Rhapsody offers its users access to over 16 million songs. With its new update, it also allows users to listen to music offline via downloaded tracks, albums, or playlists. With the new ‘My Music’ section, you can add or remove music, artists, or albums from your library, and you can also listen to other Rhapsody user’s libraries whenever you want. You can add/remove sections from your ‘My Stations’ or ‘My Playlists’ library. Also, when creating a playlist on Rhapsody’s website, the playlist will automatically sync with your Windows Phone 8 device.

One of the main selling features for the new Rhapsody app is the increased quality of audio playback. Rhapsody knows that low quality music can be deterring, so with its new Windows Phone 8 app comes fixes that should make your listening experience much more pleasant. Audiophiles should be thrilled. The search functionality for the app should also be better, and the album art retrieved for your music files has been improved as well.

Rhapsody offers a free trial for its new users so that they can test out the app before committing to it. After the free trial period ends, you will have the option of subscribing to either the Rhapsody Premier plan for $9.99, or the Rhapsody Premium Plus plan for $14.99. The only difference between the two is that the Premium Plus plan allows you to use the Rhapsody app on up to 3 devices.

[via Windows]

SYNC AppLink has a number of benefits for the Rhapsody user who wants to use the streaming service in the car. While it was definitely possible to use Rhapsody in your car before this integration with Ford and Lincoln vehicles, AppLink will let you sync the app to your car, thus allowing you to control the app using the SYNC touch controls or the radio buttons on your steering wheel. This, in turns, lets you keep your eyes on the road, which means that you get the best of both worlds – you get to listen to Rhapsody while at the same time keeping the chances of a potentially nasty crash low.

Setup seems pretty easy too, with Rhapsody’s mobile app connecting to AppLink via Bluetooth as soon as its started up. This partnership will probably be a big win for Rhapsody, as the company recently polled its users to find out what they did for entertainment while driving in the car. 40% of them said they stream Rhapsody while only 13% listen to the radio, so if Rhapsody can make the streaming process easier for Ford and Lincoln owners, we might see that number rise.

In addition, Rhapsody has found that the number of users accessing the service through mobile devices is growing year after year, so this new team up with Ford could help that percentage grow as well. Given the fact that SYNC AppLink is available on 1 million different for vehicles (including the 2013 Fiesta, Mustang, Expedition, and F-150, among others), there should be a fair number of Ford users who can take advantage of this new functionality. Be sure to check out our CES portal for more from the show here in Las Vegas!

The app was designed to emphasize the iPad display allowing users to visually navigate a large Rhapsody catalog of music. The iPad app supports downloads so subscribers can take music with them to listen to when they don’t have an Internet connection available. The player for the iPad and iPad mini is ad free for subscribers.

Using the app, subscribers can listen to any of the 16 million tracks that Rhapsody has in its database. The app has a special featured section for new releases as well as the most popular tracks and artists across 600 different musical genres. Users can also access member created playlists and libraries as well as edit, create, and sync music and playlists across any device where Rhapsody is available.

Rhapsody also launched an app for Android users recently called SongMatch. This app is designed for anyone to use whether or not they have a subscription to the Rhapsody service. The app is able to listen to a song playing in identifying the album, artist, and song name allowing users to purchase the song.

The app uses your Android smartphone to listen to a song that’s currently playing in the background, on TV, in your car, or wherever else you may hear music. The app takes what it can hear and identifies the artist, song name, and album. Uses of the app can then store and share that information with others.

One the best things about this music discovery app is that anyone can use it even if they don’t have a Rhapsody subscription. However, users of the app who do have a Rhapsody subscription get even more integration and features. When you use the SongMatch app with your Rhapsody subscription, it will link you to more music by the artist and you can use it download full tracks and investigate the album.

People with Rhapsody subscriptions can also find similar artists and look at other music by the artist. All songs discovered using the app are stored and saved as a playlist for future access. The app also allows non-Rhapsody subscribers to start a free trial.

Before I tell you exactly which one (have you guessed yet?), let me define what I want in a music service. I want good music. I want the music I am in the mood to hear. Sometimes that’s a song I already own. Sometimes that’s a song I’m familiar with, but haven’t gotten around to downloading. Sometimes it’s a song I didn’t know I would like until I heard it. Never do I want to hear another cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as long as I live. I’m looking at you, Pandora. Enough with the “Hallelujah.”

