Rhapsody on TiVo

[Solver]

Thought I'd start this thread too:

Good News to Rhapsody and TiVo users.

"8:32AM TiVo teams up with RealNetworks to bring Rhapsody to the living room (TIVO) 5.45 : RealNetworks (RNWK) and TiVo (TIVO) announce integration of the Rhapsody digital music service with the TiVo service giving TiVo subscribers access to over 3 mln songs on demand right from the TiVo remote. The co also announced it and Comcast (CMCSA) are demonstrating a new TiVo service for Comcast DVRs at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show."

[Dan203]

Hmmm... Doesn't Rhapsody use the "Plays For Sure" encryption scheme? Which in turn uses the WMA format? Does that mean TiVo will be supporting WMA files natively in a future software release? Or do they plan to transcode everything to MP3 on the fly?

Dan

[rainwater]

Hmmm... Doesn't Rhapsody use the "Plays For Sure" encryption scheme? Which in turn uses the WMA format? Does that mean TiVo will be supporting WMA files natively in a future software release? Or do they plan to transcode everything to MP3 on the fly?

Dan

I would assume this is a HME type app that let's you stream music if you are a subscriber. In this case, I would guess they are transcoding on the fly to MP3 or have already encoded these files in MP3 and its just straight streaming with some type of authentication.

[Dan203]

Ahh.. I hadn't thought of that. I just assumed this was some sort of integration with the desktop software.

Dan

[rainwater]

Ahh.. I hadn't thought of that. I just assumed this was some sort of integration with the desktop software.

Dan

It may be Tivo Desktop integration, but since Rhapsody is an unlimited service, it would seem to make a lot of sense to just be a streaming service from Real.

[colforbin13]

It's too bad I subscribe to the Yahoo! Music Unlimited service and not Rhapsody anymore.

If it is just an add-on for the Tivo Desktop software, I wonder if there will be some sort of hack to get it to work for the rest of the WMA sunscription services (Yahoo, Napster, etc.). If it's HME, I'm sure it will be locked down pretty good.

[ZeoTiVo]

The Rhapsody site seems to not be working correctly.

anyone know what MP3 players work with it? Any user opinions on the service?

[Cormode]

Anyone know when we can expect to see this actually working?

[Karnwine]

Hi all,
Cherry post but a longtime lurker.
Is there any news on what is happening with this Rhapsody project??
Is this still going to happen or did something go wrong and noone is talking about it?

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Hi all,
Cherry post but a longtime lurker.
Is there any news on what is happening with this Rhapsody project??
Is this still going to happen or did something go wrong and noone is talking about it?
Well, according to a forum moderator here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=340962&page=1&pp=30), yes the Rhapsody deal fell through (see post #26). This of course means that the last two supposed deals TiVo had with other companies (Netflix and now Rhapsody) have fallen through so I'm curious to see if the Amazon agreement will suffer the same fate.

[rainwater]

so I'm curious to see if the Amazon agreement will suffer the same fate.

Do you really think they would announce they were testing it and Amazon would have details on their website about it if it wasn't happening? Please.

Those other "deals" were just agreements to try to work together. Companies do agreements like these all the time that never come to fruition.

[ZeoTiVo]

so I'm curious to see if the Amazon agreement will suffer the same fate. you are going to look kinda silly when the Amazon downloads goes live. As for Rhapsody - all we know is that Dan believes that deal fell through and both companies have not said anything else since CES I am aware of.

Maybe Dan can give us some detail of how he knows Rhapsody partnership fell through?

[Dan203]

Actually I was just confused! I was referring to the original RealNetworks deal TiVo announced way back when the S2 was first released. I had completely forgot that they announced this thing.

So in that post I was referring to the deal from way back in 2002. I have absolutely no knowledge about this particular deal.

Dan

[Joey Bagadonuts]

you are going to look kinda silly when the Amazon downloads goes live. As for Rhapsody - all we know is that Dan believes that deal fell through and both companies have not said anything else since CES I am aware of.

Maybe Dan can give us some detail of how he knows Rhapsody partnership fell through?
Zeo and Rainwater, just to clarify my stance on the Amazon deal (or any future deals for that matter), I do not want it/them to fail. Never have I stated any such thing nor have I intimated any such feelings. I don't plan on using the Amazon Unbox program but I know other TiVo subscribers will and for that reason, I truly hope it sees fruition. Further, I've been a TiVo subscriber for roughly 4 years (I have 3 boxes now) and I've encouraged a few friends to subscribe as well. I am all for anything TiVo can do to advance and strengthen it's position in the DVR market. I do not want to see TiVo disappear. All I am saying is, given TiVo's past track record of deals, whether they were mere conjecture or not, I will believe the Amazon deal when I see it fully operational on my TiVo boxes. Until then, I will view it as another agreement with another company to "try and work together".

[d_anders]

TiVoPony or TiVoOpsMgr,

Could you shed a little light on the timing of release, etc?

I'm a full $15 a month Rhapsody subscriber who is considering dropping, but if this came on soon, I would renew as I play music all the time (dinner, dinner parties, etc.) through my main enterainment center (where I usually have the TV off when I'm playing music, but would leave it on if this was provided).

Any beta testing possiblilities?

Please advise.

Thanks!

[ZeoTiVo]

I will believe the Amazon deal when I see it fully operational on my TiVo boxes. Until then, I will view it as another agreement with another company to "try and work together".except that you just keep choosing to ignore all the obvious signs that the Amazon deal is far beyond "try and work together" . If Netflix had obtained the download license for its content then we would already be using a Netflix/TiVo downlaod service. TiVo obviously has the setup done to download content - it just needs the content. Have you noticed that UNBOX has the license to download content and the infrastructure to select what content you want and bill for it. You have just picked the wrong pony to bet against on this one, is all. ;)

[Joey Bagadonuts]

except that you just keep choosing to ignore all the obvious signs that the Amazon deal is far beyond "try and work together" . If Netflix had obtained the download license for its content then we would already be using a Netflix/TiVo downlaod service. TiVo obviously has the setup done to download content - it just needs the content. Have you noticed that UNBOX has the license to download content and the infrastructure to select what content you want and bill for it. You have just picked the wrong pony to bet against on this one, is all. ;)

Geez, you're really bustin' my chops there Zeo. :eek: Seriously, I'm not betting against anything. Never said that. To the contrary, actually. What I have said is I truly hope the Amazon deal doesn't fall through like others in the past have and becomes a reality.

Yes, I've not only noticed that Unbox has the license to download content, I've actually used their service to download some Hillstreet Blues episodes to my laptop. It's a great service. I also subscribe to Netflix and that, too is a great service. I've looked into Rhapsody and that looks like a great service, too. The only thing currently missing in these great services is the ability to use them with TiVo.

[TiVoStephen]

We're hard at work on both the Rhapsody and Amazon deals. We have not announced release dates. Neither have fallen through. Amazon will happen before Rhapsody.

Pony's given some hints already, so I won't add anything more. :)

[Joey Bagadonuts]

We're hard at work on both the Rhapsody and Amazon deals. We have not announced release dates. Neither have fallen through. Amazon will happen before Rhapsody.

