Web Based Rhapsody Targets Linux 201
Asklepius M.D. writes "According to Marketwatch, RealNetworks is releasing a web based version of Rhapsody called.....Rhapsody.com that will function on other-than-IE browsers including Firefox and Safari. The article quotes Jupimedia analyst Joe Wilcox as saying "...it brings the first real subscription music service to Mac and Linux-based products.""
Drm on linux (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Drm on linux (Score:3, Informative)
Not sure the DRM applies here- the music is streamed into a player, not downloaded for playback later.
Re:Drm on linux (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Drm on linux (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Drm on linux (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Drm on linux (Score:2)
The mainstream Linux kernel has had a driver for infineon trusted platform modules [prosec.rub.de] since 2.6.12. I didn't even know any motherboards had shipped with those chips (have any?). User libraries and kernel patches were available well before 2.6.12. Linux has supported kernel-level encryption for ages, and is also on the forefront of technologi
iTunes (Score:4, Funny)
Re:iTunes (Score:4, Insightful)
Behold the future (Score:2)
Some songs you just don't want to "own" (Score:5, Insightful)
Subscription music occupies an interesting niche for the way I listen to music. I've got several levels of music:
1. Stuff I need to own: this is the music I can listen to a lot, and not get sick of it quickly. Even when I do get sick of it, I can put it away for a while, come back in 6 months and like it again.
2. Stuff it's nice to own: good tunes that I may or may not get sick of, but I want to be able to listen to wherever I want
3. Stuff I'd never buy (for much), but still have fun listening to: I have a very large collection of vinyl, most of which I picked up in the late 1980s/early 1990s for 99c an album when everyone was moving to CD. I would have
4. Novelty items that I listen to once or twice
5. Stuff that I never knew I'd want, but if I could listen to it in the course of the day, I'd buy.
Rhapsody is not a good choice for #1 or #2. However, I've found it great for #3-#5. I've discovered a lot of music that I never would have without Rhapsody, since it really encourages exploration. I can grab my tattered Billboard Top 40 book, and look for old sludgey hits and occassionally have one of those "oh my god...I remember
Since I use Linux on my desktop, I've had to use my wife's Windows box to listen to/use Rhapsody, which irritates me, but I'll survive. The bad news is that it doesn't look like there's
Rob
Re:iTunes (Score:2)
AudioHijack Pro is your friend (Score:2)
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/ [rogueamoeba.com]
Re:iTunes (Score:3)
Re:iTunes (Score:2)
I figured iTunes worked on Mac's.. guess I know less about Apple Strategery than I thought.
iTunes is not a subscription service. From the headline - "...it brings the first real subscription music service to Mac and Linux-based products."
Mac? BSD? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Mac? BSD? (Score:4, Interesting)
WebCore (Score:2)
Re:Mac? BSD? (Score:2)
Re:Mac? BSD? (Score:2)
A music subscription service for Mac isn't newsworthy, though, with iTunes being widely available there. ;) As for BSD, while it may be possible to use this service there, the realplayer port requires Linux emulation to be installed last I checked, so they wouldn't appear to be 'targetted'. Rather, they'd be jumping in front of the arrow, hopi
Re:Mac? BSD? (Score:2)
Re:Mac? BSD? (Score:2)
Re:Mac? BSD? (Score:2)
Re:Mac? BSD? (Score:4, Insightful)
And maybe to be more accurate it should read "Rhapsody Flails Around Aimlessly in the Dark In Search of User Base".
It's a step forward... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It's a step forward... (Score:2)
Still using DRM'd WMV files though, right? (Score:2, Interesting)
Not WMV. Whatever it is, not that (Score:4, Interesting)
Its likely - from my guess, not the article - that they'll stream a file to an in-browser player. But then, remember this is all the words of a third-party "analyst" - which often means rumour-monger.
Are you sure? (Score:2)
Their "Harmony" player transcodes the AAC music into either Fairplay AAC for use on an iPod or DRM WMA to play on Microsoft-compatible devices.
Re:Still using DRM'd WMV files though, right? (Score:3, Informative)
On the other hand, if you use the Windows app and purchase content, you'll download CD-quality tracks that you can burn, and have all the rights you'd have to any audio CD.
