Rhapsody offers four different plans for downloading music, Rhapsody 25, Rhapsody Radio, Rhapsody Unlimited, and Rhapsody to Go. With Rhapsody 25, you can buy songs for 99 cents each, and most albums for $10. You can burn these tracks to CD’s, or transfer them to an MP3 player, as you have complete control over them. Also, every month, you can stream 25 songs, which you can listen to the full song, all for free. You also get access to 25 radio stations, all for free. The next plan up is Rhapsody Radio, which costs $3.33 a month, and allows you access to over 100 commercial free premium radio stations, and unlimited custom radio stations, which can easily be created. You can skip the songs you don’t like on the radio, and with one click, can purchase the song, so you can burn it to a CD, or transfer it to an MP3 player. Next is Rhapsody Unlimited which runs at $8.33 per month, and comes with a 14 day free trial. You have unlimited access to the full library of songs at Rhapsody, which is over a million songs, and you get unlimited radio, both custom and preprogrammed. You will get personalized music recommendations, and also receive a 10% discount for song purchases, meaning you can own the song for only 90 cents each, instead of the $1, that you would have to pay with Rhapsody 25. The last plan is Rhapsody to Go, which costs only $15 a month, and also comes with a 14 day free trial. Rhapsody to Go offers you the same access as Rhapsody Unlimited, but it allows you to transfer any of the one million songs to your MP3 player. It is compatible with most MP3 players, including the Dell DJ, all Creative, iRiver, and SanDisk MP3 players. However, it does not work with the Apple iPod. Last, Rhapsody offers unique reviews of CD’s by its editorial staff. Most music applications use third party reviews, but Rhapsody writes them themselves, providing a fresh view on the music, and their recommendations.

Rhapsody is also a great music application, in addition to the music download part of the program. It supports MP3, WMA, and AAC formats, as well as the ability to import any type of CD. You can manage your music quickly and easily, with an easy to use library, and an integrated search feature, so you can find the song you are looking for, all within a few seconds. Rhapsody is capable of burning CD’s, and transferring your library to a supported MP3 player, to which there are over 100 MP3 players, including the Apple iPod. Rhapsody features support for playing music on your home stereo, which is truly a great feature, as that is where music was meant to be played.

Rhapsody is a great music application, and is definitely a major competitor to Napster and iTunes. Rhapsody offers competitive pricing, and also many unique features, that no one else offers. If you don’t have an iPod, and are looking for a music application, I would highly recommend Rhapsody.

Sony followed in iTunes footsteps when it comes to music downloads, offering 99 cents tracks, and $9.95 for most albums. With Sony Connect, you have two options for downloading your music. The first option is to download it directly from your browser, such as Internet Explorer, and right on to your hard drive. The second option is to download Sony SonicStage, which is free software used for managing your music, and burning it to CD’s. This increased versatility is very useful for users to get their music in the simplest way possible. The one main issue with Sony Connect is the lack of compatibility. Sony Connect is only compatible with Sony MP3 players and PDA’s. With only a few Sony MP3 players on the market currently, this extremely limits the possibilities for Connect. Also, Connect can not support MP3 files in its SonicStage program. All downloaded files are in ATRAC3 format, which take a considerable time longer than MP3 files, to transfer to a portable device. Like most music applications, Connect allows unlimited plays for your library, and limits the number of times you can burn a playlist to ten times. However, with Connect, five of the ten times have to be in ATRAC3 format, which means they will only work on certain Sony CD players, and Walkmans. The one thing Sony does have going for it, is the diversity of music that most music applications can not offer. Because Sony owns a ton of music, this can all be used exclusively in Connect, and no other application. Sony also includes a good number of independent artists, which often are the up and coming popular stars. Sony’s design in SonicStage, is easily navigable, and offers a few unique features. One of the more interesting features is called MoodMix. It allows you to click on different feelings, such as Mellow, Sad, Romantic, Wild, Happy, Upbeat, and then it recommends music to you, which is based on recommendations from their staff. Connect also offers free online radio, like most music applications. Other exclusive music with Connect includes Jimmy Kimmel sound clips, from the Jimmy Kimmel Show, which are truly hilarious. Overall, Sony Connect has a lot of room to improve, but has a good solid base to improve upon.

