for a stick of bubble gum and a hay penny?

jimmyego: FTA: Rhapsody, the biggest premium on-demand music service in the U.S.

That seems unlikely, doesn't iTunes - for example - qualify, and have exponentially more US consumers? (+40MM vs ~1MM)

I think on demand in this case means a monthly payment for access to many songs rather than songs bought on an individual basis like iTunes.

Doesn't bother me, I'll just stick with AudioGalaxy.

12349876: I think on demand in this case means a monthly payment for access to many songs rather than songs bought on an individual basis like iTunes.

Its also telling how "on-demand" has completely failed as a business model.

The funny thing is, I'm watching Doug right now.

/The 90's were a good time to grow up.

Oh, and *buffering*

fang06554: AudioGalaxy

I'm a big fan of Subsonic myself.

Then you add in Spotify, Google Music, Sirius, and Pandora and I have enough music to last me a very long time.

When did Rhapsody last shine?
When did Best Buy, get a best buy on Rhapsody?

NAPSTER BAD

MONEY GOOD

In a deal worth tens of dollars, amirite?

I don't remember the last time I listened to the radio or watched tv, or listened to online music, or watched tv online. I may buy one newspaper per month. Napster and Rhapsody might have been bad but they were just failed businesses, which is unlike the demise of more established media.

...and the combined company will be acquired by Compuserve

bk3k: ...and the combined company will be acquired by Compuserve

Which will be purchased for a goat, an old set of croquet mallets and a bj from a geriatric by Earthlink.

SomethingToDo: NAPSTER BAD

King Something: MONEY GOOD


first thing I thought of as well...

wildcardjack: In a deal worth tens of dollars, amirite?

At *least* four AAA batteries and a packet of mustard.

Gobobo: Napster and Rhapsody might have been bad but they were just failed businesses, which is unlike the demise of more established media.

Napster isn't a bad service. It's $5 per month for unlimited, on-demand streaming plus 5 mp3 downloads of your choice per month. In other words, it's spending $5 per month on iTunes and getting unlimited on-demand streaming for free. Or having a paid spotify account, but getting 5 song downloads for free.

iTunes won the market due to bundling with the iPod. When I first signed up for Napster/Virgin (2005-6?), it was basically Spotify. You had unlimited streaming to your comp and could load those songs to a compatible portable. Alternatively, you could buy individual songs. The problem is that the iPod dominated portable music player sales and Apple used lock-in to ensure that iTunes succeeded. All legal download services until a few years ago had DRM, and iPods didn't work with the DRM everyone but the iTunes store could use. So Napster customers were relegated to people (like me) who just wanted to stream to their computer, or who bought one of a handful of portables that weren't the iPod.

This sort of reminds me of when K-Mart and Sears merged.

. . . and not a single fark was given that day.

Rhapster?
Napsody?

Meh.

I guess I'm old fashioned. I still have Rhapsody. $14 per month for unlimited downloads sure beats 99 cents per download from itunes.

I'll delete the 10,000 or so mp3s I've made from Rhapsody downloads when I quit the service. Wouldn't want to be in violation of copyright laws or anything.

I use Rhapsody - got tired of downloading music illegally and get halfway through the song before it shat the bed with distortion or quality drop. With 4G phones, you can stream Rhapsody and it works great - days of having two devices (MP3 and phone) will not be missed.

rfronk: The funny thing is, I'm watching Doug right now.

/The 90's were a good time to grow up.

Yes... yes, they were...

I pay for new music, but have torrented music from my youth that I had bought on various formats. My conscience is okay with that.