Web Based Rhapsody Targets Linux

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.""

Comments

Drm on linux

[hug_the_penguin]

DRM has no kernel support in linux, and one assumes they're using DRM. An estimate of 3 days 'til it's cracked?

Re:Drm on linux

[EtherAlchemist]

Not sure the DRM applies here- the music is streamed into a player, not downloaded for playback later.

Re:Drm on linux

[knipknap]

DRM support has been in the Linux kernel for years.

Re:Drm on linux

[Wolfger]

Hence the application "StreamRipper", which records streaming audio to mp3 for later playback. This is nothing more than modern-day "taping songs off the radio", except when I was a kid, I could tape more than 25 songs a month. I'm much more interested in Independant and Creative Commons music these days. The RIAA doesn't want to play nice, so I just won't play with them at all.

Re:Drm on linux

[hug_the_penguin]

I'm very much with that view myseld. i'm currently setting up a site for independent artists to put on their music and get revenue through adclicks and donations instead of murdering their art.

iTunes

[sardonic2]

I figured iTunes worked on Mac's.. guess I know less about Apple Strategery than I thought.

Re:iTunes

[BushCheney08]

You missed the key word there - subscription. It is the first music service on Mac and Linux where you can pay and pay, but ultimately never own anything in the end.

Re:iTunes

[TheGavster]

First subscription music service.

Mac? BSD?

[uberjoe]

Maybe to be more inclusive the article should read "Rapshody Targets non-windows users" instead of linux. Last I checked Safari was was not available for linux.

Re:Mac? BSD?

[morgan_greywolf]

Last I checked Safari was was not available for linux. Maybe not, but you can get a browser based on Apple's WebCore rendering engine (essentially modifications to KHTML) for Linux called Gtk+ WebCore, which is based on GTK 2.x.

Re:Mac? BSD?

[dr.badass]

Maybe to be more inclusive the article should read "Rapshody Targets non-windows users" instead of linux.

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...

[AEther141]

It's a shame it's not a naitive app, but these days it's mattering less and less that something is browser based. Still, nice that more firms are acknowledging non-windows users, albeit in a slightly lipserviced manner.

Still using DRM'd WMV files though, right?

[Rude Turnip]

It's really nice of them to release a web-based service, but wouldn't the customers still be beholden to WMV files infected with DRM? They'll work fine when I'm using my work PC running Windows XP, but they're utterly useless on my iBook + iPod or my (admittedly little used) Ubuntu installation.

Re:Still using DRM'd WMV files though, right?

[MSG]

Since it's a subscription service, yes. It is intended to be more or less streaming only. The player will cache content so that you don't have to stream it *every* time, but encryption is required to make it a subscription service rather than a free download site.

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?

[b4k3d b34nz]

I already don't trust Real--I sure wouldn't want to give them any money to continue their annoying advertising and generally poor quality programming by paying their subscriptions. Also, I don't think I'd want to stream music through a browser. When I'm listening to music, I want the player down in a tray.

Re:From Real?

[hug_the_penguin]

Their realplayer for windows is practically spyware. How many legitimate programs can get away with passing advertising messages, embedding adverts, popping up annoying content etc. and not get called adware.

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?

[pregister]

I've used Rhapsody for a year or two now. It's a decent service. Ignore their "programming". Listen to what you want to listen to. As far as it being in a browser, their windows based program pretty much implements a browser in the app itself...which is kinda slow and kludgy...i think trying one that is actually stand alone browser-based might improve things.

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.) ...helps me decide what music i wanna track down to stick on my ipod.

-p

Re:From Real?

[joeljkp]

Ever used their Linux player? It's very simple, doesn't do any unwanted things, fits in with the rest of the GNOME desktop, and is open source (except for the codecs in the commercial version). Real's the only major online media company out there paying Linux any attention at all. I say we keep them around.

Re:From Real?

[Albanach]

First off, Real have been around a long time and while the big media sites stream using their software they're going nowhere.

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?

[joeljkp]

Yeah, it'd be great if they made it work with the gstreamer framework instead of having their own. But as far as the codecs that come with it already, it works fine here.

Good news

[bogaboga]

Because services are moving to the Web. They should have done it much earlier.

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

[EtherAlchemist]

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 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 and last I checked neither Apple nor MS have made their player OSS.

Capitalization is everything

[richdun]

"...it brings the first Real subscription music service to Mac and Linux-based products."

Silly Real, of course it's their first subscription service available to Mac and Linux users.