My favorite music service, by a long shot, is SiriusXM. That’s right, satellite radio. I love it. I knew I would love it from the start. I love it so much that when I bought a car that had Sirius radio installed, I called up and bought a full year’s subscription with all the bells and whistles, before the 3-month trial period had ended. That’s support for 1 car stereo, plus access to the Web site and the mobile app for streaming.

I don’t know exactly how much it costs, and I’m not going to Google it for you. That’s not the point. It wasn’t so expensive that I balked at paying for a year. The music was much more important to me than the total cost over a year. If you’re looking for a bargain, look elsewhere. But if you want to know why I think this is the best service available, keep reading.

First, an unnecessary disclosure. My day job is with Samsung. As far as I know, we’re not connected to SiriusXM in any way, and I’m not being paid to promote the service. In fact, I’ll bet there are a variety of ways we’re connected to other music services. For some people, those others may be the right choice. There are lots of ways they can serve up music that Sirius can’t match. But those are not my favorites.

One exception is Google Music. I use Google Music in addition to Sirius. When I need to satisfy the itch for just that one song from my library at the precise moment, Google Music comes to the rescue. But I’m not married to Google Music. If another cloud-based storage option came along offering even slightly better service, I would jump ship without regret.

I joined SiriusXM first for Howard Stern. I’m a long time fan. Don’t judge until you’ve tried him for a month. Howard Stern operates two channels on SiriusXM. One plays his main radio show, which is broadcast new three days a week, and then reruns of the show for the rest of the week. The other station plays shuffled clips from his 30+ year history on the radio, as well as shows from other broadcasters Stern has culled.

There is every indication that when Stern’s current contract is up, he will retire from radio. His success on “America’s Got Talent” is probably not helping my chances of hearing him live on my morning drive. When Stern leaves Sirius, I will miss his show more than I have missed any other show that disappeared from the airwaves. But I will remain a loyal SiriusXM subscriber.

Sirius has an excellent collection of curated radio channels. The first 10 channels correspond to decades. Channel 6 is all Sixties music; channel 9 is all nineties music, and so on. There are channels themed towards certain bands or personalities. Jimmy Buffett has his own channel, and so does Eminem. There is a Bruce Springsteen channel, and Sirius recently added a Pink Floyd channel. The best thing about these personality-inspired channels is the bonuses they offer. There are clips of interviews, outtakes, B-sides, and live recordings that even true fans may have missed.

In fact, this is the best thing about all of Sirius. The channels are well-curated. Sirius has employed plenty of old school DJs from the bygone days of radio. Almost all of the original MTV VJs are employed at Sirius. Video killed the radio star, but satellite radio resuscitated the video star’s career.

Tune to a station you like. I love “Lithium,” which is likely named for the eponymous Nirvana song, and which plays mostly alternative music from the early nineties. If you’re a true fan of this genre, on any given day you’ll likely hear songs you already own, songs you never got around to downloading from Napster in its heyday, and some songs you’ll swear you’ve never heard before.

The genre selection could use a little more variety. You won’t find the most obscure genres to quench your thirst. If you’re into underground hip-hop, or pop a cappella, or other less popular genres (as I am), you won’t find stations to support your habit. But there is still plenty to like. I have 6 channels programmed into my dashboard shortcuts, and each of those is a starting point. Sirius channels are nicely grouped. So, if you start with a singer/songwriter channel and work your way up the board, you’ll branch out in ways that make sense: through coffeehouse music; to early alternative rock, with its smooth vocals and padded synths; to the nostalgic Lithium station I mentioned; through college rock and new alternative.

There are blocks of comedy channels, from family friendly through the ultra-raunchy Raw Dog and Howard Stern channels. There are news and political channels that cover a wide spectrum. I still donate to my local public radio station, but I can’t stand listening to it because of the ubiquitous membership drives. On SiriusXM’s NPR station, I get most of my favorite shows with none of that nonsense.

There are occasionally cool special events, but SiriusXM would do better to have more of these. Sirius broadcast live Bruce Springsteen’s first ever show at the Apollo theater in New York City. A special tribute channel will pop up frequently to correspond with an anniversary or a death. The Pink Floyd station seemed to start as a special feature, but now seems like an awesome permanent fixture. Still, when Stern vacates his channels, Sirius will need more original programming to fill in the gap.