From Real? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:From Real? (Score:4, Interesting)
How many companies can do this and then charge for `premium` functionality?
Real's days are at an end. They support very few portable music players, and what happens when noone wants to let real support their player? What happens to all your DRMed music then? And what happens when their ads get more invasive and more annoying?
Re:From Real? (Score:1)
Re:From Real? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:From Real? (Score:2)
I agree. I use mplayer which plays both windows media and real files just fine, (in fact the windows media files stream a little smoother).
Whenever I am on a web site that does video streaming I will choose real if it is available, just to keep the Real usership numbers up on site. This isn't because I love Real but rather because they released a player for Linux when there were no others available.
I also expect Microsoft to do as Apple does and try to break open viewers wit
Re:From Real? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:From Real? (Score:2)
Technically yes, though I have an email in my possession from Thomson's legal dept. saying that it's ok for people to encode/decode with non-licensed software for their own personal use. Still though, the licensed player is a good step.
Re:From Real? (Score:5, Insightful)
Secondly, RealPlayer is a heck of a lot better than it once was. It's also straightforward to find the free player on their site, after a period where they hid it in the depths of real.com
Sure this is a subscription service - that means it's not for everyone. However there are also lots of folk who are happy to pay $10 a month for a huge music library.
Real made their player available for linux, made their server open source and suffer only complaints.
They're a big company and they make their music player available so it works on Linux and the Mac and supports Firefox perfectly. Folk still complain.
Real's business model is subscription music. That might not be of interest to you so go bug Apple to provide you with iTunes on Linux. In the mean time don't take out your frustrations that apple are ignoring you on another firm that has chose to welcom Linux - Real should be applauded for this
Re:From Real? (Score:2)
Re:From Real? (Score:2)
How many companies can do this and then charge for `premium` functionality?
Good question, there are lots of ad-based apps and services that are not generally considered adware. For instance, until very recently, you could count Opera in that category. You still can count Google (Maps, Earth, and Gmail, anyone?), Yahoo and their ilk in that category. (I
cellphones (Score:2)
Re:From Real? (Score:4, Informative)
NOTE: I don't buy music through rhapsody. I use it to sample new releases, catch up on things I might have missed before, track down the odd song from my youth, and listen to stuff that is available on usenet before I download it.
For the $9/month (or around there, i haven't checked in a while) its the easiest way to listen to music that i don't already own (the only exception is the old days of audiogalaxy. Best. Site. Ever.)
-p
Re:From Real? (Score:2)
It really opened up a market of artists and songs that I would ordinarily be too afraid to invest my money in. Now I listen to 1% mainstream and 99% underground. Only after Rhapsody would you realize how much shit has been flooding your local radio and MTV.
Good news (Score:4, Interesting)
But the question is: Will Linux users use Real's product? Reviews on Real's products here on slashdot have not been that favuorable in the past.
Re:Good news (Score:5, Informative)
Will Linux users use Real's product?
If you use Xandros the RealPlayer comes as the default media player. This is not a bad deal either, because the Linux player [real.com] is not crammed full of ads- it does what a media player should: play media. I give the Xandros guys a lot of credit, too, because ever since they started bundling the RealPlayer with their distro, they've been the ones to actually make the install work. Prior to that, Real had (still does I think) it listed as an alpha.
I would think more Linux folks would be attracted to Real, actually, because they have the open source version of the player and server, Helix [helixcommunity.org] and last I checked neither Apple nor MS have made their player OSS.
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Ogg isn't a requested format. No one cares about ogg. Slashdot != everyone.
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Capitalization is everything (Score:5, Insightful)
Silly Real, of course it's their first subscription service available to Mac and Linux users.
Re:Capitalization is everything (Score:2)
Re:Capitalization is everything (Score:2)
Who Cares! (Score:1)
If it sucks anything like Realplayer plugins... then who cares!
Real is being the pioneer... (Score:1)
really? (Score:3, Funny)
http://cache.ultramercial.com/d/033-218/civic_hyb
Re:really? (Score:1)
Refresh your browser's cache to enjoy the new site (Score:2)
If you are seeing the honda civic ad, then your browser has the old site cached. Refresh and enjoy free and legal music.
