03.27.07
Rhapsody Rocks the N800
As noted earlier today, the Rhapsody application has been officially released. I’ve been using for much of the day and I’ve been very impressed with how it works so far.
Some background… Rhapsody is Real’s subscription music service. It allows you to have unlimited listening access to their library of 3 million songs with a low monthly fee ($9.95 - $14.95). While this has traditionally been a Windows only thing, you can do most of what you can do from Windows directly on your tablet which is quite handy. I believe this is actually the first portable version of the Rhapsody service which works this way.
Clicking on the artist name lets you view deeper info and explore on the web…
When you download the application, you’ll probably note similarities to the MediaStreamer application if you’ve used it. The main difference here, branding aside, is that you can connect directly to the Rhapsody service and listen online. Of course you need to setup an account, which is free for the first 30 days and you’ll be prompted to either sign-up or sign-in when you start up for the first time. If you decide to continue it will run $9.95/mo for the Rhapsody unlimited service. Windows users can also open the client on their desktops and actually download the tunes for offline access. Currently the N800 is not a supported portable player, though for some reason the Nokia 3300 “Taco” phone is…
Here’s a video run-through of what to expect:
I am very happy with this new application! While it’s nice to stream music from online radio stations, Rhapsody puts you in control of both freeform as well as programmed music — all in the palm of your hand! It’s easy to search for tracks or simply surf the library. I love that my playlists stay active between sessions and that adding tunes to MyLibrary is instantaneous, whether from the desktop or tablet.
The only real bug I can note for now is that you can’t actually login on the web via the Tablet’s browser as Rhapsody does not support this version of Opera. I have to think this was an oversight in the release process and hope it will get fixed quickly. It’s not critical to login to use things, but it would be nice to use your account outside of the player.
I do wish it was possible to sync/download tunes to your media cards, but there’s always the next release…
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atmaspheric | endeavors » This post brought to you by Nokia and Rhapsody said,
March 28, 2007 at 12:38 am
[…] exposure to music subscription services, but that has officially changed thanks to the release of Rhapsody for the Nokia N800! In short, it rocks — a killer app for the […]
Nseries WOM World » Blog Archive » Rhapsody up and rocking said,
March 28, 2007 at 8:35 am
[…] a look at what to expect, have a read through the information and let him know your thoughts or perhaps ask a question. With 3 million songs available for streaming at a low price, lots of people are expecting a great […]
palmsolo said,
March 28, 2007 at 3:06 pm
You can also run Rhapsody on your Mac too, right? I have Yahoo! Music that I use on my Windows Mobile and Nseries devices, but the only way to run it on my Mac is through Parallels or Boot Camp. I am getting a Nokia N800 to evaluate soon and am considering a switch to Rhapsody. Have you tried it on your Mac? How about on other Nseries devices? Thanks.
Jonathan Greene said,
March 28, 2007 at 3:58 pm
As I understand it you can only stream from the mac - there’s no download which will pull down the actual tracks. It works fine in Firefox and installs as an extension.
I’ve tried it in Windows via Parallels and it works, but sound is very jittery and not something I’d recommend. I’ve got 768MB of RAM assigned… not sure that’s the issue or whether virtualized Windows multimedia is the issue in general.
As mentioned in the post, the only Nokia that shows up as a portable client is the 3300 phone.. kinda weird, but that’s it for now.
John Tokash’s Blog said,
March 28, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Real just released a Rhapsody client for the N800 Internet Tablet from Nokia. I’ve played with it a little and the sound quality is great. The UI is also fast and comfortable. For additional positive comments, check out Jonathan Greene’s take
TabletBlog.com by ThoughtFix said,
March 28, 2007 at 11:04 pm
connection allowed me to stream music, but there was about a five second buffering time between tracks. This means it does not pre-buffer the upcoming track: Only the currently playing one. I was going to write a full review with a video tonight, but maemoapps.com beat me to it! They even included a video! Here’s my mini-evaluation: Pro: Smooth, intuitive interface. Large, on-demand music selection.One subscription for your tablet, PC, or laptop.Remembers playlists.Takes little internal storage on the N800.
Featured Maemo Apps » Earthlink offers Free WiFi to N800 users… said,
March 29, 2007 at 11:10 pm
[…] Highlighting great applications and services for the Maemo platform « Rhapsody Rocks the N800 | […]
ThoughtFix on Nokia Internet Tablets said,
March 30, 2007 at 4:41 am
Roku Forums :: View topic - Nokia N800 to Control Roku ... and Rhapsody? said,
March 30, 2007 at 1:43 pm
myFeedz - Articles on "rhapsody" said,
March 30, 2007 at 2:27 pm
vince said,
March 30, 2007 at 4:49 pm
question re: Rhapsody and N800
if you have the free Rhapsody account on PC, and the N800 30 day acct expires, could you theoretically just log in with you user name and password from the free Rhapsody PC account and use the more limited service?
vince said,
March 30, 2007 at 4:50 pm
on the N800, of course….sorry for this addition
Jonathan Greene said,
March 30, 2007 at 6:26 pm
You can use the same account on both — even at the same time.
Rhapsody coming to SqueezeNetwork - Page 28 - Slim Devices : Community : Forums said,
April 15, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Symbian-Guru.com: Nokia N800 Review - Love and Hate said,
April 17, 2007 at 11:57 am
said,
April 25, 2007 at 7:11 pm
We will begin this tumblelog GadgetPornAddict appropriately lusting over a Nokia Tablet N800 courtesy this dude
GadgetPornAddict said,
May 6, 2007 at 10:40 am
courtesy this dude
Press Room > Awards & Reviews said,
August 9, 2007 at 3:28 pm
My first two weeks with the Zonbu « Real life with the Zonbu Mini-PC said,
August 15, 2007 at 11:12 am
[…] ideally mates with the Zonbu philosophy of network connected computing. Convince Real Networks to port the application developed for the Nokia N800 to the Zonbu and you have a compelling value proposition for any music lover. I’d buy one […]
Mr Zonbu: Full Review after Two Weeks | EcoGeek | Zonbu, Desktop, Needs, Storage, Would said,
August 17, 2007 at 10:25 am
Re: [SlimDevices: SqueezeNetwork] Rhapsody coming to SqueezeNetwork said,
August 25, 2007 at 3:00 pm