesn't apply to their market (i.e. Pandora which has licencing issues in Europe).
The point that is missed a lot is that S60 and WinMo have had apps for years and that these apps have had a rigorous selection process - the ones that were good remained, the ones that weren't vanished into obscurity. Having 70k apps means nothing - it's how many of them are used and over what period that counts.
Finally, please don't include games as that's a totally different market.
Wow, there are still people that think the apps on the App Store aren't by and large of much higher quality and usability than any other platform?
The market has quite clearly spoken in this case.
You're right, Scott. That's why Nokia sell more smartphones than Apple, RIM and HTC combined.
@Mark Anderson >> "Having 70k apps means nothing - it's how many of them are used and over what period that counts."
Having 70k apps only proves what we were initially talking about... the iPhone is a HUGE platform that developers are supporting.
If you want to disregard the 70,000 Apple apps and 1.8 billion downloads... then what's the measure of success for Nokia?
>> "You're right, Scott. That's why Nokia sell more smartphones than Apple, RIM and HTC combined."
I don't think you can call something a smartphone if it doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard, or at least an on-screen full keyboard. In my opinion, all of those Nokia sliders *aren't* smartphones if you have to tap out an e-mail with T9 on the number pad. But that's just me. Nokia has many QWERTY sliders and now full touchscreen keyboards. While their old flagship N95 and N96 were great camera phones... it would be almost impossible to type an email for business use. The N97 is a step in the right direction for Nokia.
Yes, Symbian has been on more phones than every other phone manufacturer combined. Here's a list: http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/s60history.htm
What does that have to do with what Apple is doing? Nokia only has a couple full touchscreen phones... the rest are QWERTY or sliders. An application on a touchscreen N97 would work vastly different on an E71... you'd have to use the keyboard to navigate instead. You really can't compare the iPhone to ALL Nokia phones anyway... only to other full touchscreen phones.
Apple made one environment... and all developers can take the full advantage of that one platform. They don't have to guess what device the user will be using.
Nokia wins in sheer number of devices running a single OS... but the devices themselves are so different that an app would work different depending on which device you are using.
I found this quote after I typed those 2 statements above: "The iPhone's uniform operating system and limited device range have actually excited developers more than Nokia's far wider 38% mobile handset market share. Even though Nokia has the volume, its Symbian platform and S60 user interface are not as versatile as other systems, while its huge range of handsets can become a monstrous task for developers to manage." - Forbes.com, 09.03.09
I guess I'm not the only one who thinks this way.
Conclusions:
1. Nokia sells more phones than anyone else
2. Apple has more developers and apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch
No amount of arguing will change those 2 facts. Say what you want about the iPhone... but this is only the 2nd year of apps on the iPhone. How long has Symbian been around?
Michael, that's the point - Symbian's been round for years and has gone through the growth, decline and stabilisation phase for apps. The iPhone is still in growth phase.
Analysts being excited mean nothing - Apple have had no real impact in Nokia's key markets.
is there any advantage to this over pandora? or any other free streaming app?
Nope but because its on the iphone they will say it is love Pandora and i just got it yesterday
You can play what you want, when you want, not what they want when you want, but streaming only and at 64KB? I'd rather steal music with Limewire.
With Rhapsody you can manage your own "collection" of music, make playlists, pick specific songs and listen to them over and over and over if you want. You can't do any of that with the various free services because those services only work under the terms of radio broadcasting style open contracts, so if they gave too much control of the music they would have to pay more money for your access.
So basically with Rhapsody you're paying for control, but still not ownership.
I will say that I've liked Rhapsody in the past but found I listened to the same music enough that just spending $15/mo on new music works better for me in the long run, and that's proving itself to be true for me. For others it might be different. My favorite part about Rhapsody was the ability to go off and listen to specific bands I never heard but wanted to try and not having to make any additional commitment of money or otherwise.
@zacheryjensen:
With Spotify you can also control which tracks to listen (and create playlists and what-not), plus you get off-line listening on mobile devices. I don't really know what's the bitrate for Spotify Mobile, though -- anyone?
@ Joonas
Spotify use Ogg vorbis at 320kb/s
@ Moody Can the iPhone play ogg vorbis files?
wow i guess they still have some f the FCC's seed in them from when they where all up there ass
yep some must still be dripping out the crack
^ LOL
$15 a month for 64kbps a second audio? highly fin doubt it.
Thanks...
Waiting for the ZUNE HD ..... I rather pay $15 to MS...and even get to keep 10 songs a month...
Rhapsody lets you pick what you stream. Pandora serves you streams based on what you like. They are completely different products.
I've had Rhapsody for years for my home. This would be great if I hadn't ditched Iphone for android when apple blocked Google Voice. I'm very happy on the Android platform, and will be even happier when the Rhapsody app makes its way to Android.
64kbps audio? It isn't a solution/replacement to physically stored audio if the trade-off is that bad.
Ugh, you'd sooner have to pay ME to listen to something as awful as 64 kbps music.
hmm, I was expecting "apple invented streaming on phones. Streaming music is the best thing ever. The iPhone invented music" or something along those lines. I suppose, the fanboys are tired from being up for the live blog of the apple event. I think I'll see those comments tomorrow.