There are other small problems, too. The service doesn’t work in tunnels. It cuts out briefly when you drive under a large overpass. Sometimes, it just stops working for a moment or two. Sirius depends on a direct line of transmission from a satellite in space. It doesn’t quite penetrate yet. It would be nice if the service could buffer better, or perhaps pair the satellite component with an online, connected component in the car for a hybrid service that was much more reliable. It doesn’t hamper my enjoyment, but it is annoying when I miss the punch line of a joke because I drove under an exit ramp.

Sirius has been growing steadily, but not quickly enough. It is competing with free terrestrial radio, after all. Free radio gets worse and worse by the day, but hey, it’s free. Plus, most cars have an audio input for your phone or MP3 player, as well as CD players, DVD players, and even Blu Ray built-in. And that’s just in the car. On the desktop and on mobile devices, competition is even more fierce.

I would still recommend SiriusXM above all. If you miss the old days of radio, when a DJ you could trust and enjoy would pick out an interesting selection of music, then SiriusXM will bring you back.

After all, music from The Beatles has never been offered on premium streaming outlets, which are well known in the industry as providing smaller royalties to artists than places like iTunes or Amazon MP3, where the revenue generated for each individual song that someone wants to access is far greater. They have continued to promise that as their user base grows, so will the royalty rates, but for McCartney it didn’t grow fast enough.

The former Beatle is not the only one shying away from the subscription-based models. Coldplay and Adele are two other heavy hitters who decided to pull the plug on sites like Rhapsody and MOG, although Coldplay did release its most recent album to Rhapsody after first launching it exclusively as a pay-per-download product online. McCartney’s music will of course continue to sold on iTunes, where he is growing an increasingly fond relationship.

[via CBS]

There’s also a speed and performance boost promised, including higher offline music playback quality. Better playlist management tools are also in the pipeline. However the Napster brand will continue in the UK and Germany, as Rhapsody reckons it’s better known there, and the existing Napster staff will keep their jobs.

Rhapsody has over 1m paying subscribers in the US, spending at least $4.99 per month on the streaming music service. That figure was bolstered by acquiring Napster’s US operations from Best Buy last October, leading Rhapsody to go on to claim it had the highest number of US subscribing users of any paid-streaming service.

Financial terms of the deal between Rhapsody and Napster International have not been revealed.

What the folks at Rhapsody are saying this week is that 2011 has not only been a big year for them, it was more than likely their biggest year yet. The 1 million paid subscribers mark has also tipped the scales for another item of interest: the president of Rhapsody promised his team that if they ever reached that mark, he’d shave his head. That’s what you’re about to see a photo of below this loving quote from the man himself:

“We’ve accomplished quite a bit over the past decade, so it’s no small statement to say that 2011 was probably our biggest year yet. I told our team that when we topped one million paid subscribers, I’d shave my head… it was probably the best free haircut I’ve ever had.” – Rhapsody President John Irwin

The team at Rhapsody also listed out their other big accomplishments for the year, another impressive list for the masses:

2011 Rhapsody Milestones

1/07/2011: Verizon Wireless announces Rhapsody will ship on its LTE devices, with integrated billing

3/1/2011: MTV and Rhapsody launch the “60-Day Free-For-All,” giving new subscribers two months of free music and the largest free music promotion of its kind

3/18/2011: Rhapsody hosts Rhapsody Rocks Austin, with Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, Ty Segall, Small Black and Glasser at SXSW

3/31/2011: Rhapsody hires Rob Harvilla, former Village Voice music editor, as managing editor of The Mix

3/21/2011: Rhapsody launches on Windows Phone 7

7/11/2011: Rhapsody announces 800,000 subscribers

8/17/2011: Rhapsody announces partnership with MetroPCS for Rhapsody Unlimited Music

9/14/2011: Rhapsody announced remixed and remastered social Web experience

9/22/2011: Rhapsody launches in Facebook Music

10/3/2011: Rhapsody announces acquisition of Napster

12/7/2011: Rhapsody celebrates its 10-year anniversary with a concert with Built to Spill in Seattle

12/22/2011: Rhapsody surpasses one million paying subscriber milestone

Rhapsody is currently able to be experienced on apps on over 60 unique devices, this year also marking the first time playback was bigger for non-PC than for a PC, 40 percent of this being mobile. It’s time for the future of music to continue through battle! Let the streaming music wars continue!