Pony's given some hints already, so I won't add anything more. :)

Well, that's good news. :up:

[jcaudle]

too bad the netflix deal fell through.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

too bad the netflix deal fell through.
Indeed. Of the three possible deals in the works (Netflix, Rhapsody, and Amazon), Netflix is the one I would have used and enjoyed the most. :mad:

[rainwater]

Indeed. Of the three possible deals in the works (Netflix, Rhapsody, and Amazon), Netflix is the one I would have used and enjoyed the most. :mad:

Really? Have you seen what deals Netflix has for download distribution? Good luck watching a movie that you are actually interested in.

[dylanemcgregor]

Really? Have you seen what deals Netflix has for download distribution? Good luck watching a movie that you are actually interested in.

Really? Of the ~150 movies on my queue, I had over 20 available for download. I do watch a lot of independent and foreign films, which seem to be a bit over represented. Still, I would be all over using this service if it was available easily on my TV...a la TiVo.

Dylan

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Really? Have you seen what deals Netflix has for download distribution? Good luck watching a movie that you are actually interested in.
Wow, sounds a little bit like sour grapes. Yes, I have seen what deals Netflix has but they're really not actually "deals", seeing as there is no charge to download the movies if you're a Netflix member. Unlike Amazon's Unbox which currently wants anywhere from $3-$15 per movie. Another poster pointed out that in some cases, you can actually buy the DVD for significantly less using a 3rd party website than what Amazon Unbox wants for only the download. Taking that a step further, I found that Amazon (at times) actually sells the DVD for less than they require for the download. Using The Untouchables as an example - To buy the download, Amazon wants $10. Yet to buy the DVD using Amazon, I found it for $8.07.

As for watching movies I am actually interested in via Netflix' "Watch Now", maybe you should take the time to do some comparisons. For example, using Netflix, I can download and watch The Untouchables for free. If I want do watch the same movie using Amazon Unbox, it will cost me $4. Here's another example: If I want to watch The Matrix, my options are: I can download it for free from Netflix; I can rent it from Amazon for $3; I can buy the download from Amazon for $10; I can buy the DVD from Amazon for $10; I can buy the DVD from CompUSA for $5. In this case, I can buy the DVD from Amazon for the exact same price as they want for the download or I can pay half of what Amazon wants for the DVD and the download by going to CompUSA.

Now, to get back on topic, one very obvious thing missing in all those examples I stated is the ability to download the movie to my TiVo box.

[rainwater]

Wow, sounds a little bit like sour grapes. Yes, I have seen what deals Netflix has but they're really not actually "deals", seeing as there is no charge to download the movies if you're a Netflix member.

Actually, Netflix has to acquire rights from every studio to allow streaming/downloading of content. It doesn't matter if they specifically charge for the service or not. And right now, their selection of streaming content is much smaller than iTunes, Unbox, Movielink, etc.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Actually, Netflix has to acquire rights from every studio to allow streaming/downloading of content. It doesn't matter if they specifically charge for the service or not. And right now, their selection of streaming content is much smaller than iTunes, Unbox, Movielink, etc.
So you're mocking Netflix simply because their FREE selection of streaming content is smaller than that of iTunes, Unbox, Movielink, etc...? What's that old saying about looking a gift horse in the mouth? "Yes Netflix, I know you're under no obligation to provide this nice free service to your subscribers but, because iTunes, Unbox, and Movielink have a larger library, I am going to pay to download my videos from them rather than get the download or DVD for free from you". Yeah, that makes sense to me.

[ZeoTiVo]

Indeed. Of the three possible deals in the works (Netflix, Rhapsody, and Amazon), Netflix is the one I would have used and enjoyed the most. :mad:
what TiVo was after and I think rightfully so was to download the movie onto the TiVo. That way there is no streaming differing levels of quality and you can watch the movie whenever (or at least within 30 days on a rental). For some reason Netflix could not get download rights from major content owners and thus never had anything to offer TiVo,

I would prefer a Tivo deal where I could download my Netflix Queue to my TiVo on some subscription deal. That would rock for sure, but the content providers would not go there. Perhaps Netflix as well balked at having to charge 2.99 or 3.99 just todownlaod a rental movie. The content providers probably wnat to keep the download prices similar to PPV and VOD so they protect the deals with cable companies.

So enter Amazon UNBOX that had no prior historu of the great deal that Netflix is of so many DVDs out at a time, They could charge the prevailing PPV rates and not feel they were jacking up prices to an unacceptable level for existing customers.

so it looks like I will use both services for a while. :D
Wednesday, from Netflix, I streamed Cream (their last concert from 1968) and Imagine - John Lennon story. as awesome background music. I also am watching the original Doctor Who "key to time" series.
Went to a B&B a few weekends ago and streamed a movie on my laptop just cause we felt like it and the TV was tiny there.

The streaming is an awesome feature but not right for TiVo. It all boils down to the content owners and what they will let loose their grip on. So download services cost too much in my opinion and the 24 hours to watch sucks as well.
If Amazon could get on a say 10 hours download for 15$ a month then they would have people flock to it. Till then.....................

[bkdtv]

We're hard at work on both the Rhapsody and Amazon deals. We have not announced release dates. Neither have fallen through. Amazon will happen before Rhapsody.

Pony's given some hints already, so I won't add anything more. :)Is there any update on Rhapsody? I've subscribed to this service a few years and would very much like to browse my libraries and playlists with the Tivo.

Is this something we are likely to see in 1H 2007 or will it be 2H 2007?

[kevinrhaas]

Seems like this had been targeted for a July 2007 release. On the real support boards:

--------------------------------------------------
Re: Rhapsody and TiVo Options
05-07-2007 04:15 PM

Jinsai
Real Staff
Posts: 288
Registered: 11-09-2005

I don't have any Roku updates, but I know those guys have some bigger things they're dealing with right now.

TiVo support is in development (been working on it since the announcement in January) - I saw the alpha last week and it's playing music. UI is done. Still on target for July release.

I'll keep you all posted, but so far both teams (TiVo and Rhapsody) are very excited about how it is turning out.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Nice of TiVo to keep us, their customers, in the loop and up to date on what's going on with this.

[nrnoble]

It would be interesting to see Rhapsody on my S3. I've had Rhapsody almost since day 1 of its release.

I've solved most of my TiVo limitations by building a decent HDTV Media PC which is wired into my AV receiver that is connected to my HDTV. iTunes, Rhapsody, NetFlix streaming, internet, 100+ movies on HDD, and I'm writing this message on my HDTV. I love my S3 TiVo, but it is never going to do everthing I want it to do, nor do I expect it to. If it does some day, great, but between now and then, I have my HDTV Media PC to fill in my personal gaps. Don't get me wrong either, TiVo support cable cards, which my media PC does not, and unlikely to any time soon. I am not arguing either or, just that there are always additional options to fill in the gaps.

[bkdtv]

Latest updates from the Rhapsody folks this week:

The TiVo release has been delayed a few weeks due to a problem with some low-end/obscure TiVo hardware. I'll let you know more when I hear more.I will post some TiVo information in a new thread next week.Right now it looks like it is headed for a late July release.

