jay4321
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I'm sure most people who aren't familiar with this service have heard at least mention of it.
It's a music-streaming service that looks and feels a lot like ITunes and is functionally similar to Rhapsody with better quality. It just came to the US and there is a free (ad-supported) version with very good quality streaming, a $9.99/month no-ad version with even better quality, and some middle $5/month tier. Since it just launched in the U.S. the free version is unlimited listening for 6 months while they try to beef up a customer base. I tried the free version for about two hours and went premium almost right away. I'll give my impressions:
1) The streaming is instantaneous. You can't even tell that the files aren't located on your hard drive it's so fast.
2) The quality is perfect. I have my CD collection ripped at 320 kb/s as MP3s. The AAC format they use is even better and indistinguishable even on a very high-end sound card with a high end headphones set.
3) You can select and add songs to your library same as ITunes as if you owned them. You can use them on devices like iPods, though this may only be for the $10/month service.
4) The interface is simple and easy.
5) Selection - very good, but not perfect. It has 95% of what's out there including some very obscure stuff. There are some bands that opted out, the ones I've noticed are The Beatles (they have a deal with iTunes), Garth Brooks (deal with Walmart), Metallica (they're just annoying), AC/DC (they don't sell individual tracks anywhere), Led Zeppelin, Tool, and Rammstein. Also the occasional artist may have a song or two not available, but have the rest of their material.
For me this last one isn't a big deal, since I more or less have what I want from the above in my mp3 collection.
6) What it does have more than makes up for what's missing. For example, a search for "Jimi Hendrix Experience" (not Jimi Hendrix - the search is pretty exacting) will turn up his studio records, plus a live double CD with 38 tracks, plus a live box set with dozens of tracks. With other artists like Stevie Ray, Pearl Jam and Nirvana you'll see a lot of the same, or remastered versions of the CD with bonus tracks (that you might not buy). My girlfriend pointed out that Tori Amos has an entire tour's worth of recordings available, 38 double-CDs in length (!) that were a limited edition and expensive release all together.