Yottamusic - Rhapsody The Way I've Always Wanted It

One of the reasons I am so excited about lightweight and open web services (aka web 2.0) is that they create a competitive dynamic where the best services will win.

In the past when web services were delivered in a closed environment (aka web 1.0) you were stuck with what the provider could and would deliver to you.

This week I got a great reminder about the benefit of open web services. A service called Yottamusic launched. Yottamusic is basically a new front end on top of Rhapsody which has opened its web service.

I have always loved Rhapsody's library of streaming music and the business model ($9.99 per month for unlimited listening to anything in the library). I pretty much use Rhapsody every day.

But I have never liked the software and service that Rhapsody is delivered in. The software client (windows only) was clunky, fat, slow, and not particulary pleasing to the eye.

Last year they made it possible to listen to Rhapsody in a browser (and therefore opened it to Mac and Linux users). That was nice and I stopped using the Rhapsody client the day they did that. But the web user interface is limited and does basically nothing to take advantage of being delivered on the web in a browser.

I have so often wanted to share my Rhapsody listens with others, to send messages about music to others, to comment on music I am listening to, to blog about it, and all the things you can do on most web services today. But Rhapsody either didn't offer that functionality, or if they did it was in such a backward way that you didn't want to use it.

So along comes Yottamusic. You can't use it unless you have a Rhapsody account. It's a new front end for Rhapsody.

Here's what I like:

• the search is fast and the results are delivered in a more intuitive way
• the player is faster to load and simpler to use
• you can build a social network on the service and invite your friends who use Rhapsody to join it
• you can have a profile on the service
• your profile showcases your recent listens
• you can message your friends (site messaging)

There is so much more they should do and hopefully will do, like

• last.fm integration
• youtube integration
• hypemachine integration
• blog integration

But given how quickly the've rolled this out, I am optimistic we'll so a lot more innovation soon.

Open web services allow us to adopt the best pieces. Rhapsody is the best streaming music service in my opinion. But they make pretty lousy user interfaces. By opening it up, they let the market do its thing and in the process they are making Rhapsody better. And that's great.

Comments

[jackson]

Fred gets what Fred wants.

[jackson]

...except when it comes to the Jets.

[Peter Cranstone]

Fred,

Can you follow up with some comments on their business model. It may be a great service, but how does it make sustainable revenue?

Thanks,

Peter

[mike lewis]

How is this available on mac? When i get to the "download software" page it says its only available on Windows. Then i went to Rhapsody to try to get the software (here: http://www.rhapsody.com/-software) and it also says there is no mac version available. Can you help me out here? I know you're a mac user, how is it working for you?

[lukem]

Hi Mike, this is Luke from Yottamusic.

That's the Rhapsody jukebox software that's Windows only. The browser plugin works on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Once you've gotten your Rhapsody account, just go to the Yottamusic sign in, and it will then prompt you to install the browser player plugin.

In the future we're going to be working with Rhapsody to get a different confirmation page that makes it a little clearer where to go next after the trial signup.

Best regards, Luke

[lukem]

Hi Peter,

Re our revenue model, it's exclusively based on signup commissions for Rhapsody trial accounts. However, we are also targeting existing Rhapsody users, who we think will be a good source of referrals and help build the site's momentum. :-)

Best, Luke

[Ron]

Why should I give a third party my username and password for Rhapsody? I stopped at that point. Otherwise looks interesting.

[lukem]

One thing I should mention is that Rhapsody passwords are never sent to anyone but Rhapsody. When you enter your password, it's passed off *in-browser* to the Rhapsody plugin, which authenticates your account for us. If the plugin says that your username and password are valid, you are then given access to Yottamusic. At no point is your password ever sent to Yottamusic or any of its servers.

Best, Luke

[Shobhit Prabhakar]

I like there Dynamic search system.

Web 2.0 is the future of www. :)

[J]

I'm guessing that this can't be monetized beyond the affiliate dollars? Once/if advertising starts getting added, then the wrath of the labels will be felt as they demand their pound of flesh. I would actually think this would make Rhapsody nervous and potentially curb their openness in the future.

Otherwise it looks pretty nice... very similar to Music Now.

[bijan]

fred, great find. our household only has macs and we are rhapsody users. this is sweet.

[Dave Schappell]

I saved this post for ~2 months and finally got around to signing up -- I love it. But, I'm a little disappointed because in my mind I thought this was going to help with the Sonos UI as well -- we love Sonos, and in turn Sonos has made us love Rhapsody. But, the music discovery with both is just terrible. We'd love to be able to share music lists across a community of users; instead, Sonos and Rhapsody give us endless lists of artists/tracks, some genre samplers, random radio, and some editorial picked lists that never seem to refresh.

Any ideas on how to make Sonos UI more robust?

[Josef Sachs]

"We're sorry to announce that Yottamusic is no longer in operation."

What happened?