Skip to Content

Massively has the latest Warhammer Online news, guides and analysis!
AOL Tech

Posts with tag rhapsody

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Yahoo!, Search

Search for music on Yahoo!, play songs on search results page

Yahoo! music search
Companies like SeeqPod and Skreemr have made a business model out of letting you search for a song or musician by name and then streaming the MP3s found on the web. The sites don't actually host any of the music - just the tools to locate and play it. But they do rely on the fact that millions of people have already illegally uploaded copyrighted songs to the internet. Now Yahoo! has entered the game with a 100% legal system.

Here's how it works. You go to Yahoo.com and enter the name of a band, musician, or song. If it's among the 10,000 or so songs supported by Yahoo! at the moment, you'll get a box at the top of your search results with some artist information and a few play links. Hit play and a Flash-based player will pop up and start playing the song by streaming music from Real Networks' Rhapsody music service.

There is a catch. You can only listen to 25 songs a month before the Rhapsody player stops working. You'll need to sign up for a paid account if you want to keep going. In other words, if you're looking to create a free streaming audio playlist, you're still better off using SeeqPod or Skreemr. But if you're already a Rhapsody subscriber or if you're willing to pay for a legal service, Yahoo! is offering an alternative. And more importantly, if you're not looking to create a playlist, but just want to figure out the name of that tune you heard on the radio, Yahoo! now has the tools to help.

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Web services

RealNetworks launches DRM-free Rhapsody music store

Rhapsody MP3 store
RealNetworks has launched a DRM-free MP3 music store. The Rhapsody MP3 store has music from all four major labels, with over 5 million tracks available for download. Most songs are priced at 99 cents, and most albums cost $9.99. That's about the same price that Apple charges for DRM-free AAC audio files, but a bit more than Amazon MP3 charges for many songs and albums.

All songs will be encoded at 256kbps, and will be playable on any device that can handle MP3 audio. RealNetworks isn't killing off its DRM-restricted music service, but rather, plans to have the two services peacefully coexist. You can pay $12.99 a month to stream unlimited music to your computer, or you can pay per download to save songs that you can play forever.

RealNetworks is also rolling out a service that will let Verizon Wireless customers download music for their handsets. For $15 a month, users will be able to download an unlimited number of songs (with DRM) on a Windows PC and sync those songs with their cellphone. Currently seven handsets are supported, with several more coming soon.

The Rhapsody MP3 store is offering a $10 credit to the first 100,000 customers who purchase an album by July 4th. You need to sign up for an account and fork over your credit card information to qualify. But hey, free music, right?

[via CNet]

Filed under: Audio, Internet, News

Yahoo! hands its music business to Rhapsody

Rhapsody
Yahoo! is preparing to dump its Yahoo! Music Unlimited service and replace it with a partnership with RealNetworks' Rhapsody. A few weeks ago we reported on a rumor that Yahoo! was exploring the idea of launching a DRM-free music store to compete with Apple and Amazon. It looks like the company decided to go another direction.

Both Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Rhapsody allow users to access a large library of on-demand music for a subscription fee. But while Yahoo! has been charging $5.99 to $8.99 per month, Rhapsody charges $12.99 per month. Existing users will have their accounts automatically transferred to Rhapsody, with their music libraries intact. But when you're contract runs out, you'll be charged the higher rate.

Yahoo! and Rhapsody are also exploring collaboration on other projects, including music downloads.

Filed under: Audio, Internet

MTV loses URGE, joins RealNetworks to combat iTunes

RhapsodyMTV is expected to announce today that it will partner with RealNetworks, merging the two company's online music services.

This probably means the end of MTV's URGE music site, which probably won't affect much of anyone. As far as we can tell, you could count the number of URGE subscribers on one hand. And you might not need all your fingers.

Anyway, URGE had been a partnership between MTV and Microsoft. But Microsoft has been focusing on its Zune Marketplace since launching its iPod competitor. So it makes sense for MTV to partner up with RealNetworks, the company behind the subscription-based Rhapsody music service.

Whether MTV/Rhapsody will make a dent in Apple's market share remains to be seen. But so far Apple has yet to offer a subscription model for iTunes, so it should be interesting to see if Rhapsody's pay a monthly fee for all the music you want model will gain any traction with MTV's brand name and music library.

Verizon Wireless has also signed on to distribute MTV/RealNetworks content to mobile devices.

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

Internet radio Day of Silence in action

As we reported previously, today is the day that hundreds, if not thousands, of online radio stations are going silent, broadcasting static, or PSAs and other messages to their listeners to bring attention to the impending royalty rate hike from the Copyright Royalty Board.

Across the net you can see signs of the protest in action. Yahoo! Music's radio station guide is featuring links to SaveNetRadio.org at the top of its list. SomaFM, a popular indie radio station broadcasting from San Francisco is playing intermittent PSAs against the background of the BART. Rhapsody has a large banner across their front page showing a woman with duct tape across her mouth, with a zipper drawn on it. ShoutCast has information posted where its normally lengthy radio station guide sits, issuing a call to action.

If you care about online radio, and want the luxury to be able to turn it on a year, two years or even five years from now, then act today and contact your Senators and State Representatives. Don't sit idly by and let net radio become a victim of senseless royalty rates, while terrestrial FM & AM stations continue to play the same boring material over and over, without having to pay the same exorbitant royalties. Post links to other net radio stations participating in today's protest in the comments.

Update: KCRW Santa Cruz is joining the protest today by interrupting all programming to discuss the upcoming royalty rate hike with Mike Riksen of NPR, Kurt Hanson of AccuRadio, Tim Westergren of Pandora, Caryn Mathes of American University Radio, Ian Rogers of Yahoo! Music, Ted Leibowitz of BAGeL Radio and Johnny Floater of Live365.com. Check their site for more info. (Thanks Brad!)

Related:
Download Squad Interview: Tim Westergren of Pandora
Net Radio gets two more months to live

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
SXSWi 2008 Schwag Unboxing
SXSWi 2008 Day 1
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

BloggingStocks Tech Coverage

More Tech Coverage