I've been a system integrator for over ten years and have always searched for the magic solution to affordably allow customers to manage their music. Early on it was the mega CD players and now we have reasonably priced media servers such as Russound's SMS3 and ReQuest. While the media servers come the closest to a "perfect solution", I'm beginning to question the very need to even own music in today's environment.

Services like Rhapsody allow you to have instant streaming access to over 1,000,000 songs and their software allows you to burn and integrate CDs you own into the "My Library". Thus, if Rhapsody doesn't have the artist/track you want, you can supplement your library with "owned" music.

The disconnect that had plagued Rhapsody was that it was not portable as you had to have a broadband connection to listen to the service. While you can buy and burn music in Rhapsody, like iTunes, it meant portability came at a price above the monthly recurring fee.

Now, however, Rhapsody has a new service called "Rhapsody To Go" which is $15.00/month. This model allows the user to fill their MP3 player with as many songs as their player will hold (Note: Only some MP3 players work with the service. iPod is NOT one of them:( ). Thus, you can fill a 15GB MP3 player with as many songs as you want for $15/month. As a consumer, I'm happily willing to pay for this.

Understanding the Rhapsody model, is the concept of buying CDs dead?

I'm not trying to be a spokesperson for Rhapsody, but have had the service for over a year and love it. I have introduced the service to a number of clients and have had mixed reviews. The concept is almost like TiVo. People who get, get it and think it's the best thing ever.

For my clients that get it and love it, I've used media adapters like the Prismiq to serve as a TV interface so they don't feel compelled to have to use the PC whenever they wany to pick an artist, track, or playlist.

Sonos has a new player that allows the album art to show up on the wireless controller, making the Rhapsody service fun and easy to use.

Anyway, I appreciate those that have read through this thought and look forward to reading the views of others.