Sony Connect is a pretty good music application, but I wouldn’t recommend it to you, unless you own a Sony MP3 player, or Sony portable product, which you want to load music on. Sony has a reputation in the music industry to always be the best, and I think in a couple of years, you will see this reputation prove to be true, as they are, or close to the best music application.

Unlike other music applications which offer a true music application, Napster is primarily a music download program. It offers tracks available for download at 99 cents each, and $9.95 for most albums. However, unlike other programs, Napster also offers two subscription programs, where you can have unlimited access to their entire library, but with limitations on what you can do with those tracks. The first subscription, Napster Membership, allows you to download any song within Napster, however they can not be transferred to an MP3 player, and expire as soon as you cancel your subscription. This membership costs $9.95 per month. The second subscription is called Napster to Go, and is basically the same concept of Napster Membership, however with Napster To Go, you can put the files on a Napster compatible MP3 player. This subscription costs $14.95 per month. Another very popular feature with Napster is the Online Radio Stations. You can create your own radio station by inputting types of music you like, and then Napster will play similar music on your own radio station. Napster allows you to easily swap playlists with your friends, sharing your tastes in music, and your favorite artists. Napster is compatible with over 75 MP3 players, but not the iPod. Basically any MP3 player that supports WMA files will work with Napster; however it is always best if it is listed as Plays For Sure, which can be found at the Napster homepage. Users also find the ability to access your subscription in three different locations an excellent feature. Napster really took the “Napster to Go” literally, allowing you access to your music while on the road. As with most online music applications, the quality of the songs is excellent with Napster. Listening to a CD track, and a Napster downloaded song, the sound is virtually undistinguishable. Unique content is another feature that Napster has, and others, such as iTunes do not. The Napster Staff are constantly writing new content, which only enhance the music.

Napster is currently the second best music application on the market, and definitely the program to use for non-iPod users. It has many great features, and the impressive one million track library will only grow with time. What makes Napster so unique are its two subscription plans, which allows you access to over a million songs, for only $10/$15 a month. I would definitely agree with CNET’s review of Napster 3.0, as a 7.3/10, which is Very Good, as it is a great program, and just a step below Apple’s iTunes.

One of the more popular features of iTunes that some other music applications do not offer is full music downloads. Other services offer subscriptions, and free listening to music, but when it comes down to it, they can only listen to the music on their computer. iTunes charges 99 cents per song, and $9.99 for most albums, though there are quite a few exceptions. They allow for a 30 second preview of the song, before you choose to purchase the song, which is very useful in sampling the music, and choosing what to buy. Once you download the music, you are free to burn it to a CD, transfer it to your iPod, or just keep it on your computer. However, this music is encrypted, to prevent illegal distribution of the music. Payment can be set up using a major credit card, or a PayPal account.

While the Music Shop is probably the most used part of the application, the rest of the application is very powerful, and has some great features. The creation of a playlist is as simple as dragging the song to the playlist. It doesn’t get much simpler than that! You can set up “Smart Playlists” which automatically filter your entire library to create the playlist for you. For example, if you wanted to make a playlist of all your Beatles music, you would type The Beatles into the artist field when creating the playlist and it would automatically add all your Beatles songs to that playlist. Plus if you added more Beatles songs later on, they would automatically be added to your playlist. iTunes also offers free online radio with hundreds of stations across the nation, as well as the ability to shuffle your music, based on different parameters you can enter. With iTunes you can automatically create a CD insert, and label, filled with all the album info, such as Artist, Track Name, and Time. This is especially useful when creating a custom mix, so you can know the order of the songs, and all the information about them.

Overall, iTunes is definitely the superior music application on the market today. The music store is exceptional, filled with a great selection of tracks, and is constantly updated with new music every week. iTunes also offers tons of other great features in the application that allow you to manage your music, and transfer it to your iPod, all with only a few clicks of the mouse. With all this being said, it is no wonder why over 500 billion tracks have been sold, and legally downloaded using iTunes.