Rhapsody is one of the most popular and well-known names in the music download industry. Rhapsody has more than 5 million titles in its library, offering excellent search capabilities, and quick, convenient downloads.
Rhapsody offers subscription and pay-per song options. Their subscription services enable users to download an unlimited number of songs to their computers or MP3 players. However, all of these songs are encrypted with digital rights management (DRM) and will no longer work if the subscription is canceled.
The newest addition to the Rhapsody family is the MP3 Store. Rhapsody has taken note of Amazon MP3’s model and has created their own. All tracks and albums sold in the MP3 store are DRM-Free and can be used on iPod, transferred to any other portable music device, loaded to an unlimited number of computers and burned to an unlimited number of CDs. Individual tracks cost $.99 and albums sell for $9.99.
The only thing keeping Rhapsody out of the top three is their song selection. Even though they have more than 5 million songs, not all of them are available for purchase. We found Rhapsody had a lesser selection than both Napster and Amazon MP3.
With about five million titles and 22 genres of music available, Rhapsody is definitely an over-achiever in the music download industry. We were impressed with this store's selection and are confident that you can find almost any artist or song.
In addition to their subscription services, Rhapsody has introduced an MP3 store that has albums and tracks in MP3 format compatible with all media players. Although the selection is a bit smaller than it's subscription library, we found the library to be comparable, offering a number of popular artists and albums.
Previously, if you were a subscriber, you could get discounts on purchased tracks. Since Rhapsody has introduced the MP3 store, this option is no longer available although you can still buy songs from Rhapsody. All options are MP3 for $.99.
Unlike iTunes and Napster, Rhapsody is focusing its energy toward album sales rather than individual tracks. The average price for an album is $9.99.
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