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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio candidates - Moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pyslent who wrote (1512)	6/15/2005 12:44:54 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 2955

Real's Rhapsody Services psylent. << In my opinion, Rhapsody has the cleanest, most intuitive interface, and the focus is on streaming, rather than downloading music. >> It is a great interface, but in the NEW (2 month old) Rhapsody the focus is on both streaming and downloading and a well designed mix of either or both. I didn't use the old Rhapsody, but apparently the new services (free or subscription) has changed somewhat. The change is why Tinker and I were miscommunicating, and why you and I are possibly looking at this from a slightly different perspective as well. << There are no messy files to clutter your local hard drive >> Actually there are, (unless you are only playing, and not subscribing tracks to enhance your library) and they're added to imported (prior or future rips) files and purchased files in "My Library." The Library viewer pane differentiates imported, purchased, and subscribed tracks. I added (subscribed) a complete 12 track Nancy Wilson album this morning and the 12 tracks (12 files) added 32MB. Rhapsody 25 -- the free service cum v3.0 client audio player/manager-- presents two options when viewing an album and its tracks: Play or Buy the album or any individual track. You can only listen to 25 full tracks a month and after that you play 30 second leaders for tracks. It is first and foremost a music store like iTUNES but adds 25 commercial free streaming radio stations (not the full 100 available by subscription) but not customizable stations and there is no track skip functionality on those stations. With the Rhapsody Unlimited $99/year subscription that I now subscribe a quarter at a time, the options change. The visible options are Play or Add (the album or individual tracks) but not Buy which ADD replaces. If one clicks "Add" on a track (or album), the track (or album) is downloaded to the hard drive and future plays are from the HDD. Although those subscription tracks can be added to a playlist, you can not burn the track to a CD. That requires an 89¢ purchase, so you right click on the subscribed track(s) and purchase it -- click, click. The tracks are already on the HDD so all that's downloaded is a file status change. Very quick. With the $180/year (billed monthly) Rhapsody To Go subscription the "rented for the life of the subscription" tracks are transferrable to an MP3 Player but the features are otherwise the same as the Unlimited plan. << Like iTunes Music Store, all of the above allow the option to download and "own" DRMed version of any song for $1 (with a discount for subscribers). But I have to wonder whether anyone will actually buy ANY music during their subscription period... >> In my case, I'll buy less tracks than I would have without the subscription, but I continue to purchase because I mix off purchased music to CD -- for the cars, for the carousels, for my daughters' cars and libraries. In some cases I'm replacing an older mix and tossing the old one. My wife will visit my youngest daughter in CT this weekend with 2 copies (one for her car, one for her carousel) of a single burned CD filled with newly purchased tracks we think she'll enjoy. Once the new Rhapsody is discovered, I think that there will be many more users of the free Rhapsody 25 service which I consider to be an improved (in some respects) "iTUNES," than subscribers. Over time, as consumers acclimate themselves to the subscription model, they'll migrate to a subscription on Rhapsody or elsewhere. I just migrated quicker than I anticipated. Should I unsubscribe Rhapsody 3 months down the road, or 6, I'll have to make a decision on what subscribed tracks I want to purchase before moving on, and balance that cost against extending the subscription, or downloading part of my library again. There is certainly a lock, that varies by users habits and usage. Switching back to iPOD's for a moment ... While I was shopping upgraded speakers this weekend I ran across what looks like a great 200 watt 2:1 iPOD speaker system from Klipsch -- and if it was designed for PC connectivity as well as iPOD connectivity I probably would have purchased it sight unseen and hearing unheard based on some of the reviews I saw. It's called "iFi" and it sells for $350 to $400. It is designed as a compact a full room system: i.e. it overcomes the issue that PC satellite speakers are near field designs optimized for listening and creating a stero image when placed ~3' from your ears: tinyurl.com tinyurl.com If they release a PC version, I'll be considering it. Best, - Eric -

To: pyslent who wrote (1512)	6/15/2005 2:55:11 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2955

The iPOD and the Klipsch "iFi" Speaker System ... [Tinker take note if you want to fill your room with "I Walk the Line" and drive 'she who must be obeyed' elsewhere, or bonkers.] psylent, I need to correct something I just stated in my previous post to you when I said IF the "iFi" offered PC connectivity as well as iPOD connectivity I probably would have purchased it sight unseen and hearing unheard based on some of the reviews I saw. I was under the impression that their was no auxiliary line in for PC connectivity on the Klipsch "iFi" system. The 2nd review I just linked says ... Unlike the [Bose] SoundDock, it includes an audio line-in port that can be connected via cable to your computer or another stereo audio source. How the heck did I miss that? That changes the picture entirely. As I noted to Tink, I had planned to experiment with moving the sats on my new throwaway Logitech Z-2300 speaker kit forward about 4 feet, and right and left about 3 feet each (about 8' from the bridge of my nose, stereo image sweet spot) for a full room effect which is a little far to place any near-field speakers without at least a medium-field switch, with decent results, and they'll probably wind up flanking my monitor. This "iFi" system appears to be EXACTLY what I was looking for. Stores are just beginning stocking now so I'll wait for the price to come down a tad, and catch a demo when one becomes available which is always a wise thing to do with speakers in that price range rather than the "sight unseen and hearing unheard" approach. This could eventually drive me to an iPOD rather than an N91. <g> Then an iPOD cable and control for my auto. <gg> Then an iPOD dock for the living room <ggg> Then I'd need another "iFi" system for the master bedroom. <gggg> This dialogue Apollo started could get expensive and switching costs are mounting up. As far as the N91 goes, I really don't think that single very expensive device (even when it is subsidized) will put a ding, much less a dent, in iPOD sales, although the myriad of converged mobile devices cum MP3 players might. I did think that the slide (#14) Anssi Vanjoki showed at Nokia Connection was interesting. It purports to compare audio quality of the N91 to (the) leading MP3 competitor on 4 key audio metrics: tinyurl.com It will be interesting to see reviews when the device is in production, and in particular on the user interface for music playing, ordering, and downloading. Best, - Eric -