Rhapsody's "open" platform for third-party developers supports most features of the service. One feature it doesn't yet support is lyrics (such as for karaoke). I hope Tivo will encourage Rhapsody to implement that feature.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Latest updates from the Rhapsody folks this week:

Right now it looks like it is headed for a late July release.

Rhapsody's "open" platform for third-party developers supports most features of the service. One feature it doesn't yet support is lyrics (such as for karaoke). I hope Tivo will encourage Rhapsody to implement that feature.

Delayed a "few weeks"? We've been hearing about a TiVo/Rhapsody connection for what seems like close to a year now.

[musika]

just finally doing fine here

[d_anders]

just finally doing fine here

What's the news?

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Latest updates from the Rhapsody folks this week:

Right now it looks like it is headed for a late July release.

OK, something is amiss. I have written 2 emails to Rhapsody CS using this (http://reclisten.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/reclisten.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php) form and I have gotten 2 responses back saying I'd have to contact TiVo as they had no idea what agreement I was referring to. So, is this going to be another TiVo-Netflix type agreement that will just disappear without any explanation from TiVo? The last piece of information I read on a TiVo forum was the Rhapsody was headed for a "late July" release. Well, here we are in late July and still no word.

[mtchamp]

The best rumor information about Rhapsody on TiVo can be found in this forum.

http://real.lithium.com/real/board/message?board.id=InstallingRhapsody&message.id=19649&view=by_date_ascending&page=2

Sounds like it's close because the last post was by REAL staff member yesterday who simply said he could not talk about it right now. This is unusual because this same guy had been suppling details about development and it's the last week of July, the month in which it was last promised. So maybe it's ready and there isn't much to talk about except to announce the release date which TiVo might be doing this week.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Well, July has come and gone. August anyone?

I smell another Netflix scenario.

[rainwater]

Well, July has come and gone. August anyone?

I smell another Netflix scenario.

Netflix never developed any TiVo integration software. It sounds to me like Real is actually working on the software so this is not going to be vaporware.

[Status]

I for one hate the idea of my TIVO being corrupted with Real Networks **cough** spyware...er software. I've tried using Real Networks software in the past on my PC and had to reformat to be rid of all it's hooks. I tried Rhapsody when it first came out, in spite of my cautions. I canceled the account online, they kept billing me (one month). I called up and canceled my account, they kept billing me (add two months, previous charges credited). I called up talked with a supervisor and gave past cust rep's name and canceled my account, they kept billing me (add two months billing, previous charges credited), called my bank and told them I refuse the credit charges (add three months billing, previous charges refused/returned), finally called my bank, changed my credit card number and reversed the next 3 months charges. Yay, finally, after all that I have a new credit card number and haven't been billed by them. I'm guessing in about 4 years, I'll get a collections agency knocking on my door saying that I owe Real Networks $100,000 in back subscriptions, late and collection fees.

Let me state again, Real Networks are crooks. Please TIVO don't soil your self with their like.

[Havanese_boy]

As a Urge subscriber, I am now a Rhapsody member as Urge is going away.

I am curious to see when/if the Rhapsody/Tivo partnership is going to happen soon. It would be nice not to have to buy something to stream music, but use my Tivo instead.

[ZeoTiVo]

I for one hate the idea of my TIVO being corrupted with Real Networks **cough** spyware...er software. .
Real is most likely working on the PC side of things and the TiVo side will just be the ability to receive streaming MP3s as it does now. So as long as you keep the card number secret from Real and do not install rhapsody on the PC you should be alright ;)

[Havanese_boy]

next question will be...when the feature is available..will it work ona S3.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

next question will be...when the feature is available..will it work ona S3.

I think the more appropriate word is IF the feature is available. Last we were told was it'd be the end of July. Here it is the end of August and still no Rhapsody. Maybe they meant end of July 2008. More empty promises from TiVo??? :confused:

[d_anders]

I think the more appropriate word is IF the feature is available. Last we were told was it'd be the end of July. Here it is the end of August and still no Rhapsody. Maybe they meant end of July 2008. More empty promises from TiVo??? :confused:


My read on this is that TiVo would like to release this for both the Series 2 and Series 3 platforms at the same time...Hopefully it's not a dependency, but the series 3 platform between the S3 and TiVoHD is not yet unified due to the performance problems on the TiVoHD, which hopefull will be fixed soon.

I for one, don't expect any kind of update on this until mid Fall...but I would like to be proven wrong on this and be pleasantly surprised...

In the end, it would be great it TiVoPony could give us what we could expect or what the dependencies are to get the Rhapsody update to at least give us a general idea of timing...

However, TiVo & Rhapsody may want to make a splash and giving any type of timeline may not be possible.

TiVoPony, what's up?

[d_anders]

It appears that Rhapsody and TiVo are finally coming soon...no details on exact day but looks like within the next couple of weeks based on a comment made by TiVo's CEO at the Maxim Group Growth Conference this week.

http://community.livejournal.com/tivolovers/525546.html

[thestim]

We're closer to the end of September now, anyone heard more updates on this? I *love* my Rhapsody service on my PC, and even as an I/T support guy, I've not seen any significant problems from it on any of the several different configuration machines I've tried it on at different times. This would be the best upgrade I can think of for TiVo since... um... sliced bread (or Tivo itself!)

[d_anders]

We're closer to the end of September now, anyone heard more updates on this? I *love* my Rhapsody service on my PC, and even as an I/T support guy, I've not seen any significant problems from it on any of the several different configuration machines I've tried it on at different times. This would be the best upgrade I can think of for TiVo since... um... sliced bread (or Tivo itself!)

I accidentially updated/edit my last post rather than entering a new one. The comments by TiVo's CEO were made last week...given the context and timing of other items, I would bet by mid-October it should be offered and announced. I personally hope for the first week of October sometime...we shall see.

Thanks.

[hooper]

Engadget has some pictures of the Tivo Rhapsody software.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/09/tivo-picks-up-rhapsody-support-learns-to-love-music/

[raleighc]

I can post the exact URL (thanks filters) but it's at the Rhapsody web site with /tivo appended. You can type that.

This makes it official. Supposedly it should appear along with all the other "widgets" in the Music, Photos & More area.

Don't forget that Comcast subscribes all have a free subscription to Rhapsody.

[raleighc]

I've forced a connection and a reboot. Neither made my Rhapsody appear.

[Agrajag]

"I like to think of (a TiVo box) now as a digital video receiver," says TiVo CEO Tom Rogers. "The idea we're building toward is, anything that's out there, from any source, you need TiVo to get it, organize it and make it fast and easy to be able to find it."

Duh.... This guy needs to be fired, immediately.

Talk about having the light turn on long after its needed.

Go back and read some posts from several years ago. I've been screaming about this all along. Instead TiVo got lost on other follies.

We're talking YEARS for this guy to figure out what was obvious to many others going back a long, LONG time.