It bothers me (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It bothers me (Score:2)
Either way I agree - Real should have picked a more novel name...
Re:It bothers me (Score:2)
And I thought it was about the Italian metal group Rhapsody [mightyrhapsody.com].
Let's face it, Rhapsody is a vastly overused name. Real could've picked something better.
Re:It bothers me (Score:2)
Re:It bothers me (Score:2)
That sure sounds smart.
Re:It bothers me (Score:3, Funny)
I always think of Wayne and Garth singin along to Bohemian Rhapsody in the car. . .
Yeah, but (Score:1)
Rhapsody.com launched - Free & Legal Music (Score:1, Informative)
The music service enables your favorite browser (IE, Firefox, or Safari) to instantly find, listen, and share, for free, up to 25 full tracks (from
Re:Rhapsody.com launched - Free & Legal Music (Score:2)
One request (besides the standard "make it open-source" ones): can I use it in Epiphany? I get a browser error when I try, but I'm not sure if that's due to some UI detection, or if it really is a Firefox-only thing.
Re:Rhapsody.com launched - Free & Legal Music (Score:2)
But paying money for browser-only music? Forget that. I don't feel like carrying my laptop around with me, and holding it open to listen to songs. If I pay for a song, I'm going to pay to be able to play it wherever, whenever.
You said the magic words (Score:2)
Speaking of Linux Support (Score:5, Informative)
"Incompatible Browser
We're sorry. We currently only support the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6 and higher, Firefox 1.0.1 and higher, Safari 1.3 and higher and Netscape 8 and higher.
Firefox 1.0 users, click here to upgrade"
Ok, let's try using Firefox 1.5:
"To play music, you'll need to do a quick install
Just follow these two easy steps.
1.
Install Rhapsody Music Engine
Click the button below and follow our direction on the next screen.
2.
Register Free
Get a free Rhapsody Account.
No Credit Card required.
We're sorry but the combination of your operating system and Firefox 1.5 is not currently supported."
Fix for Linux/Firefox v1.5 in the works (Score:3, Interesting)
This problem was introduced when Firefox v1.5 went gold leaving Real little time to fix the issue prior to beta release. Real is currently investigating a fix and hopes to have a new plug-in available soon.
Kevin
I Have Found a Workaround in Firefox 1.5/Mozilla (Score:3, Informative)
2. Open it with Ark or something and copy nprhapengine.so to
3. Restart Firefox.
4. Spoof Firefox 1.5's UA with User Agent Switcher extension to be Firefox 1.0.7 instead:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.0.7
5. Use Rhapsody.
I have used this method to make it work in Mozilla 1.7.2, I don't
Another horrible execution plan by Real (Score:2, Interesting)
So, how about trying it? Well, you can go to the Rhapsody site, http://rhapsody.com/ [rhapsody.com] and try to get to it. Well, NOTHING on the rha
Re:Another horrible execution plan by Real (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, either Real's servers recovered or your browser/internet connection sucks. It loaded in less that a second on our less-than-perfect connection here at work.
By the way, I don't think your 15 year old sister could do a better job. I think too many people don't understand that just because "anyone can create a website" doesn't mean that everyone does it well. Their website isn't that bad. In fact, it seems to be the best thing Real has ever done. Their main product is Real Player. Guess what's at the top of the page? Real Player. Guess what's new? Rhapsody? It's at the top of the page too. I think you just got out of the bed on the wrong side this morning...they seem to be doing a fine job of releasing their product, crappy though it is.
Re:Another horrible execution plan by Real (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Another horrible execution plan by Real (Score:2)
feel used (Score:1)
*after* the ad, i'm informed that the service is not available in my country.
now i'll have some sweet memories about the product being advertised there... and will surely buy a dozen
When? (Score:2)
System Requirements: Windows XP, Me, 2000 or 98 SE. 350 MHz, 380 MB HD Space, 64 MB Ram
RTFA. Ok, on Monday. Not yet. OK. is going to be realeased. probably.
Not Quite First (Score:2, Informative)
If you ignore EMusic.. which has had an OS X download client for some time now
Re:Not Quite First (Score:2)
Where is it? (Score:2)
The link to rhapsody.com service (Score:2)
U.S. Only ! (Score:2)
U.S. Only
We're sorry. We have detected that you are outside of the United States. This service is currently only available to residents within the United States.
