As Sharky noted, RealNetworks launched Rhapsody.com (beta) today—a Web version of the Rhapsody jukebox and subscription service. Huge news! I've been awaiting this iteration eagerly. As a classic Rhapsody user who sits in front of a computer all day, I value the celestial jukebox and playlisting features more than the newly-added portability of Rhapsody To Go. Carrying an MP3 player is fine, but when I'm sitting at a strange machine I miss my Rhapsody, and downloading the big Rhapsody client is usually out of the question. A Web version implies easy access to my playlists and the Rhapsody 1.4M-track catalog from any connected computer.

But it's not that easy, in two ways:

• Rhapsody.com does require a download to hear any music. Downloading is usually impossible on public computers, and sometimes unwelcome on a friend's computer. This downer seems unnecessary; I'm not a technical sort, but I do know that other sites provide in-line listening without a player download. The Rhapsody Music Engine (named, presumably, with apologies to Yahoo!'s Music Engine) does not offer any particular bell or whistle that would justify the download from a usability perspective.

• In the current beta incarnation, my playlists are not available in Rhapsody.com. The entire catalog is there, but long-time users want access to their big Rhapsody libraries. There are no "Add" buttons, so you can't even build an alternate Web library.

So … disappointment is my first impression. Rhapsody.com apparently isn't built expressly for my needs, for some reason. But it does open a modified Rhapsody experience to Mac and Linux users, and that is a major point. The modification—lack of ability to save tracks and albums to a personal library—is all but crippling, in my opinion. New users who open free accounts (you do have to register, even if you don't subscribe) get 25 on-demand streams free of charge, which is generous in the current service environment but really isn't enough to work with playlisting tools. So those features would probably be wasted on the holdouts. But Mac and Linux paid subscribers who are not given a client (the Rhapsody program does not support those platforms) are getting a seriously denatured Rhapsody experience.

So. New users with free reigstrations get those 25 tracks on demand, plus unlimited listening to 25 Rhapsody stations (no skipping ahead during station playback). Current subscribers get nothing, really—no added portability when travelling. Even though personal playlisting is not supported on Rhapsody.com, shared user playlists created in the client are available for listening.

The Music Engine is an unsizable browser popup with basic streaming functions. Unfortunately, the Rhapsody Music Engine does not recognize when the main Rhapsody.com display is open in a browser during music searches launched from the Music Engine; it opens a new browser window to display search results. Fortunately, Rhapsody.com does recognize the RME window, so changing streams does not make a new popup.

Current members might be disappointed to realize that not only is the personal library missing, but Rhapsody.com does not seem to recognize the user at all. The My Rhapsody section comes up empty for me; no recommendations.

The Upshot
Rhapsody.com seems more like a bookmark than mature service. It is in beta; slack must be cut. The giant missing element is playlisting, and I'd like to see the Music Engine reduced to a javascript, java, or Ajax popup. Ideally, this thing should work from any computer without downloading a single byte, and it should recognize current subscribers with open arms and full functionality. If Rhapsody.com remains a mere come-on to newbies, disappointment will be severe.