Rhapsody 3.0 represents the first major upgrade since RealNetworks acquired the online service from Listen.com, which did the original developmental work. RealNetworks made quite a fuss in the days leading up to the release, which roughly corresponded with Real's 10-year anniversary. The program changes probably do not justify the pre-release hype, but they are evolutionary if not revolutionary. Rhapsody has broadened the scope of its service in four major ways:

• Adding playback of locally stored files in various formats. Rhapsody is now a desktop library manager in addition to a streaming client.

• Introducing the Rhapsody To Go program, a direct imitation of Napster To Go.

• Allowing unlimited "Subscription Downloads" to the user's computer for offline (but non-transferable) listening.

• Initiating purchased downloads in addition to the preexisting method of purchasing tracks via CD burns.

A full review follows, with a summary at the end.

Cosmetically, Rhapsody has maintained its basic design, with some careful and generally successful enhancements. The biggest difference is found in the library display. Because Rhapsody now bundles library management controls for hard drive content as well as streaming tracks from Rhapsody servers, it was necessary to break out of the single library pane of old versions. The result is like a breath of fresh air, with playlist and album tracks now displaying in the large right-hand pane when the user is in My Library or My Playlists. There, you can rate tracks, alter metadata information, and assign tags. The library is now searchable by keyword—a welcome development even without the local-file capability. Keyword searching is necessary because Rhapsody has sadly dispensed with album and artist sorting except as a function of column ordering in the library display. Column sorting is much less concise than folder groupings by album or artist, because every track is listed no matter how the columns are ordered.

At the time of this review, importing local tracks into Rhapsody could not be completed on the test machine (Windows XP Home), and I have read this complaint elsewhere. The importating of track data aborts mid-way through, and Rhapsody crashes.

Rhapsody To Go is a near-identical implementation of portability as in Napster: For 15 dollars a month (less if paid by quarter or by year), track purchases may be transferred to compliant portable players. Rhapsody rebates 100 dollars of an iRiver player's cost when the plan is paid for a full year in advance.

Unannounced by Real, but instituted throughout the catalog, is a 10-cent increase in per-track pricing, from 79 cents to 89 cents (12.6 percent). Also new are some recently released albums available only for purchase (not streaming), represented by 30-second song clips. It is nothing less than astonishing, and more than a bit disturbing, to see the scorned 30-second clip—staple of the a-la-carte business model—in the traditionally full-streaming Rhapsody.

Subscription Downloads add a layer of complexity to burning tracks. As before, tracks may be purchased by means of burning to CD (in Redbook format, which can be ripped to MP3). However, tracks selected for burning must first be downloaded as Subscription Downloads. The user is made aware of the process, and must wait for it to complete, before burning. Users may also purchase tracks as pure downloads, without burning, for the same 89-cent price. These purchases are transferable to a wide range of device brands (including iPods). Perplexingly, I could not purchase groups of tracks, but I could purchase single tracks. When I attempted to view or manipulate my downloaded library (purchased and Subscription), Rhapsody froze and crashed.

The complexity of the offering is alienating and leads to confusion, especially since Subscription Downloads, download purchases and burned purchases have nothing to do with transfers, which are part of the Rhapsody To Go plan. The net effect on the Rhapsody experience is this: Buying music is more expensive, more difficult, and more time-consuming.

A final word about Subscription Downloads: The feature seems to tread on the wrong side of trend as residential computers increasingly connect via always-on, high-speed ISPs. In Rhapsody more than anywhere else, the distinction between listening online (streaming) and listening offline (local playback) has been erased. Rhapsody To Go offers meaningful offline listening, but Subscription Downloads are moot.

One of the best new features is Playlist Central, a playlist sharing environment that encourages music discovery. This feature, too, has been heavily borrowed from Napster, which, since the days of its predecessor Pressplay, has owned the best playlist-sharing tools around. Rhapsody's feature set is both better packaged, and less powerful, than Napster's. Playlists can be added to the library and are accompanied by album art. Napster's unparalleled aspect of playlist sharing is cross-referencing by track, a database-oriented tool that allows the user to angle into user playlists by song, making the individual track serve as a keyword searching for compatible users.

Other newness of note:

• Page displays seem to snap in a little quicker than before, but more improvement is still necessary. Booting up Rhapsody, logging in, and buffering tracks were all substantially slower during testing.
• The burn symbol is gone, and users cannot tell whether or not a track is available for burning until they drag it to the Burn panel.
• The catalogue now contains selected music videos.
• Real's Harmony, the conversion technology originally developed for the RealPlayer Store that made purchased tracks compatible with Apple's iPod, has been quietly but significantly ported into Rhapsody. All purchased downloads are Harmonized.
• Rhapsody now has an EQ panel with a bunch of presets. I'm tempted to be surly and say "It's about time," but I'll just say Hooray.
• A built-in recommendation engine promotes music on the front page, based on the user's recent listening.
• Expandable album-art thumbnails are back! It's like Rhapsody v1.0.

Besides Rhapsody To Go, which is a flagrant copy of Napster To Go, and is no doubt mandated by marketplace requirements, the changes in Rhapsody 3.0 are smart and thoughtful. Too thoughtful, perhaps; Rhapsody is overthought and overwrought. What used to be a beautifully simple platform reaching for the ideal celestial jukebox is now a complex layering of features, plans, and music purchasing options that digital music veterans have trouble figuring out. Instability has reared its head where once Rhapsody ran for weeks on end without a murmur of trouble. The per-track price increase is unwelcome, and dangerously narrows Rhapsody's competitive advantage. Subscription Downloads are mostly irrelevant.

On the upside, expanded library management will be gratefully received by many subscribers accustomed to running two music programs: one for Rhapsody streaming and one for local content. The tools are not powerful enough to lure a devoted Winamp5, Media Jukebox, or MusicMatch user away, however. Rhapsody To Go will be gladly adopted by enthusiasts of music rental who are loyal to Rhapsody and don't wish to cross over to Napster.

Final Judgment: Rhapsody remains the top online music service. Comparing Rhapsody to a-la-carte stores like iTMS might seem like comparing apples and oranges, but the inherent value of music subscription tilts the scale toward Rhapsody to start, and the program's ongoing beauty and clear improvements outweigh its complexity and bugginess. On that last point, though, more testing is called for, and a quick update fix from Real would be appreciated.