Rhapsody (online music service)

Rhapsody is an American online music service, which is operated by the company RealNetworks.

History

The service in its current form has its origins in the radio -on -demand service TuneTo.com. A development team headed by Tim Bratton then had the task to program a high-quality streaming engine for this service. After TuneTo.com was taken over by the California startup Listen.com in 2001, which had at that time already secured the streaming rights for a substantial independent music library, the service came under the name of Rhapsody in December 2001 for the market.

At this time Rhapsody was the first online music service, where the user received for a fixed monthly price complete access to the entire music inventory. Therefore, the major record companies were soon ready to license their catalogs. Already in the summer of 2002, the entire contents of the then five major music labels (BMG, EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner ) via the platform Rhapsody was available, which was a sensational novelty for the prevailing conditions. So far, the stocks of the major labels were legally available only through various, mostly proprietary services.

Shortly before the opening of the iTunes Store by Apple in April 2003 the rival RealNetworks announced an acquisition of Rhapsody. On 3 August 2003, the acquisition was completed and the service is temporarily renamed RealRhapsody. It was soon, however, decided to return to the shorter and well established brand names Rhapsody.

In October / November 2011 Rhapsody bought Napster on the competitors.

Operation

The use of Rhapsody requires a special client software that dominates the proprietary DRM method helix. Playing the music tracks is only possible through this software, an existing Internet connection is also required. After termination of the subscription the use of the streaming functions is no longer possible. However, by now there is also the additional possibility of individual titles similar to the iTunes Store available for purchase via download and save permanently on your hard drive ( pay-per- track). In this case, a play the purchased songs even after termination of the service is still possible.

For an additional monthly fee also play on some portable players, can be made possible. Here is a regular synchronization with the Rhapsody client is required to verify the continued use authorization.

The offer is currently available only to residents of the United States.

Legal disputes

Apple

Due to the widespread use of iPod music player from Apple in particular the pay-per- track function of Rhapsody had to suffer considerable competitive difficulties soon. Many iPod users acquired their prefer music from iTunes to hear this on the go, while Rhapsody exclusively less common players from other manufacturers supported. Thus, RealNetworks decided to make the title acquired through Rhapsody playable on these devices in order to remain competitive with the iTunes Store. To this end users with a plugin called Harmony was made available, which transferred the title in the Apple AAC format with the DRM system FairPlay.

Apple countered this with a modification of the iPod firmware, which put a stop to the play in this way converted title. This led to a development of war between the two manufacturers, because the Harmony plugin has also been adjusted again and again. RealNetworks also responded with drastic price cuts ( far below iTunes level ) and set up numerous advertising campaigns.

Because of the impending legal battle finally the development of the Harmony plug-ins has been set now.

More

The metal band Rhapsody was after a long trademark dispute with RealNetworks 2006 forced to change their name to Rhapsody of Fire. Since the band was founded many years before the launch of the music service, this step came to considerable criticism in the music scene.