Pity, as I am running FF 1.5 on FC3, and it would have been a nice test. The Realplayer plugin has always worked fine in firefox, so I was hoping it would be ok.
About Time! (Score:2, Informative)
Barbara
Possibly a Reaction to Recent Release (Score:2)
Rhapsody (Score:2)
It plays audio but it sounds like it's got some sampling issue on my system, because everything sounds very slooooww and the pitch is very low.
You can't burn any songs or put stuff on janus devices on linux.
I'm running ubuntu breezy. I wonder how hard it would be to create some kind of ripper. You could always redirect the audio output to a file I suppose, but you'd have t
My take (Score:2)
I can't wait to try this at home, where my only machines are OS X and Linux.
I can live with the web interface, though I wish they didn't rely on a pop-up window for the player.
I'm a little disappointed they didn't use the web launch as an opportunity to include a few of my wishlist features:
DRM in Linux?? (Score:2)
Re:DRM in Linux?? (Score:2)
What is to stop anyone who has a subscription from simply bypassing all DRM at the kernel level with a simple module to record whatever they want?
Wouldn't it make everyone's year (at least those not associated with Sony or Rhapsody) if the rootkit installed by Sony's DRM invalidated the Rhapsody DRM?
I get blank window (Score:2)
Help? (Score:2)
I'm trying to try this service, but I get this message:
"We're sorry but the combination of your operating system and Firefox 1.5 is not currently supported."
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5 - Build ID: 2005111116
Fedora Core 4 (2.6.11-1.1369_FC4).
Any ideas? I already have Real Player 10 installed...
UA Spoofed to 1.0.7 Helped (Score:2)
Too bad (Score:2)
Insufficient disk space. Error code -235 (Score:2)
$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
129724020 57796176 65338200 47%
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol02
59476116 44880076 11574832 80%
/dev/hda1
If it requires a plugin, why make it browser-based (Score:2)
Yes, yes, you can use common GUI code on all three platforms. But you can do that with any number of other technologies, from scripting languages like Tcl/Tk, through Java, to cross-platform libraries. It seems like a bad move to me.
Subscription (Score:5, Informative)
-everphilski-
Re:iTunes doesn't work on Mac? LOL (Score:1)
Re:And here is what you get (Score:2)
Re:The only online Music store that does it right (Score:2)
Please give me a freakin break - they have money coming in from everywhere, it is almost as if you hum one of their songs you must pay them.
Anyway, $1 a song is extrememly too much money for a digital file - they do not pay for anything physical, and the price for servers/bandwidth is minimal. If the RIAA was serious about an online store I would say a good price point would be about a quarter per 5MB song, this would translate t
Re:The only online Music store that does it right (Score:2)
Actually, you'd only be right if they were selling a scarce product. As they are not, it doesn't apply at all.
If you've got ten widgets to sell, and you paid $.10 per widget, plus $5.00 to market them, you must sell each one for at least $.61 in order to make a profit. On the other hand, if you have an unlimited number of widgets (or can make an unlimited number of copies of them), you make a profit whether you sell 10 at $.61, 61 at $.10, or 601 at $.01. This is exactly -why- allofmp3.com is able to turn
Re:The only online Music store that does it right (Score:2)
Your second point is flat wrong, and your first is able to be solved. Let's address them:
Luxury items, such as entertainment, have the -most- elastic demand curves. When the price of gas went up, you didn't see a massive reduction in demand, because so many individuals and businesses are dependent on it. Raise the price of food, and you won't see demand go down significantly, lower it, and it won't go up by a huge amount. On the other hand, cut the price of a music download in half (or offer a flat-rate s
Re:The only online Music store that does it right (Score:2)
Despite you (sic) baseless theory backed by no recearch, (sic) there is real-world data out there showing that music prices are NOT ELASTIC ENOUGH to justify lowering prices.
"Backed by no research"? I challenge you to find me -any- study on price elasticity that does not back my claim-luxury items are the most price-elastic commodity. It's been researched exhaustively, and that is the overwhelming (and relatively unsurprising) conclusion.
Now, as to your claims that my ideas have been tried-those are b