There’s also time-consuming and expensive data collection, made mandatory by the agreements, with little in the way of standardization for reporting to each individual label. Even the raw tracks themselves are supplied in different formats with different data tagging, and must be fettled into a consistent shape before they can be deployed.

To cap it off, a “most favored nation” clause means that even if one label negotiates a more service-friendly deal, it can later insist on the same terms as agreed with a different label. The best terms are shared between all the labels; the reason, insider Michael Robertson (former CEO of MP3.com) says, streaming media services often find it easy to get a first label onboard, knowing they’ll share in any good deals negotiated down the line. Spotify and others aren’t free to go to other suppliers, since the labels and publishers hold the copyrights.

It’s well worth reading if you’ve ever wondered why Spotify and other services have such difficulty spreading into new markets – the much-delayed Spotify US launch is a good example – and, indeed, how labels are making their money in the new digital age. The fact that the labels are likely to get even tighter with the splitting up and sale of EMI doesn’t bode well for fairer negotiations in future.

“This deal will further extend Rhapsody’s lead over our competitors in the growing on-demand music market,” said Rhapsody president Jon Irwin in a statement. “There’s substantial value in bringing Napster’s subscribers and robust IP portfolio to Rhapsody as we execute on our strategy to expand our business via direct acquisition of members and distribution deals.”

When Napster was acquired by Best Buy in 2008 for $121 million, it had about 700,000 subscribers but then faced a large decline. The current Napster subscriber base hasn’t been revealed, but it will add to Rhapsody’s subscriber base of 800,000.

Although both companies were among the earliest music service providers, they have struggled in recent years to gain more users and especially so with newcomers like Spotify that offer a significant amount of music for free. Spotify is also now tightly integrated with Facebook, giving it even greater access to a large pool of potential subscribers. Its been reported recently that since its integration with Facebook, the service adds about 250,000 new subscribers each day and has already hit over 4 million users.

[via PCMag]

Facebook has long been rumored to be working on a music offering with the recent launch of Facebook’s video calling providing evidence in its code that a music service was indeed on its way. Add to that the timing of Spotify’s launch and the leaked internal document that emphasized its reliance on Facebook as part of its marketing, and we get the picture that Facebook Music would be powered by Spotify.

However, this isn’t the case according to competing music services. When Rdio CEO Drew Larner was questioned last week about a subscription service on Facebook, he responded with a smile and said he could not comment. Today, Rhapsody spokesperson was more straightforward saying, “We have plans for deep Facebook integration with the next release of our product, and I can say on good authority that there will be more music content in Facebook than Spotify.”

This seems to support other rumors that Facebook Music will be more of a social wrap around a variety of music streaming services that includes but is not limited to Spotify. We’ll just have to wait for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to tease another “awesome” announcement.

[via BusinessInsider]

Apple’s subscription service requires a 30 percent cut on all revenue from online subscriptions. It also sets up restrictions that steer customers away from directly subscribing via the publisher’s website–the only way publishers can avoid the 30% fee and acquire important customer sales and billing data. On top of this, publishers are not allowed to offer a lower subscription price on their websites than what they offer in-app. And there’s even less wiggle room when you consider that subscription content can only be delivered to iPads, iPhones, and iPods via iTunes.

Apple has had a brush with federal regulators before for similar anti-competition strategies. In May 2010, the FTC and the Justice Department made inquiries on Apple’s developer agreement in that seemed to be anti-Android. That situation restyled in Apple announcing greater developer freedoms. So it will be interesting to see whether Apple loosens its grip on the new subscription model.

[via Cult of Mac and Reuters]

The popular music streaming service is big in Europe but it’s been having trouble breaking into the subscription-based music market. There are plenty of subscription-based music services out there already like Rhapsody and Sony’s own Music Unlimited which launched today. The problem is that U.S. labels charge higher royalties to subscription services than free ad-supported services.