Subscription

[everphilski]

This is a subscription service, iTunes is not.
-everphilski-

really?

[andy4322]

When I tried their free trial, I got this:

http://cache.ultramercial.com/d/033-218/civic_hyb_ os_false.html

It bothers me

[4D6963]

The name Rhapsody bothers me, everytime I hear it I think it's gonna be something about Apple's Rhadsody, Mac OS X's daddy, seriously, they should pick another name..

Re:It bothers me

[DA-MAN]

The name Rhapsody bothers me, everytime I hear it I think it's gonna be something about Apple's Rhadsody, Mac OS X's daddy, seriously, they should pick another name..

I always think of Wayne and Garth singin along to Bohemian Rhapsody in the car. . .

Not WMV. Whatever it is, not that

[CdBee]

Real use their own DRM scheme on AAC (Advanced Audio Codec)

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.

Speaking of Linux Support

[Anonymous Coward]

Using konqueror, it says:

"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."

Another horrible execution plan by Real

[Anonymous Coward]

As typical by this poorly organized and completely out-to-lunch company a great idea put together with horrible execution. Obviously companies try to launch products on their first day with a big media blitz. So far so good, they get the front page of Slashdot, many newspapers (http://seattle-pi.com/ articles and widespread coverage on mac news sites (http://www.macnn.com./

So, how about trying it? Well, you can go to the Rhapsody site, http://rhapsody.com/ and try to get to it. Well, NOTHING on the rhapsody.com site says anything about the web features. Nothing in the FAQ and the system requirements say Windows only. If you're going to launch a major new feature don't you think you would update your home page?

If you click to "TRY RHAPSODY" you come to a jump page and if you select either option, one says "Windows required" and the other says "Rhapsody is currently offered only on Windows..." Oh nice.

So, if you're super persistent, then you can go to http://real.com/ . You will notice the web page doesn't even load, and stalls somewhere around 50% loading of the 31 items on the page. Ooops, looks like their servers can't handle the load. Oh , some poor Sys Admin's pager is blowing off the hook right about now I'm sure. Real's CTO Mesrobian is probably trolling down the hallways with a bat clubbing engineers like baby seals and screaming like a banshee.

If you manage to find the small text link at the bottom of the real.com page "Rhapsody Unlimited for Mac" that page also barely loads. And then, there doesn't seem to be any obvious way to the 25 free trial without giving them your credit card number.

Horrible launch, a disgusting display of web marketing. My 15 year old sister could do 50 times better than this and she could create a website that looks more visually appealing than this blue and white patchwork.

Good luck Real, hope your servers recover and hope people come back to try it some other day when they can actually find the software.

Re:Another horrible execution plan by Real

[b4k3d b34nz]

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

[iceanfire]

what are you talking about? I went to real.com (it loaded up just fine on firefox". Clicked on the listen for free button. Downloaded the plugin for firefox. Signed up. And it started playing music. Seems like an okay execution. No problems for me (except ofcourse the 25 play limit / mo).

Not Quite First

[10sball]

"...it brings the first real subscription music service to Mac"

If you ignore EMusic.. which has had an OS X download client for some time now

About Time!

[cresswell]

I used Rhapsody on Windows, (when I still ran Windows) and I liked it a lot. But no linux, no rhapsody. I'll be following this closely.

Barbara

Fix for Linux/Firefox v1.5 in the works

[kforeman]

There is currently a known issue restricting the functionality of the Rhapsody Player Engine Plug-in on Linux with version 1.5 of Firefox. Version 1.0.7 should work fine.

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

[Trip Ericson]

1. Download the plugin here, and SAVE TO YOUR HARD DRIVE: http://forms.real.com/real/player/download.html?f= unix/rhapx/RhapsodyPlayerEngine_Inst_Linux.xpi

2. Open it with Ark or something and copy nprhapengine.so to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

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 see why it wouldn't work in Firefox.

Some songs you just don't want to "own"

[robla]

Disclaimer: I'm an ex-Real employee and still own stock. However, no one is paying me to say this.

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 /never/ paid full price for a lot of it, but it is fun to be able to pull it out. Still, it's a PITA to deal with vinyl.
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 /that/" moments. Generally, those songs are not the type of songs that I then get all uppity about needing to own.

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 /quite/ enough there yet for me to switch over to using it primarily on Linux (unless I'm missing something...I need to access my private playlists), but I understand it'll get there.

Rob