RealNetworks opens Rhapsody to Macs

Further details here: "You must have Rhapsody software downloaded on your computer to create and publish playlists. Currently, only Windows users can download Rhapsody." Basically, the solution they've found is that you can stream music live via your Web browser. Works like a charm in Firefox for Mac (actually, works better than on my PC, which is awaiting a fresh Windows install). But the real appeal of the service is being able to not only stream whole songs + whole albums, but to download those subscriptions to your disc. Now, I'd even settle for not having that if I could access playlists/library from my PC, but there's no obvious way to do that. (I think you could publish a playlist to yourself, but that's it.) Anyway, this is nice for us dual-platform music junkies.

It looks to me like what Rhapsody has done here is provide the streaming interface. That's nifty -- nothing wrong there. But the song purchase (for subscriptions, that is) requires WMA10, so I don't see this working on the Mac *anytime* soon. That's what I'd really love -- with my monthly PC Rhapsody subscription, I can listen to as many songs as I want on my Windows PC, as high-quality 160kbps Windows Media files, and sync them with a WMA player. I've been using that to supplement my iTunes music collection and iPod. In fact, I don't find it such a huge headache to switch players, especially as I like to listen to whole albums. If Real could make this happen on the Mac, I think they could give the subscription model a big boost. No one has worked out the DRM issues yet, though. Certainly, if you want digital radio while tethered to your desk and don't care about on-the-go, this is an appealing additional music source. I say, stay tuned.

yah, I really dont like the process of importing and converting my music, with rhapsody I can use my playlists and saved tracks anywhere in the world that has a high speed connection. I hate iTunes so much that I actually deleted it, made me sick always asking to import my music. I use VLC. plus .99 a track WTF is that about? i'll take my 1 million songs to go thank you very much.

yah, I really dont like the process of importing and converting my music, with rhapsody I can use my playlists and saved tracks anywhere in the world that has a high speed connection. I hate iTunes so much that I actually deleted it, made me sick always asking to import my music. I use VLC. plus .99 a track WTF is that about? i'll take my 1 million songs to go thank you very much.

iTunes clunky? You're not comparing the quality of a RealNetwork App to an Apple application... we're talking about the creator of RealPlayer here, which clunky is a compliment. No, that last post seems to be a RealNetwork employee if I ever heard one -- I've yet to hear anyone praise RealNetwork for their product that I would consider a strong user.

Oh yeah!! i've been freaking without Rhapsody.

Just in case anyone was wondering. I just tried playing something in Rhapsody and recording it using Audio Hijack Pro. It records fine, but it gets recorded as one big mp3 file. You will have to split the files manually. If anyone knows a way around this let me know.

This is great. I was a long time Rhapsody subscriber before switching and missed it. It is a different product than iTunes. I love iTunes for putting songs on my nano. But with Rhapsody I can listen to anything in their library over my home stereo and it is so good. I'm listening now.

Only for US subscribers though, not supported in the UK yet (as usual)!

awesome, I have been waiting for this forever, once the actual software is available I think I may pee my pants. I love my mac but hate iTunes, hate it, clunky and expensive, with rhapsody I get a huge amount of music at my fingertips. cant wait.