Shutterbug
Some Say........
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2000
- Messages
- 6,409
Well with all the talk the recent days of the RIAA lawsuits of people I decided to look into a couple into the new services available. I actually decided to look at the Rhapsody service that Best Buy is touting at its stores and online(*Note the Rhapsody service is not actually owned by Best Buy, Its owned by Listen.Com) because I remember reading that the Rolling Stones were going to make their entire song collection available.
Now actually finding it seemed to be more elusive that I thought it would. I started at the Best Buy site. It took me a couple of minutes to find the link to it. It was like a side note near the bottom. In any case I did find it. Which then opened up the Rhapsody window. There were was lots of info. Screen shots, artists library. It touts cd quality music from the albums you can find and from the radio stations also available through Rhapsody.
After looking it over I went and downloaded the program and installed it with no problems. I then went and registered(created screenname and password...no personal info needed at this point) Then there was a flash program showing how the screen was set up...how to create and to playlist, find artists or genres of music and how to burn music(one of the main things I was interested in) The playlist interface seemed easy enough to work with in a way it reminds me of the windows explorer in windows 98 like when you click on a plus sign it opens the folder up. Say for instance I find some albums like the Paul Simon box set. In the main window I do a search the in a smaller window below it list all his albums available. I click on the box set. To the window to the right it shows the cd cover pic and gives the info like when orginally released and list all the songs. You have the option saving whole thing to play list or just a couple of songs or you can just play them with out adding them to your playlist. If you add the whole thing to your playlist it shows up in a window on the far left with all the other playlists or albums that you have saved there.
They are currently offering a 14day free trial but I also saw that if I signed up right now for the full service($9.95/month) that your first 10 burns were free. Currently each burn $.79
Well I said hey for 10.00 I'll give it a shot.(I had worked overtime at work and had some extra to spend).
Before signing up the service I made sure it there was an easy way to cancel(that they didnt hide it somewhere
)
Well after giving them all the usual type member info and reading some of the legal blah blah. I was ready to go. Well one the things that first caught my eye was the 80's radio station.
That was an easy choice, I clicked on it and a few seconds later I heard music. Wow it sounded great too! I was pleasantly surprised. It was clear, sharp and no buffering lags!
In the very top window it was playing it showed the named of the group some info on them and the song playing and the time. To the left there was a toggle button to stop the song, go to the next one or back.
Well the song that was playing was a song playing by the Bangles. I clicked on pic and it brought up in the main window all the songs from that album.
Okay now for the burning question...How do you do burns?
Well first let me tell one thing I found out right away is that even though you might may be able to listen to all the songs on a album, all the songs on the album might NOT be available to burn. When you pull up the album in the main window there will be next to the song a little flame icon next to it if its available for burning. The Bangles album I pulled up had every song available to burn except Manic Monday. I pulled the Fifth Dimensions greatest hits, every song available to burn except Aquarius. I was getting sligthly miffed at this point. It was like okay they have major artist, yes they have most of their songs available, you just cant burn the really popular songs.
I Decided to investigate this further and did a search for Paul Simon songs. It listed a bunch of albums including the 1964/1993 box set. I chose that. ALL the songs are available to burn! I could burn the complete set if I wanted to!
I quickly added the set to my my playlist and actually thats what I have been listening to while typing this...*singing* Momma dont take my Kodachrome, Momma dont take Kodachrome
Well that concludes my review...Oh wait I didnt tell you how you burn. Well on the left window where the playlist is stored. You click on the playlist you want then above the window is a burn tab. When you click on that tab and the window that changes all the song that are available appear in black. You can add a song or the whole album to the burn list in the window below. When your done make sure you have a blank cd in your burner and click the burn button and in no time you have your cd. Well thats how it suppose to work I actually havent done it yet
When I do I will give an update.
Now I did some math there are 52 songs in this box set.
$.79 x 52 = $41.08
At Best Buy it sells for $59.99
Now back to singing....