The TiVo intrigued people because it finally delivered on a promise that had been searched for well over a decade. It was a media center that people used and didn't mind having on 24/7.

TiVo stored video on the box and then when it came to storing ANYTHING else ON it, suddenly they lost their way and forgot the word "center" and substituted the word "hub".

Unfortunately a large number of techie-types here share the blame for this fiasco as they swore streaming was the greatest concept since the toaster--forgetting of course that the toaster is great because it so damned simple.

These boxes need to be a media CENTER, storing every type of media on them for our PC's and other devices to PULL FROM, not to PUSH TO.

While you, as a network admin or a geek, may think it's great to stream, the average consumer has NO interest in it. They want simplicity and having to understanding, build and maintain a network and utilize several pieces of hardware just to play a simple song, only makes sense to a true geek.

I still don't see Tom quite getting there on this yet, but give him until 2010 or so and he'll come to it.

[minckster]

"Press INFO to play queue"??? :rolleyes: See: http://www.engadget.com/photos/tivo-picks-up-rhapsody-support-learns-to-love-music-1/430763/

[Karnwine]

I can't believe Rhapsody is finally going to be available. Anyone know if the priority signup list is up at tivo.com yet?

[cwoody222]

Yawn.

What's the capital "T" and "V" in TiVo for, anyway?!

[cwoody222]

I can't believe Rhapsody is finally going to be available. Anyone know if the priority signup list is up at tivo.com yet?

http://www.tivo.com/rhapsody

[Karnwine]

Thanks for the linky.

If you haven't tried Rhapsody before, it has a pretty nice, easy interface to use(sound familiar?)and an extensive library of songs. I'm looking forward to trying this out.

[HDTiVo]

Duh.... This guy needs to be fired, immediately.

Talk about having the light turn on long after its needed.

Rogers has expressed this theme since about when he started. The thing is its sizzle with little steak.

And yes, he needs to be fired 18 months ago, but for more than just this stuff.

[Globular]

I'll stick with Amazon's non-DRMed mp3s, thank you.

[ZeoTiVo]

"I like to think of (a TiVo box) now as a digital video receiver," says TiVo CEO Tom Rogers. "The idea we're building toward is, anything that's out there, from any source, you need TiVo to get it, organize it and make it fast and easy to be able to find it."

Duh.... This guy needs to be fired, immediately.

Talk about having the light turn on long after its needed.

Go back and read some posts from several years ago. I've been screaming about this all along. Instead TiVo got lost on other follies.

We're talking YEARS for this guy to figure out what was obvious to many others going back a long, LONG time.

actually wew are talking years to make it actually happen sure the idea of a 24/7 media center that was not a PC with its complexity hassle for the average home use occurred to many people and many companies.

of course open source HTPCs have been around a while
Microsoft and Sony are working the angle from their game consoles
Apple has the Mac Mini and Apple TV or whatever it is called now.
TiVo has their DMS though they still call it a DVR.


as for streaming - sure streaming from my PC is a pain as now a PC is back in the equation. However that is still better than having to use my PC directly as I can hand the remote to my kid and they can play the music and so forth. Home networks are getting easier and easier to setup, especially since wireless is getting mature. TiVo would be crazy not to take advantage of that.

now the new streaming though is from some server on the internet. I can download movies from UNBOX and I assume I can play Rhapsody songs right on my TiVo. That kind of internet "storage" I like.

[kas25]

Awesome. I've been using Rhapsody trial with my Sonos and I think its a great deal. I still prefer to buy non-drmed music but for stuff that I am just a casual fan I think its great, especially if integrated with Tivo. I am wondering how much searching and adding of artists to "my library" we will be able to do.

[HDTiVo]

For folks that have a TiVo with a digital audio output connected to an A/V receiver... How is the sound quality? What is the quality of your system?

[kmill14]

I noticed the article linked earlier mentioned the ability to do Thumbs Up and Thumps Down ratings. Is there (or going to be) a wishlist feature for music?

[Agrajag]

actually wew are talking years to make it actually happen sure the idea of a 24/7 media center that was not a PC with its complexity hassle for the average home use occurred to many people and many companies.

Not here when I brought it up prior to the HMO work. When it came up back then I ended up in a huge thread filled with 95% of posters supporting streaming and HMO and the perfect solution for "everyone".

hand the remote to my kid and they can play the music and so forth. Home networks are getting easier and easier to setup, especially since wireless is getting mature. TiVo would be crazy not to take advantage of that.

Yes, they would. My point is that for non-techies, having the PC forced into the equation is not a good thing. Giving them the option of having the TiVo be the center is what's called for. Those of us who are PC-centric don't mind having that extra layer as an option. We just won't use it as often. Plus, having done this all with my modified Xbox, I can tell you it was nice to have. If the PC crashed or the server applet failed, it didn't matter. My wife and kids could still play anything they wanted. It was also nice to have a backup of that data. Nice extra layer of protection.

[kas25]

There is a preliminary review and some screen shots on Rhapsody's forums. It looks like a winner. No mention of sound quality. I think Rhapsody streams at 128kps so it should be equal to Itunes quality.

[rbt]

I've been hoping for this for quite some time. I have a high end AV system upstairs in our living room with TiVo. We have hoped for online radio channel audio to it for some time. I have a hardwired broadband connection to it from my home office PC one floor below. I played some playlists through the TiVo when first installed, but always wished for streaming content. I subscribe to XM online for home office use. I live in Alaska, there are NO good FM classical, jazz, rock or any other radio stations. I'll now have a hopefully simple solution to listen to "handsoff" online radio stations.

I signed up for the Rhapsody 14 day free trail. BTW the phone number you have to call to cancel it before the 14 day billing is 866-834-5509 (the first thing I get before giving the CC info). What I don't know, and am hoping to get an answer to is:

Can my same Rhapsody monthly subscription be used for both my PC home office streaming AND my Tivo stream upstairs or am I going to be forced to pay for the same service twice? Can I get a combined rate for both?

Cheers!

[dthmj]

I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for some time and really enjoy the service. You can authorize up to 3 computers and 3 MP3 players with one subscription. I don't know if TiVo will count as a computer or an MP3 player or something else. Right now, we are at our limit in our house, and would like more. I would so pay a little extra each month to get more device authorizations.

[ursine1]

$12.95 / month? To stream music?

[shady]

I signed up for the Rhapsody 14 day free trail. BTW the phone number you have to call to cancel it before the 14 day billing is 866-834-5509 (the first thing I get before giving the CC info).
Cheers!

It looks like you didn't need to go through credit card 14 day billing/ make sure you cancel in time. According to TiVo's website, you can sign up for a 30 day free trial with no credit card required, and you can do it straight from the TiVo box

[rbt]

Just got off the phone with TiVo support. They are all going through Rhapsody training today and tomorrow. The woman said at the end of my 30 day free Rhapsody trial with TiVo, I will have the ability to input my Rhapsody id and password into my Tivo software and access streaming music from my EXISTING Rhapsody account. TiVo is just acting as the middle man, similar to what they do with Amazon video download services.

