Music Downloads
Rhapsody music, from RealNetworks is one of several
reputable legal digital services for legal music downloads.
In order to download online music or hear songs from
them you have to pay for them first. In Rhapsody's
case, the cost is $9.99 per month after a 14 day free
trial (the cost may reduced if you purchase it quarterly).
Along with Rhapsody, these also include iTunes, Musicnet,
Musicnow, wal-mart downloads, and the newly revived
Napster.
The Rhapsody music service consists of over 1.2 million
music downloads tracks in its catalog, thanks to nitching
deals with all five label giants and over 500 independent
labels.
Its fully-featured jukebox that makes Rhapsody music
downloads searches a snap and importing tunes from,
let's say, a CD easy. Other elegant features include
the ability to incorporate different files such as
MP3, WMA, AAC (M4A), and RealAudio to your main Library.
And you can mix these files in the library any way
you like and develop different playlists after you
import tracks and/or stream or download online music.
I'm very sure that the Rhapsody music downloads service
will only improve with time.
So how did it all start?
Well, we need to rewind the clock some four years
ago...
During that time iTunes did not exist, and Napster's
outlawed ancestor had reached its demise a few months
prior. Nonetheless, there was... drumroll... Rhapsody.
While part of listen.com, the Rhapsody music downloads
service was launched in December 2001. It wasn't until
July, however, that songs from all major labels became
part of its diverse catalog. RealNetworks acquired
listen.com in August 2003. After thus changing the
name to RealRhapsody, the service regained its classic
title, "Rhapsody".
Downloading the software is fairly straight forward.
Be advised, however, that this software is not Mac
compatible. The music downloads and streamed tracks
from Rhapsody are compatible with Windows Media devices
which, of course, are only found on Windows PC's and
compatible portable devices.
The interface consists of your simple Play, Stop,
etc. functions on the upper left-hand corner of your
screen. Next to this is track information including:
the title, the artist, and the album. A brief bio
plays to the right of the track interface.
So how do you search for your favorite artist or
song? Easy... just type it in the Search bar and press
“Go”. Once you have found your song, you
usually can INSTANTLY play it without downloading
it - i.e., you can stream it. In some cases, you can
automatically download online music while you listen
to the stream. Note: sometimes when you press play,
a "!" will appear in a triangle meaning
that the stream is unavailable. In this case, you
need to press the "+" sign. This adds the
track to your Library where you can access it from
there and add it to your playlist in the form of music
downloads.
That said, the streams are of such excellent quality
it seems the song is already downloaded on your computer.
If you don't want the song to be played immediately
(such as if you're in the middle of listening to another
song) you can just press the "+" sign to
the left of the song title. Again, this will automatically
store the song to the main library. In order to bring
it to the playlist, you will have to open up the Library
first and then drag the song to your playlist, much
the same as how you would do with any other digital
music downloads service.
If your library is large, don't worry. The library
search tool is similar to that of iTunes - very easy
to find your tune or artist in order to stream or
download online music.
OK. So these are some of the handy-dandy features
of Rhapsody. But do they contribute to a pleasant
experience for music downloads fans?
Stay tuned for my next article...
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