Did you read those posts today? No one is really excited about anything Apple's doing this year.
I'm kind of excited about the ability to PAUSE LIVE EFFING RADIO. *blush*
Fair enough but all these minor tweaks aren't really the kind of destructive force they need to just win win win over all of their competitors (Zune, Palm, Google).
I just downloaded the app, signed up for the free 7-day Trial and was immediately told that my trial had already run out. WTF.
Same here. Signed up through the app (sends you to website for 7-day trial). Upon signing in:
"Your trial has expired
Your Rhapsody To Go trial has ended. Sign up for a subscription to keep listening on your iPhone, iPod touch, on Rhapsody.com and more!"
After rebooting my iPhone, I was able to sign in through the app without a problem. Working great so far.
FINALLY! As a longggg time Rhapsody subscriber I have been waiting for the day for quite some time. The quality isn't the greatest... yea... but neither was Pandora either. For streaming ANYWHERE and finally having CONTROL... I'm ecstatic.
Not available in Australia :(
Had the same "Your trial has expired" problem. But after reboot was able to log in. Thanks for the tip jwwpua
How about "no"?
dumb, it says I've already used my trial. I just installed it.
Hopefully a Napster app will be next...$5 a month for unlimited streaming and it comes with 5 downloads, hard to beat.
Just like ZunePass, only you don't get to keep 10 tracks a month. I'm just sayin' ;)
64kbps... a complete waste I'd say, this is headphones only territory, and crap for even that level
Really REALLY disappointed. I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for years, and ever since I got the Iphone almost two years ago, I've been waiting for something like this. I'm willing to pay an extra 2 dollars a month for the To Go Subscription, but NOT for 64kbps bitrate. It sounds horrible! Even with headphones. I can stream from DI.FM at 96k on Edge without a hiccup. Why can't (won't) Rhapsody at least try to hit that bitrate? WHY? ATT&T? Apple?
The limitation was placed by Apple. After all, there are several non-Apple MP3 players out there that can play Rhapsody songs at excellent quality. Rhapsody is also on Sony Ericsson phones and some Verizon phones by Blackberry, LG, Samsung, Motorola using the VCAST streaming service.
Perhaps I missed it in the video, but I didn't hear if there was any mention on 3G, or if you need Wifi.
So, the iPhone app requires the MOST EXPENSIVE plan, and gives you fewer features and lower quality than the LEAST EXPENSIVE plan for the desktop version?
Now if I could only play Rhapsody in the background while surfing the web and checking email. If only this was possible.
Apple allow at least music applications like Rhapsody and Pandora etc to play in the background. Next summer I expect full background applications.
backgrounder! ;) free your phone from it's shackles!
why no offline access???? spotify proves it's not Apple standing in the way and i'm pretty sure ATT would love for you to use less bandwidth... I think i would have considered the jump if i could listen to music at work without having to worry about jittery playback. I love me some streaming radio but it is never as smooth or high quality as I would prefer. Hopefully someone gets this right.
Anyone who wants a subscription service for the iphone should go out and get a Zune Pass... then install ORB on your PC running the Zune software... then go get the ORB app for the iPhone... instant streaming of all the music off your Zune software to your iPhone. Plus the Zune pass lets you keep 10 songs a month... really... if you think about it your buying 10 songs a month with your Zune pass at $99/song and paying the other $4.95 for the subscription to the other music... It's really a great deal... plus you dont have to bother syncing up your iPhone all the time...
Awful Audio quality on this app.Not worth a red cent!
The Spotify Iphone app streams at 160 kbps Ogg Vorbis according to this web page http://www.getsatisfaction.com/spotify/topics/spotify_mobile_bitrate_and_quality
Rhapsody needs to change the bitrate and add the ability to download or people are definately going to switch to Spotify when it becoms available.
The tagline of the Rhapsody App should read:
"Rhapsody
Music Without Limits*
* Disclaimer: With some limitations, most notably only 64 kbps quality"
The 64kpbs limitation was placed by Apple ... not Rhapsody. With a $15/mo subscription, you can listen to excellent quality on other MP3 players like the Sony Walkmans and Sandisk Sansa. You can also have Rhapsody on your netbook, laptop, desktop, some hi-fi receivers and wireless streaming systems like the Sonos and Logitech Squeezebox. Looks like the limitation placed by Apple was pretty strategic. It gets them out of trouble with the FCC and basically, people can preview full songs at low quality using the Rhapsody app, and if they really like the songs enough to own them, they will most likely buy the MP3s from iTunes. Smart move by Apple.
I'm a Rhapsody subscriber
64kbps? I won't even download the app.
Really disappointing
Sorry I was just trying to friendly.
Thanks
everybody complaining, and if they raised the bitrate you'd complain about slowness and any other shit you can think of. Streaming isnt working right, etc etc.
half these mofo's acting like wannabe audiophiles; but i bet they download retarted sized album torrents too. shut your pie face!