And yes.. I will GLADLY pay 12.95 a month for streaming audio. I gladly pay for TiVo to not have to watch mindless BS on TV between the content I watch, why wouldn't I pay to have commercial free audio choices also.. I just don't want to pay for the same service twice. I live in a remote part of the world where choices are limited. I have more broadband capacity coming into my community the Long Island NY (most not lit), but only one cable provider who doesn't even give us a smootch before sending out the monthy bill.

The last thing TiVo wants is for me to put a PC in my living room. I think they are starting to get it. And now with the required DRM cable chip only being supplied to OEM's, the days of building your own PC AV center are coming to an end. TiVo will be the box of choice.

Cheers!

[MickeS]

$12.95 / month? To stream music?
Like the satellite channels. This gives you access from PCs too, IIRC. But unless you listen a lot at home, I guess it's not worth it. Some do though.

I don't have digital cable anymore, but used to like to listen to the Music Choice there. I guess this is an alternative there.

Of course, I just listen to AOL Radio whenever I feel like streaming music to the PC.

[kas25]

$12.95 / month? To stream music?

I am curious as to why you don't think this is worth it. Assuming you get your music legally, for the cost of one cd a month, you have access to a sh*t load of music. If you listen to music very often and have a wide range of tastes, its a no brainer to me.

[LoREvanescence]

I can post the exact URL (thanks filters) but it's at the Rhapsody web site with /tivo appended. You can type that.

This makes it official. Supposedly it should appear along with all the other "widgets" in the Music, Photos & More area.

Don't forget that Comcast subscribes all have a free subscription to Rhapsody.

If you are a comcast subscriber (or your parents are in mycase, I live in an appartment on my university campus). How do you sign up for the free subscription? I can't find anything on comcast.net when loged in under my account. All I can find is a Rhapsody radio link that tells me this:

INCOMPATIBLE OS
Your computer does not meet minimum system requirements. Comcast Rhapsody Radio is currently supported on the following operating systems:

Windows:
XP, 2K, ME and 98 SE

Mac:
OS X 10.3.9 and higher

Linux:
Latest versions of SuSE, Fedora, Xandros and Linspire

Got to love having windows vista :rolleyes:

[Monolyth710]

Interesting spin on this CNBC report:

Tivo Tunes Up
Tivo wants a bigger piece of your living room, with CNBCs Julia Boorstin

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&brand=money&vid=9d0060c2-34c6-487e-9138-46066bd4f047&playlist=videoByTag:tag:money_top_investing:ns:MSNmoney_Gall ery:mk:us:vs:1&from=MSNmoney_Tivo&tab=s216

[shady]

If you are a comcast subscriber (or your parents are in mycase, I live in an appartment on my university campus). How do you sign up for the free subscription? I can't find anything on comcast.net when loged in under my account. All I can find is a Rhapsody radio link that tells me this:



Got to love having windows vista :rolleyes:

The Comcast "free" Rhapsody subscription is just for their streaming radio channels. It's not for access to their complete library that you get for 12.95 per month.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that the free comcast subscription is not supported on TiVo

[HDTiVo]

Interesting spin on this CNBC report:

Tivo Tunes Up
Tivo wants a bigger piece of your living room, with CNBCs Julia Boorstin

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&brand=money&vid=9d0060c2-34c6-487e-9138-46066bd4f047&playlist=videoByTag:tag:money_top_investing:ns:MSNmoney_Gall ery:mk:us:vs:1&from=MSNmoney_Tivo&tab=s216
Excellent. That's the first time I've seen Julia's legs. Well worth it. Plus the nearby link to the Undressing Playboy's Plan video. :D

YAHME - Yet Another HME app.


Its not TV until its on TV

Its not ???? until its on the A/V receiver.

[YazooWho]

I have been a Rhapsody user for along time and together with Replay Music software, I have been way ahead in my music "purchases".

The Rhapsody feature on Tivo is one feature I have been waiting for a long time and I can't wait to get it. I currently use a Roku Soundbridge to stream Rhapsody to my Home theater and it sounds great. Rhapsody is well worth the money since I use it at work and home a lot. I use it with Replay Music to fill my Ipod. Now together with Tivo, this is music heaven.

[dthmj]

I fired up my TiVo this evening and have Rhapsody on it. Very easy to enter my existing login for Rhapsody - and all my play lists were ready and waiting for me.

Very cool!

And the monthly fee has been well worth it. Three of us in the house use it - we are able to sync each one and get all the music we want - which is great for me, as my taste changes daily. One day I may want outlaw country music, the next top 40, and the next day funky folk music. I would go broke trying to purchase every song I want to listen to. And it's not just "streaming" music like internet radio - it's "on demand" music - whatever song you want, when you want it.

[morac]

The Comcast "free" Rhapsody subscription is just for their streaming radio channels. It's not for access to their complete library that you get for 12.95 per month.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that the free comcast subscription is not supported on TiVo
It doesn't I just tried using my Comcast account on my S2 and got the following message (sic):

"TiVo application doesn't suppoted for this account"

So I guess it doesn't work with Comcast free accounts.

[kas25]

I fired up my TiVo this evening and have Rhapsody on it. Very easy to enter my existing login for Rhapsody - and all my play lists were ready and waiting for me.

Very cool!

And the monthly fee has been well worth it. Three of us in the house use it - we are able to sync each one and get all the music we want - which is great for me, as my taste changes daily. One day I may want outlaw country music, the next top 40, and the next day funky folk music. I would go broke trying to purchase every song I want to listen to. And it's not just "streaming" music like internet radio - it's "on demand" music - whatever song you want, when you want it.
I just got the regular fall update but not the Rhapsody. The site says they come separately. Hopefully today. How is the sound quality? Can you browse and add to your library from the tivo or only access existing playlists, "My Artists", etc.

[dthmj]

I signed up on the "Priority" list - (linked elsewhere in this thread) yesterday morning and it was there last night - not sure when I got it, as I had not looked for it before.

Sound quality is fine to me - but I'm playing it through a regular stereo tv - so nothing fancy. There is a slight delay before it starts playing the song, but after that no gaps or stopping of the music.

You can browse and search and add to your library (but can't see how to add to a playlist). You can also listen to your playlists, channels, get recommendations, etc. I don't recommend trying to search - filling in text forms with the peanut is not my idea of fun - but you can do it, though I think you only get artist and album options.

It's also slow - but my TiVo in general has been slow since getting 9.1 (and it's so slow it's annoying, but that's every menu on the TiVo, not just Rhapsody)

[fred2]

This is probably answered somewhere/elsewhere

Do you "own" the music you download or only RENT it for one/two/multiple performances or while you have a subscription? It is only playable through tivo and canNOT be moved elsewhere?

[dthmj]

It's more "rented". There are two types of Rhapsody subscriptions - regular and "ToGo".

With the regular you can only listen on your computer (or, now TiVo). I believe it's 3 computers (and apparantly TiVo's don't count in this limit) per account - so you could do home, work, and laptop for example. In my case, we do kids, mine, hubby's. You can choose from lots of songs - I've never not found a song I wanted. And they are "on demand" - not just streaming radio. You can make play lists, etc, listen to custom channels in which Rhapsody chooses the songs for you, etc. It's easy to authorize and deauthorize devices, so if you get a new computer, it's easy to get all your songs back.