Ceciillllla you breaking my heart,,,,you shaking my confidence daily,,,Whoaa Cecillllla I'm down on my knees,,,I'm begging you please to come home........
Now actually finding it seemed to be more elusive that I thought it would. I started at the Best Buy site. It took me a couple of minutes to find the link to it. It was like a side note near the bottom. In any case I did find it. Which then opened up the Rhapsody window. There were was lots of info. Screen shots, artists library. It touts cd quality music from the albums you can find and from the radio stations also available through Rhapsody.
After looking it over I went and downloaded the program and installed it with no problems. I then went and registered(created screenname and password...no personal info needed at this point) Then there was a flash program showing how the screen was set up...how to create and to playlist, find artists or genres of music and how to burn music(one of the main things I was interested in) The playlist interface seemed easy enough to work with in a way it reminds me of the windows explorer in windows 98 like when you click on a plus sign it opens the folder up. Say for instance I find some albums like the Paul Simon box set. In the main window I do a search the in a smaller window below it list all his albums available. I click on the box set. To the window to the right it shows the cd cover pic and gives the info like when orginally released and list all the songs. You have the option saving whole thing to play list or just a couple of songs or you can just play them with out adding them to your playlist. If you add the whole thing to your playlist it shows up in a window on the far left with all the other playlists or albums that you have saved there.
They are currently offering a 14day free trial but I also saw that if I signed up right now for the full service($9.95/month) that your first 10 burns were free. Currently each burn $.79
Well I said hey for 10.00 I'll give it a shot.(I had worked overtime at work and had some extra to spend).
Before signing up the service I made sure it there was an easy way to cancel(that they didnt hide it somewhere
)Well after giving them all the usual type member info and reading some of the legal blah blah. I was ready to go. Well one the things that first caught my eye was the 80's radio station.
That was an easy choice, I clicked on it and a few seconds later I heard music. Wow it sounded great too! I was pleasantly surprised. It was clear, sharp and no buffering lags!
In the very top window it was playing it showed the named of the group some info on them and the song playing and the time. To the left there was a toggle button to stop the song, go to the next one or back.
Well the song that was playing was a song playing by the Bangles. I clicked on pic and it brought up in the main window all the songs from that album.
Okay now for the burning question...How do you do burns?
Well first let me tell one thing I found out right away is that even though you might may be able to listen to all the songs on a album, all the songs on the album might NOT be available to burn. When you pull up the album in the main window there will be next to the song a little flame icon next to it if its available for burning. The Bangles album I pulled up had every song available to burn except Manic Monday. I pulled the Fifth Dimensions greatest hits, every song available to burn except Aquarius. I was getting sligthly miffed at this point. It was like okay they have major artist, yes they have most of their songs available, you just cant burn the really popular songs.
I Decided to investigate this further and did a search for Paul Simon songs. It listed a bunch of albums including the 1964/1993 box set. I chose that. ALL the songs are available to burn! I could burn the complete set if I wanted to!
I quickly added the set to my my playlist and actually thats what I have been listening to while typing this...*singing* Momma dont take my Kodachrome, Momma dont take Kodachrome
Well that concludes my review...Oh wait I didnt tell you how you burn. Well on the left window where the playlist is stored. You click on the playlist you want then above the window is a burn tab. When you click on that tab and the window that changes all the song that are available appear in black. You can add a song or the whole album to the burn list in the window below. When your done make sure you have a blank cd in your burner and click the burn button and in no time you have your cd. Well thats how it suppose to work I actually havent done it yet
When I do I will give an update.
Now I did some math there are 52 songs in this box set.
$.79 x 52 = $41.08
At Best Buy it sells for $59.99
Now back to singing....
Ceciillllla you breaking my heart,,,,you shaking my confidence daily,,,Whoaa Cecillllla I'm down on my knees,,,I'm begging you please to come home........
