TAKING THE REALONE FOR A SPIN
As it crashed my PC, I thought, "I hope this is today’s only watershed event."
For $9.95 per month, subscribers can download 100 songs and stream 100 more (per month) out of an alleged 100,000 tracks (or 125 of each for $19.95 per month), watch music and other video clips, organize their collections, listen to radio, listen to and burn CDs and more. As a whole music environment for exploration and sampling, it’s a viable structure.
Unfortunately, both selection and sound quality, at this early date, leave much to be desired. The latter is the biggest problem, as the understandable desire to protect CD sales ("buy" buttons are everywhere) has resulted in sub-AM sound (except in music videos, which sound marginally better and look pretty damn good, despite the small image size).
The player is a bully, usurping all audio functions unless you opt out. Worse still, for such a desktop-bound service, any multitasking interferes with the playback, making the already tinny audio sound like the death screams of a drowning robot. Then there’s the crashing thing, which tends to harsh one’s mellow.
But hey, they’re trying—the savaging MusicNet’s already received online from smarty-pants tech types seems a bit severe, given that this is a preliminary stab at balancing consumer desires and industry concerns.
Of course, despite some careful advance whispering, RealOne had some competition this week from Listen.com’s Rhapsody sub service. Though it’s streaming only and its on-demand portion consists of catalog and indie music (the programmed radio channels are less constrained and rather good), the sound quality is excellent, despite that same old multitasking problem.
At $5.95 for the "Sampler" version or $7.95 per month for the "Sampler PLUS" package, it’s another value proposition that will be decided upon by consumers.
Next: industry eyes turn to VU/Sony’s pending sub venture, Pressplay.