If the provider changes any subscription fees, the higher rate is applied to all streams, not just the paid subscription ones. That’s why you don’t see any free premium music subscriptions, only free trials. Spotify has only around 750,000 subscription customers paying for music, and over 10 million customers using the free version. With higher royalty fees plus Apple’s new subscription services fees, Spotify will have to adjust quite a bit. We’ll see if Spotify can sign deals with the remaining major labels and if a U.S. launch means changing its pricing model to be more like U.S. subscription music services.

[Via Business Insider]

The new subscription model requires that all app developers or publishers of content-based apps will have to pay a 30% cut of their subscription revenue to Apple when users subscribe via the App Store. Music services such as Rhapsody have a hard time with this because they are already paying substantial fees to record labels and music publishers.

Rhapsody currently does not offer in-app purchases in their iPhone app, but instead re-routes the user via the phone browser to subscribe from their website. However, Apple’s new rules would require Rhapsody to include an in-app subscription option on which they would have to pay the 30% cut.

[Via Business Insider]

The Android LTE app will provide listeners with higher quality music in AAC format at 192 kbps. The LTE network is fast enough to allow the user to download ten songs in about 30 seconds. The app also has access to video content as well.

The Rhapsody TV access provided by the LTE Android app allows the user to watch the Rhapsody Originals concerts with interviews and more from the most popular artists around. Verizon says that its LTE network already covers a third of the country and over the next three years, its entire 3G coverage area will be upgraded to LTE.

Via Android Community

According to the first report from Business Insider Google was “close” to laying out some cash to buy subscription music service that is already on the market. According to the report, the two servicers that were eyed were Spotify and Rhapsody. The report claims the deals fell through after “internal fighting” between three of the groups inside Google that were involved in the buying process. Google buying up Rhapsody would have been cool I think.

The second report talks about Google’s plans to put music on the cloud. This cloud-based service is apparently what will come first, assuming the reports can be believed at all. Google is still eyeing a subscription service for later, but the cloud locker will come first. There are few details but the cloud locker would allow a user to upload their own tracks to listen to from anywhere. Negotiations with music studios have not started, but the report claims that Google is ready to throw millions at music labels to get them to agree.

Via Musically

Rhapsody has now launched its Blackberry app for on-demand music and the addition of the Blackberry App means that Rhapsody is now available on all major smartphones including the iPhone, Android, and RIM devices. The new app lets users get music on demand from anywhere there is a network connection.

The app provides access to the user’s playlist, access to radio stations, and find new music with playlists compiled by Rhapsody editors. The app requires version 5.0 of the Blackberry OS or higher to work and the app can be controlled by Bluetooth headsets.

Like the European service, Rhapsody on iPhone demands a monthly subscription – in this case, Rhapsody To Go, which costs $15 per month.  There’s a week’s free trial included when you download the app initially, which is something Spotify foolishly didn’t include, and tracks are streamed in 64kbps quality.

SlashGear columnist Michael Gartenberg has been trying out the new app, and despite the quality shortcomings he’s very impressed.  Access to playlists, albums and artists is all there, though of course thanks to the iPhone’s lack of true multitasking there’s no way to play Rhapsody music in the background while doing something else on the iPhone.

“Just enter your credentials and you’re good to go. I had no problems streaming over the air (but of course, there’s no background streaming on the iPhone). I had no problems accessing my playlists, albums and artists. Along with the Sonos, this is the best integration of Rhapsody that I’ve seen” Michael Gartenberg

If anything, that strikes us as most likely to form customers into vocal complaint about background applications.  While IM client complaints have been partially quieted by the pop-up dialog boxes, there’s no such easy workaround for music apps.  More on Rhapsody for iPhone – plus a demo video – here.

[via Gartenblog]

Access to the app will require subscribing to Rhapsody To Go, currently priced at $14.99 per month, while the app itself will be free.  There’ll also be a free trial for new subscribers, though no word on how long it will last.

Video demo after the cut

The company has now turned its attention to an Android version of the app, while likely keeping its fingers crossed that Apple does not decide Rhapsody for iPhone might impinge too greatly on their mobile iTunes revenues.  Back in July rival streaming music service Spotify – though not currently available in the US – submitted their own mobile app to Apple for approval.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6239850[/vimeo]

[via mocoNews]