As soon as the iphone was announced I went to see if Macs could run any of the subscription services, b/c if they did then there was a good chance that the iphone would be a de facto wireless subscription music player.

They didn’t at the time. Of course, now Apple will cripple the iphone so that it’s browser can’t run Rhapsody.

This was a brilliant move by the indefatigable Glaser.

p.s.
Ricky, Sansa connect refills over the air (wifi) using Yahoo music subscription. I am using, but as always, reality doesn’t live up to hype- you’ve been warned.

you might be right. I think we should think of iphone less as a phone and more as a connected music player? what do you think? what do others think about it?

your blog post convinced me that this one was worth spending time on, so thank you for all your hard work and great writing.

I love SomaFM and have been a long time fan forever. The tunes are just rocking…. and chilly at the same time. great dj whomever that is.

To steal a quote from someone I can’t remember(?) that I think pretty much summarizes my own opinions on subscription services, and specifically Rhapsody…

I’m too cheap to buy music, and too lazy to steal it.

So the Subscription Model from Rhapsody is actually the first thing that got me to spend more that 98 cents on legal music. And they got me to the tune of $100+ annually. This is up from “ZERO” dollars.

Maybe I’m unique here, but I think Apple is missing an opportunity becuase I’d probably pay a bit more for the iTunes catalog and Apple like integration.

Drew

I like having access to 3 million songs instantly. I want some new music, I get it. I hear something in a movie or on the radio it’s usually available along with that artists other music and their influences etc. It’s liberating to just click and listen and not have to think about purchasing every song. I can be frustrating sometimes when a specific song is not available but I just shrug it off and listen to something else in those cases.

I own approximately 1100 CDs but since I got Rhapsody 3 years ago I hardly by CDs at all. Maybe 5 a year now and they have to be really something special because I get all the variety I need already so I’m not always staving for something new like I used to.

Of course it fits my lifestyle. I’m a programmer and my company doesn’t mind that I have it installed at work so I can listen to it in the day. I also have my computer at home connected to my stereo so it’s fine for home. If your situation is similar I suggest you check it out.

Anyway I called the (thankfully) toll-free number and was subjected to a few minutes of Jedi mind tricks by the CSR:

RHAPSODY: Can I help you?
ME: I want to cancel my service.
RHAPSODY: No, I don’t think you do.
ME: Ummm, yeah. I’m quite sure I do.
RHAPSODY: These are not the droids you’re looking for.
ME: Huh?

Finally I was offered a free month of service to give me time to “think it over”. My billing would resume after the free month, but I could send them an e-mail to cancel at any time. So I got off the phone and sent them an e-mail immediately to demand that they cancel my account. I got a response fairly quickly telling me that it was taken care of. Then two weeks later I got a notice that they were having trouble billing my card (I had changed banks). I’m not even going to bother contacting them again.

So when it comes to Rhapsody, buyer beware.

Thanks for the mention to my blog. The Rhapsody trick works also with the Nokia N75 as well.

Its weird that you had issues authorizing your N95, because I in fact did get that pop up asking me if I wanted to authorize my device.

Cheers!

if there was common sync’ing for all non-apple devices, with a common adaptor, this could unseat apple.

Thanks for the mention. I think the different services such as Rhapsody and others are finally beginning to notice that people are starting to use their mobile phones more and more, and that the disconnected MP3 player is becoming old and antiquated.

I think the big kicker will be whichever service is the first to let you refill over the air either via WiFi, WiMax, or even regular EDGE/3G (though the third would take FOREVER).