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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Berger360 wants to know more about music subscription services. He currently uses iTunes, and wonders why I feel that my music subscription service is better, and why I won’t use iTunes.

My tastes and lifestyle give me a lot of opinions on the various music subscription services and software out there. I listen to a wide variety of music, and my preference changes daily… or even hourly. My mood, what I’m working on, whether I’m in my car… all play a role in the music mood I may be in.

I don’t use iTunes for one simple reason. I want music on demand! I don’t want to have to download software onto my computer to manage my music, then synch it to my iPod. I want to use my iPod to just say “hey! I’m in the mood for the Doors! BAM!”. I don’t want to buy the entire album. If I did, I would go out and purchase the actual CD.

The music subscription service I use is called Urge. Now at the time I recorded this, I made a comment about not ever using Rhapsody’s service. However, I found out after recording that Urge and Rhapsody have now apparently merged into one service. I haven’t checked it out yet, so I can’t comment as to whether or not it will give me the same experience. What I love about my Urge subscription is that for only about $15.00 a month, I have access to literally millions of songs. Not albums… songs. I can access this huge library, and choose to listen to whatever it is I’m in the mood for at any given moment. This is SO Much easier to manage. No way I’ll ever use iTunes unless and until Apple switches it to a music subscription service such as this.

Which service do you use? I know you use one of them! Leave me a comment, and let me know what your preference is… and why.

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iTunes vs Urge vs Rhapsody

Stumbled into this “gift” accidentally while assembling a total Yankovic playlist this afternoon. You can hear :30 teasers for each Straight Outta Lynwood track, so long as you have URGE and WMP11 installed (Windows only). No account necessary. MTV must’ve added his new album at some point in the past day. Do an Artist search for Yankovic (in URGE) and you should see SOL top the list. Select the album tracks as well as another track from another album (like Couch Potato from Poodle Hat), then right-click the non-SOL track and select “Play” from the context menu. This should tide you over until Tuesday morning – which is when you’ll buy the full album:

Featuring parodies of Chamillionaire, Green Day, Usher, R. Kelly and Taylor Hicks! DualDisc includes PCM Stereo, 5.1 Surround and instrumental mixes of the entire album (with on-screen lyrics option), plus a 9-minute behind-the-scenes documentary and 6 BRAND NEW MUSIC VIDEOS!

If you don’t buy the album, I’m going to rip your heart right out of your rib cage with my bare hands and then throw it on the floor and stomp on it ’til you die – especially if you’re white and nerdy.

Free Preview of New Weird Al Album

I don’t get it. Should I be using Napster, URGE, or Zune? Should I be using the Clix or the Zune? Should I be using Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune Marketplace software? There are too many choices, many of which are not interoperable, coming to me from the same company: Microsoft. Instead of simplifying the market, they’ve made it slightly more complicated with Zune (and likely pissed off countless partners in the process).

So, on one hand, I’m being told that URGE in combo with WMP is the way to go. On the other hand, I’m being told that Zune is the way to go (hardware, software, subscription) is the way to go. I certainly appreciate that there’s somewhat of a unified experience with Zune, but… now I have one more subscription to worry about… one more piece of software to worry about… and yet more choices that seem to completely nullify earlier efforts of Microsoft (itself) and its partners.

That I can see, there’s no clear cross-over between the Zune and Windows Media Center, for me to take my recorded shows on the go (since the Zune plays video). There’s no interaction with any other Microsoft product other than Windows. There’s no path to personalized media (podcasting, DVD ripping, etc.). In the interviews I’ve read, all of this is by design.

It’s almost like Microsoft is competing with itself – like it’s taking a mulligan on all earlier efforts in the digital media space.

Microsoft’s Zune Competes with Microsoft

Hey, Napster? Thanks for making it an absolute pain in the ass to cancel our account – yet another reason to abandon your service. I had to call a phone number to tell you that I wanted to quit. Why?

• MTV’s new URGE service is far less problematic. Far less.
• I really like the Clix, and URGE works better with it.
• Napster’s software continues to suck.
• You made me call a number to cancel service. I hate that. Really.
• URGE is the future, Napster is still living in the past.

Windows Media Player 1l… is still far from impressive. Don’t swallow the hype when you see it, please? WMP11 is better than WMP10 – but “less crappy” is not an honorable benchmark. They continue to ignore user interface inconsistencies and feedback from Windows Media’s most ardent supporters – including MVPs, who were seemingly marginalized during 11′s development process.

Cancel Napster

So, I’m getting ready for a trip to Colorado Springs for my future brother-in-law’s nuptuals. I figured I’d give the Clix a shot with Urge. I fire up the Windows Media Player and… blammo:

“Your Windows Media DRM is Corrupted.” *sigh* I love DRM. It’s awesome. DRM is teh shiz. I want to make love to DRM, it’s so sexy. DRM is the ultimate. Give me more DRM. I want to spread DRM on my toast in the morning. I need DRM in my life.

Windows Media DRM is Corrupted

I’m not the first (and I certainly won’t be the last) person to claim that DRM sucks. But DRM doesn’t stand for “Digital Rights Management.” No, it’s really an acronym for “Dramatic Resource Mangler.” Here’s the problem I’m now running into: I’ve currently got a subscription to Napster, a trial account with Rhapsody, and another trial account with MTV’s URGE. That’s three separate subscriptions I’ve got floating across all my systems. Now, I’ve already downloaded Pearl Jam’s new album through Napster. I can’t listen to it in either Rhapsody or URGE. I’ve paid for it already! So, let’s say I turn off Napster and switch to URGE. I’d have to download the album again. What’s more, Windows Media Player / Windows Explorer doesn’t tell me where the album came from – I have to guess. I have to play (by trial and error) to see which albums are supported by which service. THIS IS MADNESS! Why can’t the individual file detect which service I’m paying for and then adjust itself accordingly? Why must I maintain three DRM’ed versions of the same song?

Screw Napster. Screw Rhapsody. Screw URGE. I’ll pay for one of ‘em and then find the album in a non-DRM’ed WMA or MP3 format elsewhere. I’m trying to play by the rules here, folks. I’m trying to give them my money. They’re not making this easier – they’re making it infinitely more difficult. DRM can kiss my ass.

Why DRM Sucks