The ToGo subscription has all of the above, plus you can sync the music to selected devices - notably - not iPod, but most other mp3 players are supported. You get 3 devices per account. For the music to continue to play, you must sync every 30 days.

If you cancel your subscription, the music stops playing after 30 days.

Rhapsody is not for everyone, but if you like to listen to a wide variety of music, and don't want to pay for each one, then it's great.

[ZeoTiVo]

This is probably answered somewhere/elsewhere

Do you "own" the music you download or only RENT it for one/two/multiple performances or while you have a subscription? It is only playable through tivo and canNOT be moved elsewhere?
if you want to buy/rent Rhapsody songs to download them to a portable then you want to use a PC.
The TiVo interface is solely to play the music. (and generate more Rhapsody subscribers)

[kas25]

It's more "rented". There are two types of Rhapsody subscriptions - regular and "ToGo".



The ToGo subscription has all of the above, plus you can sync the music to selected devices - notably - not iPod, but most other mp3 players are supported. You get 3 devices per account. For the music to continue to play, you must sync every 30 days.

If you cancel your subscription, the music stops playing after 30 days.

Rhapsody is not for everyone, but if you like to listen to a wide variety of music, and don't want to pay for each one, then it's great.
I heard a complaint that you have to connect often or the music is not playable but it sounds like only every 30 days. Is the complaint unfounded?

[ZeoTiVo]

I heard a complaint that you have to connect often or the music is not playable but it sounds like only every 30 days. Is the complaint unfounded?
I have had some issues with the licsenses timimg out sooner than 30 days. I have not figured out the why of it yet. A reconnect to update the licsense always gets them going again

[dthmj]

In my experience, it's 30 days. There is even a little message that says the songs are authorized until a certain date - and it's always been 30 days since the last sync.

I did have issues when I subscribed to Yahoo Music with it being short - like 7 days.

[derspiess]

Signed up on the priority list yesterday morning & it was there for me late last night. Really cool feature to have available, and it will probably hurt to have my trial expire in 29 days. I can't justify subscribing to yet another service unless I cancel something else.

I've ripped my entire cd collection, which would form the bulk of my listening anyway, and I can access that thru my Tivo as part of my Tivo subscription.

[NCC2893]

How does this compare to Live365? I only want streaming music on TiVo. (Music Choice doesn't cut it, because it ties up one of the tuners.) Has anyone tried both? Live365 is cheaper, but is this one of those "you get what you pay for" situations?

[mtchamp]

Well, first impressions, I think it's great. I signed up yesterday and I just tried it out. I found every song I wanted and I think I'd pay for something as easy as this.

[d_anders]

$12.95 / month? To stream music?

Well, I'm not sure what 12.95 provides, but for 14.95 a month, I've got Rhapsody To Go.

I have full access to their entire library and I can download any song to my pc, samsumg blackjack mobile 6 phone, and also my sansa rhapsody mp3 player. Yes, it's DRM'd and I have to keep the to-go "subscription" license updated on my devices

"My Library" has a couple of thousand albums and their songs (on top of my personal cd converted "owned" set of songs) and I add stuff all the time via subscription to my library.

Via streaming devices, now including TiVo, I can access the same library and also search and add anything anytime to the library, which in turn I can easily add and download to my sync'd players to enjoy in my car and while running.

I can also play any song from any album from my Logitech Squeezebox, which streams music into my kitchen stereo system, and now can I play also almost any song from almost any album on my TiVo and Home Entertainment center and master bedroom.

For $15 a month, with immediate access to a lot of new music and a rich history of past music, it's a good deal for me.

[hooper]

I was playing around with Rhapsody tonight on the TivoHD. :down: :down: :down: overall in its current state.

1. WAY TOO SLOW. On average it took around 30 seconds to go from screen to screen..... somecases several minutes.
2. Major lag on clicks everywhere!
3. Multiple errors received navigating screens.

Sound quality was very good, but the interface is the clunkiest thing I have ever seen. If folks thought the menu screen loaded slowly pre 9.1, they will get a kick out of this.

I am a Rhapsody customer... this would not make me want to subscribe if I was new to the service.

Did anyone QA this?

[kas25]

I was playing around with Rhapsody tonight on the TivoHD. :down: :down: :down: overall in its current state.

1. WAY TOO SLOW. On average it took around 30 seconds to go from screen to screen..... somecases several minutes.
2. Major lag on clicks everywhere!
3. Multiple errors received navigating screens.

Sound quality was very good, but the interface is the clunkiest thing I have ever seen. If folks thought the menu screen loaded slowly pre 9.1, they will get a kick out of this.

I am a Rhapsody customer... this would not make me want to subscribe if I was new to the service.

Did anyone QA this?
I just got the update and would tend to agree. I have about a hundred artists saved in My Library and I can't imagine how long it would take to get down to the Zs. There is no "power scroll" like on my Sonos. You also lose the abliity to view by Artist by Album in My Library. It is great to search for an artist and play an album or sampler by that artist but its not great to sit and skip from song to song from various artists. Sound is great, pictures are nice but I agree that its very clunky. What are the odds this gets fixed?

[YazooWho]

I was playing around with Rhapsody tonight on the TivoHD. :down: :down: :down: overall in its current state.

1. WAY TOO SLOW. On average it took around 30 seconds to go from screen to screen..... somecases several minutes.
2. Major lag on clicks everywhere!
3. Multiple errors received navigating screens.

Sound quality was very good, but the interface is the clunkiest thing I have ever seen. If folks thought the menu screen loaded slowly pre 9.1, they will get a kick out of this.

I am a Rhapsody customer... this would not make me want to subscribe if I was new to the service.

Did anyone QA this?

This sucks. A few people have mentioned on how slow it is. I hope it's because the server are getting slammed or something because this is one of the "extra" features I have been waiting for a long time. I also have been a Rhapsody customer for a long time and enjoy it a lot.

[BarryD99]

I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for years, so I was really looking forward to this option.

As others have reported, it is very very slow.

In my case, I think the best option would be to create playlists on the pc and just play them on Tivo.

Having said that, I get a program application error when trying to login with my account.

The good news, I think the sound quality is very good, better than Live365 (free version) or possibly streaming Rhapsody from my pc to my stereo.

[ZeoTiVo]

This sucks. A few people have mentioned on how slow it is. I hope it's because the server are getting slammed or something because this is one of the "extra" features I have been waiting for a long time. I also have been a Rhapsody customer for a long time and enjoy it a lot.
I am using Rhapsody on a model 240 TiVo with 9.1 recently updated. TWC roadrunner cable.

I have not seen any of the slowdowns on mneus or on Rhapsody. I think it is a localized problem of some sort and not something everyone should expect to see. Of course this forum always skews to people coming here to look for a solution or to rant so the posts tend toward problems versus everything works as expected.

ETA - I did have a initial long wait for Rhpasody on my SD H400 TiVo DVR. I hit TiVo button and went into livecast:365 which zipped right along. Then I went into Rhapsody which aslo zipped right along with no errors


The interface is not as flexible as on the PC. No surprise there but I can browse my library by album and will start making more playlists and channels. Plus I will start using the recent music and My Rhapsody suggested music more on the TiVo when i am casually listening. Recent music has the whole new matchbox 20 album so now my wife will not need to buy it. There is the 15$ to Rhapsody for this month :)

[kas25]

I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for years, so I was really looking forward to this option.

As others have reported, it is very very slow.

In my case, I think the best option would be to create playlists on the pc and just play them on Tivo.

Having said that, I get a program application error when trying to login with my account.

The good news, I think the sound quality is very good, better than Live365 (free version) or possibly streaming Rhapsody from my pc to my stereo.
Agree. Playlists is the most realistic use. Searching for an artist and playing a while album or top tracks by that artist is ok as well.

[kas25]

I am using Rhapsody on a model 240 TiVo with 9.1 recently updated. TWC roadrunner cable.

I have not seen any of the slowdowns on mneus or on Rhapsody. I think it is a localized problem of some sort and not something everyone should expect to see. Of course this forum always skews to people coming here to look for a solution or to rant so the posts tend toward problems versus everything works as expected.


The interface is not as flexible as on the PC. No surprise there but I can browse my library by album and will start making more playlists and channels. Plus I will start using the recent music and My Rhapsody suggested music more on the TiVo when i am casually listening. Recent music has the whole new matchbox 20 album so now my wife will not need to buy it. There is the 15$ to Rhapsody for this month :)
You can browse by Album (which isn't great with over 600 albums) but can't browse by Artist and then Album. Are you saying scrolling through your lists of Albums or Artists is quick? Is there a way to skip to the end or to the "Ms" for example? If I click page down, it goes down by three Artists and every two clicks it gives me "Please Wait" for about 5 seconds. I am hoping this is temporary but I am curious to see if anyone can smootly scroll down a list of say 75 artists fairly quickly.

[dthmj]

As I reported, the menus are slow to respond, but my entire TiVo is that way after 9.1 - I don't know if it's 9.1 or Rhapsody.

I have not had any application errors at all.

The interface is ok, so far as browsing stuff on a TV can go, but I much prefer using the Rhapsody client on my pc, and just using the TiVo to listen to playlists.

[brnscofrnld]

I have full access to their entire library and I can download any song to my pc, samsumg blackjack mobile 6 phone, and also my sansa rhapsody mp3 player. Yes, it's DRM'd and I have to keep the to-go "subscription" license updated on my devices

For $15 a month, with immediate access to a lot of new music and a rich history of past music, it's a good deal for me.

How do you like that sansa? I'm thinking about getting one of those to use with a Rhapsody subscription mostly for the new rhapsody channels.

[ZeoTiVo]

You can browse by Album (which isn't great with over 600 albums) but can't browse by Artist and then Album. Are you saying scrolling through your lists of Albums or Artists is quick? Is there a way to skip to the end or to the "Ms" for example? If I click page down, it goes down by three Artists and every two clicks it gives me "Please Wait" for about 5 seconds. I am hoping this is temporary but I am curious to see if anyone can smootly scroll down a list of say 75 artists fairly quickly.
well my library does not have 600 albums yet :)
ETA - oh and yes with the few albums I do have now - the scrolling works just the same as you described - it is having to get data from the server after just a few albums. Since the TiVo may be doing DVR or MRV functions at the same time they most likely had to limit the amount of data they can have in TiVo memory


I will mostly be making playlists on the PC and using it that way

that said - yes a view by artist - then album would be a good add.
I did say the TiVo interface was limited as of now

[Hew]

Now that TiVo has Rhapsody and Unbox online what do you guys think the chances are of launching a portable tivo device. Something like the iPod with wireless streaming/downloading from the tivo box or from the pc.

Where else could TiVo invest its potential $100+ million that it would get if the appeal is denied.

[jcthorne]

Sure wish Tivo would work with Yahoo Music. I have had a sub with them for several years and its far cheaper than Rhapsody and works well. About $6 a month if paid in advance.

[ZeoTiVo]

Now that TiVo has Rhapsody and Unbox online what do you guys think the chances are of launching a portable tivo device. Something like the iPod with wireless streaming/downloading from the tivo box or from the pc.

Where else could TiVo invest its potential $100+ million that it would get if the appeal is denied.

I thought the same thing - most players hook up via USB.
Problem would be to get LINUX drivers for all the various players out there.
Rhapsody/ Best Buy might be motivated to sell more Sansa players if they funded the work to hook them up via a linux driver on the TiVo

[MickeS]

Where else could TiVo invest its potential $100+ million that it would get if the appeal is denied.

In R&D... and mostly D at the moment, please. :)

[ZeoTiVo]

In R&D... and mostly D at the moment, please. :)
yep. We want a solid S3 series platform. Heck use the money to train the Cable company billing departments ;)

[ilikeyoureyes]

As I reported, the menus are slow to respond, but my entire TiVo is that way after 9.1 - I don't know if it's 9.1 or Rhapsody.

I have not had any application errors at all.

The interface is ok, so far as browsing stuff on a TV can go, but I much prefer using the Rhapsody client on my pc, and just using the TiVo to listen to playlists.

Lucky you! My experience has been absolutely dismal. About a fifth of the time I bring up rhapsody I actually get into it, the other times I just get "please wait". When I actually DO get in, about a tenth of the time I can actually listen to music. Usually I just get "Loading" when I select a song. After waiting for a period of time, it kicks me back out to live tv. Sometimes I get an actual "rhapsody error" message. Actually I think I'm being generous with my numbers, I think I am successful with this way less than 5% of the time. Anyone else have it as bad as me? The one night I actually did get it to work, my tivo stopped working the next day. I listened to rhapsody one night, and the next morning my wife wanted to watch a recording, but the tivo was not responsive to any buttons on the remote or the device itself. Had to physically remove to power. That sounds like more of an issue with 9.1. I wonder if the rhapsody issues are with the rhapsody interface or an overall issue with 9.1.

[sstatman]

When I actually DO get in, about a tenth of the time I can actually listen to music. Usually I just get "Loading" when I select a song.

The service had some early performance issues (unwelcome, but not entirely surprising for something so complex), but we (Tivo and Rhapsody) plugged most of the major performance holes in the first day or two after release.

If you're still seeing significant issues like this, we'd like to know. If you do have a problem again, could you send me a private message with what you were trying to do, when you were trying to do it, what happened, etc.? If you have a full Rhapsody account (not a trial, but a paid subscription) sending me your logon (but not your password) would also be useful.

I can't promise that I'll be able to respond right away, but any information we get about any issues that are still open would be extremely handy.

(If it wasn't clear, I work for Rhapsody.)

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Lucky you! My experience has been absolutely dismal. About a fifth of the time I bring up rhapsody I actually get into it, the other times I just get "please wait". When I actually DO get in, about a tenth of the time I can actually listen to music. Usually I just get "Loading" when I select a song. After waiting for a period of time, it kicks me back out to live tv. Sometimes I get an actual "rhapsody error" message. Actually I think I'm being generous with my numbers, I think I am successful with this way less than 5% of the time. Anyone else have it as bad as me? The one night I actually did get it to work, my tivo stopped working the next day. I listened to rhapsody one night, and the next morning my wife wanted to watch a recording, but the tivo was not responsive to any buttons on the remote or the device itself. Had to physically remove to power. That sounds like more of an issue with 9.1. I wonder if the rhapsody issues are with the rhapsody interface or an overall issue with 9.1.

Same experiences here. I try to access the Rhapsody option and I get "Please Wait" (I've waited as long as 5 minutes with no other results). Luckily, I am able to cancel out the request by using the TiVo Central button on the remote and that takes me back to the main TiVo menu. I know the service is brand new and, just as with most other technical stuff that is brand new, there are bound to be glitches. It will be most interesting to see how quickly TiVo and Rhapsody work together to get these things ironed out.

[sstatman]

I try to access the Rhapsody option and I get "Please Wait" (I've waited as long as 5 minutes with no other results).

So, when I said we had all the major issues ironed out, I spoke just a little too soon. There's an issue with HME app startup that should be worked out in the next few days. The basic symptom is that, when you try and start the app, you just get a "Please Wait" message that takes minutes to go away, or just times out after an extended wait. Eventually, after multiple tries, you can get into the system, and then everything works fine.

The word I'm hearing is that there's a fix in test for this right now, and it should be released in a few days.

I'm not going to promise that this is the last bug, but I am optimistic that this is the last major issue.

Sorry that your experience has been anything less than good. Hopefully, come this fix, you'll enjoy the experience.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

So, when I said we had all the major issues ironed out, I spoke just a little too soon. There's an issue with HME app startup that should be worked out in the next few days. The basic symptom is that, when you try and start the app, you just get a "Please Wait" message that takes minutes to go away, or just times out after an extended wait. Eventually, after multiple tries, you can get into the system, and then everything works fine.

The word I'm hearing is that there's a fix in test for this right now, and it should be released in a few days.

I'm not going to promise that this is the last bug, but I am optimistic that this is the last major issue.

Sorry that your experience has been anything less than good. Hopefully, come this fix, you'll enjoy the experience.

Thanks for the prompt feedback, sstatman. I think the old saying, "Good things come to those who wait" is most applicable with regard to new technology. The "please wait" message is quite frustrating but as long as you guys are aware of the problem and it's being addressed, that's encouraging.

[kas25]

So, when I said we had all the major issues ironed out, I spoke just a little too soon. There's an issue with HME app startup that should be worked out in the next few days. The basic symptom is that, when you try and start the app, you just get a "Please Wait" message that takes minutes to go away, or just times out after an extended wait. Eventually, after multiple tries, you can get into the system, and then everything works fine.

The word I'm hearing is that there's a fix in test for this right now, and it should be released in a few days.

I'm not going to promise that this is the last bug, but I am optimistic that this is the last major issue.

Sorry that your experience has been anything less than good. Hopefully, come this fix, you'll enjoy the experience.
Great to know. Once that is fixed, please work on a fix to scroll through artists. It takes WAY too long to scroll down to a Z artist if you have more than say 20. Either a Power Scroll option (pick the first letter) or a list which shows 10 at a time without artwork?

[sstatman]

Once that is fixed, please work on a fix to scroll through artists. It takes WAY too long to scroll down to a Z artist if you have more than say 20. Either a Power Scroll option (pick the first letter) or a list which shows 10 at a time without artwork?

The user experience team is working on this right now; after the HME connectivity issue, it's the number one request we're hearing. We support several kinds of scroll models on the service side, but that's the easy part. The hard part is exposing that in a useful way in a UI. Clearly, we haven't quite nailed it.

[sstatman]

As an FYI : Rhapsody will be "mostly" down for two hours on Thursday night, starting at 11pm Pacific time. Some kinds of requests will continue to work, and some requests will work for some people but not others ... it depends on how your information sits in our data cache.

This work is to add some additional failover functionality to some of our databases, so that we don't have to take the service down for database maintenance again. This is *not* the fix to the "infinite Please Wait" issue.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

[kas25]

The user experience team is working on this right now; after the HME connectivity issue, it's the number one request we're hearing. We support several kinds of scroll models on the service side, but that's the easy part. The hard part is exposing that in a useful way in a UI. Clearly, we haven't quite nailed it.Good answer. Thank you.

[kas25]

As an FYI : Rhapsody will be "mostly" down for two hours on Thursday night, starting at 11pm Pacific time. Some kinds of requests will continue to work, and some requests will work for some people but not others ... it depends on how your information sits in our data cache.

This work is to add some additional failover functionality to some of our databases, so that we don't have to take the service down for database maintenance again. This is *not* the fix to the "infinite Please Wait" issue.

Sorry for any inconvenience.
This is what scares me about relying too much on Rhapsody. I picture me having a party planned for Thursday night and the music stopping at 11pm. Any comments on how often this happens.

[sstatman]

This is what scares me about relying too much on Rhapsody. I picture me having a party planned for Thursday night and the music stopping at 11pm. Any comments on how often this happens.

Well, RDS (Rhapsody Direct Services, the web service tier that allows for third parties to create Rhapsody clients) has been working in production for about 14 months now. This is the first planned outage of this scope; we've had one or two that were about sixty seconds. I don't think I would be surprised if, some time in the next 12 months, there was another planned two hour outage. We try and minimize single points of failure, but sometimes you just need to do work that requires a full outage.

Depending on how you calculate it (complete outage vs. "more than 100 people can't use one feature"), we've had a few hours of unplanned outages over the past 14 months. Typically some critical piece of networking gear goes insane. We aim for 99.9% uptime, but it would be too expensive for us (and so too expensive for our downstream customers!) to do much better than that.

Rhapsody, as a complete service, is about the same.

[kas25]

Well, RDS (Rhapsody Direct Services, the web service tier that allows for third parties to create Rhapsody clients) has been working in production for about 14 months now. This is the first planned outage of this scope; we've had one or two that were about sixty seconds. I don't think I would be surprised if, some time in the next 12 months, there was another planned two hour outage. We try and minimize single points of failure, but sometimes you just need to do work that requires a full outage.

Depending on how you calculate it (complete outage vs. "more than 100 people can't use one feature"), we've had a few hours of unplanned outages over the past 14 months. Typically some critical piece of networking gear goes insane. We aim for 99.9% uptime, but it would be too expensive for us (and so too expensive for our downstream customers!) to do much better than that.

Rhapsody, as a complete service, is about the same.
Again, thanks for the answer. This communication goes a long way towards letting TIVO users know that you are taking this seriously and listening to feedback.

[shady]

I received this last night, and I'm impressed. I didn't have any of the problems that others have been seeing, with regard to connecting.

I only had a brief play with it, but the thing I noticed straight away is the slight pause between tracks of an album where the music is supposed to be continuous (think Pink Floyd...). this is something that Apple addressed nicely with iTunes.